Adventures in Lisbon

When we were transferred to the Corinthia Hotel we didn’t have any idea what a wonderful; experience it was going to be. We were just too tired. By the time we had taken a nap, visited the art museum and had a chance to chill out, we were ready for a great meal. We were also too tired to leave the hotel. Tipico is an ultra modern restaurant located in the Corinthia Hotel in Lisbon. If you have the opportunity to stay in this hotel don’t pass up the restaurant. It is fantastic.

The decor is clean and minimalist. The tables and chairs are wooden and the walls have niches with the most amazing pieces of Glass in them, they are all different colors and styles. We had no idea where they came from, of they were local or not but they were beautiful and added the only color in a room that would have been sterile without them.

Service was perfect right to getting our check which took way longer than it should have but by that time the three people working the room were stretched to their limit and though annoying it in no way detracted from the wonderful food we had or the friendliness of the staff.

The first thing you will notice when you enter the restaurant is the salad bar. It is the neatest salad bar I have ever seen, everything was beautiful. First there was a cured ham that you could slice off; it looked to me like the Portuguese version of Serrano ham. I didn’t try it so I can’t say for sure. The lettuce was in little white bowls and then the perfectly sliced mushrooms, shredded carrots, celery and three colors of pepper sticks, pickles, some things I didn’t recognize and little small bowls of dressings, a vinaigrette, pesto and a creamy dressing that tasted like Russian. Everything was beautifully presented and as fresh as can be.

I began with the salad bar and then had carrot soup with orange and walnut served warm. It was a little chunky and definitely more carrot than orange and the walnuts were very much in evidence, a very good soup really.

Jim had the chicken which was a single perfectly cooked breast with rice. The rice was interesting, later I was watching the chefs make it, they place the rice in a small ramekin and press it in then flip it over so that it is molded in the shape of the ramekin. Al had the beef tender loin and his potatoes were thick slices in a stack on the plate. Joe had the lamb with the minted green peas and I had the risotto.

The portions were European sized not American super sized so were perfect, none of us had any leftovers and we still had plenty of room for dessert.

Joe had the dark chocolate cream with the sea salt and olive oil, one of the staff told him it was the best dessert in the house and it was indeed delicious, salty chocolate, very unique.

Jim and Al had the trio of desserts. It was three small samples of desserts and every one was delicious.

I had the cheese sampler. Served with pureed pumpkin and honeyed walnuts it was a tasty ending to the meal.

There is no tap water offered. You will get bottled water. There is a full bar so you can and are encouraged to have some wine or beer.

This isn’t an inexpensive adventure with tip we paid $35 per person but the presentation was exquisite and the food absolutely delicious, there was not one thing that needed to be changed. It was one of the best experiences of our entire trip.

Who you ask is Victor Emmanuel? He was the driver we hired to take us outside of Lisbon and what a great idea it turned out to be.
We wanted to go to Fatima, we could have taken a bus tour but we wanted to have some control over the time we would spend at any one location. We checked with the desk staff at the Mundial Hotel and asked about hiring a driver. They have a contract with "The Boss" and knowing we were English speaking he hooked us up with his very charming driver Victor Emmanuel.

Monday morning at 9:30am, he was there with the Mercedes Mini Van to drive the four of us. One thing you will notice is that in Portugal most people use their middle name as well so he isn’t Victor he is Victor Emmanuel. He was a jovial man who speaks multiple languages and has been in the tour and travel industry for 40 years. He knows what he is doing.

He gave us a running commentary all the way out of Lisbon and along the way to Fatima. We learned an amazing amount that I am sure the regular bus trip would not have taught us and unbelievably it was cheaper for the four of us to travel in our private car than it would have been to be packed like a sardine into a tour bus.

We pulled into Fatima and our first stop unbelievably was not the Shrine, it was the mega souvenir shop. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, it isn’t really a great thing either. This store however did have good prices and we certainly all spent quite a bit here.

The Shrine was wonderful and we had about 45 minutes to tour as we would before we hit the road again and headed to Batalha. This was a wonderful place that we would have never visited on our own and the Cathedral was magnificent. It is where Henry the Navigator is buried along with his mother Philippa of Lancaster. We made a lunch stop here, Victor Emmanuel took care of placing our orders for us, and making sure our lack of Portuguese skills was never an issue.

