Lisbon wanderings

We are shopping for an apartment in Lisbon. Somewhere we can spend six-months as well as drop in from time to time. We're hoping that Ana, who owns the apartment we have now, will make a reasonable offer to allow us to stay here, but so far we are only confirmed through the end of February and then we're homeless. On Friday we looked at a wonderful apartment in the Saldanha part of town. It was very modern, large and clean. We also liked the neighborhood. However, there was no view. The living/kitchen area looked out at a depressing scene of the backs of nearby buildings, none of which were even picturesque. The good news is that while exploring the neighborhood we met Marta - a sharp real estate agent with ReMax. She showed us a variety of options on the computer that were within our desired price range and preferred neighborhoods. We expressed interest in several and she is making arrangements for us to vistl.And then the adventures began.

We had two appointments to look at apartments today (Monday, 11/19), so on Sunday, we went looking for the addresses to scout out the neighborhoods and make sure we knew where we were going. The first apartment - three bedrooms, three baths - is in a lovely area called Campo Ourique. The tree-lined street flows into a lovely park, the Jardim de Estrella (Garden of the Stars). This building looks promising. It's relatively new, has a lift, and best of all has a chocolate shop on the ground floor.

Great potential neighbor!

After this discovery, we went looking for the second apartment on our agenda for Monday. It is billed as a two-bedroom, two-bath near Avenida Liberdade. So we hopped back on the Metro and rode to the Avenida stop where we found the street immediately. After what must have been a half-mile up a hill that seemed to be at a 90-degree angle, we finally found the apartment. We almost also died of the exertion. And after all that, guess what - the apartment is actually closer to the Principe Real area than to Liberdad. Principe Real is a lively neighborhood with lots of designer clothing shops, bars, and restaurants. This cheered us up immensely as we were afraid we'd be unable to handle that hill every day. So, having confirmed the location, we strolled along the Principe Real street until we came to Gin Lovers bar, where we stopped for a well-deserved martini. It was excellent.

Note two martinis in progress at Gin Lovers. This place boasts over 30 varieties of gin. 

About a block further on, we stopped in for dinner at Tapisco, a lively little tapas restaurant, where we met a young couple from Jacksonville, FL. Ironically, Jacksonville's Jaguars were playing the Steelers at that exact time. It was the third quarter and the Jaguars were leading 16 - 0. This morning I learned that Pittsburgh came back and ultimately won the game 20 - 16. 

As we walked down the hill through Chiado, we caught our first Christmas lights. Lisbon is spectacular at Christmas and most of the decorations are in place ready for the official lighting on Thursday (Thanksgiving Day at home). However, one building is already lit, giving us a preview of what is to come.

This three-story shopping center in the Chiado district offers a preview of what is to come city-wide.

This morning we were up bright and early to visit the two apartments. First stop was the chocolate-shop neighbor. The apartment is very nice and very spacious, but probably too spacious for our needs. Then we WALKED to the second apartment. Turns out it is very close to the first apartment and we didn't need to climb the mountain again to reach it. The building it's in was built in the 30s by a famous architect. It was totally modernized in 2015 while preserving the character of the original -- wood parquet floors, facade. This looks really promising. Only trouble is it's only technically a two-bedroom. There are two very nice baths, but the room that is being labeled a bedroom is nothing more than a small office space that can contain only a small single bed. Fortunately, there is a nice 5-star hotel just a block down the hill. 

As we wandered back down the hills we passed a fun building that further cements Lisbon's reputation for quirky building art.  

Just adding to the fun of this amazing city.