We made a stop at a beach town where we could see the bright blue Atlantic Ocean and the natives dressed in their local costumes. Then we were off to Alcobaca which has a lovely church to visit and as luck would have it this is where Al’s Grandparents came from. It was a very meaningful visit for us.

Our last stop of the day was in Obidos. This is one of the prettiest tourist traps you can imagine. It is a walled city with a cobbled pedestrian street that you climb to the medieval Moorish fort and the street is lined with stores selling everything Portuguese you would possibly want. It was charming really and again we did buy some pottery and small items. There was an elderly woman sitting right under the gate who was crocheting delicate lace items at an amazing inexpensive price, she was the buy of the day.

We hopped back into the air-conditioned minivan and headed back to Lisbon on a different road ,this one dotted with windmills and I now have more windmill pictures than I will ever need

You know how it is with us when we travel; it is all about the food. We had been joking for days about the fact that we hadn’t really eaten much traditional Portuguese food and we really needed to try the grilled sardines. Yes I know, why? But we had decided we wanted to try them.

When we returned from our day in Sintra we asked our tour driver Victor Emmanuel if he knew of a traditional Portuguese restaurant. He told us about Casa da Mo which was located just around the corner from our hotel.

We headed over and stopped in front to see if we could read the menu. Mr. Raoul came out and introduced himself and pointed out where the English menu was. It looked good and the restaurant was lovely so we headed in. We were given a table along the right wall with a crisp white table cloth. The menu had all the names of the items in Portuguese but there were English subtitles, luckily for us.

We did indeed order the grilled sardines, six of them. Three of us had two each; Jim had the vegetable soup which he kept telling us was delicious. Eating sardines obviously is an art which we have not mastered. There are a lot of bones and you have to avoid the head and pull off the spine. Once you have done this they are not bad, as we say, it was a "once in a lifetime experience". I don’t think I will ever need to do it again.

For our entrees Joe and I had the salted cod with onion, Al had steak Portuguese style and Jim had the pork loin. The meals were all lovely. The cod did have some bones but only on the top, the rest of the fish was juicy and delicious. It was served with small boiled potatoes and a bath of olive oil. The steak came with fried potato slices and a slice of aged cured ham on top. The pork loin was a little spicy and came with boiled potatoes and haricot vert. All the meals were excellent and service was stellar.

Mr. Raoul and Al talked and determined that Al’s father came from the same area in Portugal as Raoul did. Before we knew it little complimentary glasses of Ginjinha the cherry schnapps were on our table and the dessert cart had mysterious relocated right alongside of us.

Joe and I tried traditional Portuguese desserts a plum cake and an egg cake. Jim had sliced fresh strawberries and Al had chocolate mousse which in Portugal is a rich and very dark variety. Followed by coffee in tiny cups and a cappuccino for me this was a very satisfying meal.

If you are looking for a good restaurant with traditional food and prices that won’t send you into sticker shock I highly recommend the Casa da Mo. By the way a mo is a millstone and the original millstone is on the right as you come in the door. This restaurant has been around for over a hundred years and is very good at making your experience special. You will also see plenty of locals which is always a good sign.

We came here through a simple miscalculation by our original hotel and what a delightful mistake it turned out to be. It’s hard to be disappointed when you are sent to one of the most gorgeous hotels you have ever seen. We knew that it couldn’t have been a more auspicious choice since it was perfectly located for visiting the Gulbenkian Museum.

We arrive here at about 10:30am and when they hear we had been sent by the Mundial they immediately let us have our rooms. We were delighted with everything we saw but without sleep weren’t prepared to appreciate it quite yet. After our three hour nap we just looked around in awe and thanked our lucky stars that we were here.

The lobby is stunning with marble floors, intimate seating groups, orchids and a combination of modern and décor and medieval lighting. You are greeted when you arrive by a doorman and escorted in. The desk staff is among the most efficient and friendly we have ever encountered, even the lady who ran the gift shop was friendly and helpful.

Our rooms were gorgeous. They are not spacious by American standards but by European quite roomy. We had a double Joe and Jim a twin and both were amazing. As you walk in the door there is a large cabinet, think IKEA that is your closet, has the mini bar and safe and extra bedding. The bathroom is across the entrance from the cabinet.

The bed anchored the wall with a very large circular mirror above it. Across from the foot of the bed is the flat screen TV and the desk. At the end of the desk there is a low club chair and in from of the window a glass top table. Like many hotels we have encountered in Europe in order to have electricity in your room you must insert your room key which means when you leave the room the lights cut out.

You can get internet through the TV and there is a keyboard on the desk. Cost is 9 Euros an hour or 18 Euros for 24 hours, if you add on demand movies it is 25 Euros a day. You can use Ethernet on your laptop which is what I chose to do. Expensive but good to have. The hotel does have a business center if you need to print something.

The bathroom is beautiful and of course has a bidet as well as a nice deep tub for soaking. The water pressure was excellent. Believe me I took advantage of the ability to soak after our long flight.

The hotel has a wonderful restaurant Tipico, a bar and the restaurant where the breakfast buffet is located. The breakfast buffet is about the best I have ever seen. They will make your Belgian waffles or omelets and there are scrambled eggs, bacon, potatoes and sausage. There is a lot of fresh fruit choices, cold cereal, vegetables, cheeses including Brie, cold meat, lots of bread and rolls and croissants. I loved the grilled oranges. If you want you can take your food and eat outside.

Tipico is a wonderful restaurant with great food. We had dinner there our one night there and it was outstanding from start to finish.

We loved this hotel and would not hesitate to stay here again. There are always cabs available and public transportation is also nearby. It is a little far from the center but that makes it quieter. The price for what you get is very reasonable.


http://www.corinthialisboahotel.com

As usual in my world of travel nothing ever goes smoothly. We were flying to Lisbon from Hartford Ct via Philadelphia. While I hadn’t allowed a long layover in Philly, it wasn’t too tight either. Well it wasn’t until our flight into Hartford was delayed. It had mechanical problems in Minneapolis and was at least a half hour behind schedule. Not to worry the desk crew assured everyone, the earliest connection was a 8:20 and we still had time. Our connection was 8:25. We sat there listening for updates which arrived regularly. We became friends with the other stranded passengers.

The fight ended up 35 minutes delayed, we made it to Philadelphia but of course our gate was on another concourse three concourses away. It was a very long walk to get there. We did get on to the plane in plenty of time. Flying these days is such an adventure. Do you want to watch the movie? If you didn’t bring your own headphones it will be $5 to buy them. Want a beer or wine on an International flight, $7. Was there enough room in the overhead bins, barely and almost everyone was carrying on everything. The good news is that we didn’t have to pay to check our bags for an International flight.

Another piece of good news. The meal was actually quite good. Choice of pasta with white sauce and spinach or BBQ chicken with potatoes. Very good actually, this is the first time I can remember actually eating my meal in years. The salad came with a cream pepper dressing again very tasty, a rye roll, real butter and a little piece of carrot cake, how yummy is that?

We arrive at Lisbon at just about 8am in the morning. The lines were immense and we spent about 45 minutes getting through customs before we could go to baggage claim. Of course by that time our flight was no longer listed so we had to find someone who spoke English to help us find out what had become of our luggage. Good news again, it was all lines up next to one of the carousels . We headed out to find a taxi to our hotel.

Just a note, in Lisbon most people we met especially our cab drivers don’t speak more than a word or two of English, hotel employees on the other hand do speak impeccable English.

Lisbon airport is only 4 miles outside the city, Depending on where your hotel is this is going to be an inexpensive trip in. For 4 of us and all our luggage to Graca where our hotel is located was with tip 20 euros. It was fast, easy and safe.

We booked our hotel months in advance. They were waiting for us when we arrived. There had been a bit of a computer glitch. They are renovating and the person in charge of putting in the number of rooms available to let had not taken into account the ones being renovated. There was no room for us tonight.

The good news, they had gotten us a room at a 5 star hotel, way across town and they were going to pay the taxi to take us there. They were going to give us the room at this hotel for the same rate were paying at the Mundial and then they would pay for us to come back tomorrow.

Since we had no alternative plan we said okay Well I wish we could have spent our whole vacation at the Corinthia Hotel. It is gorgeous. The rooms are sleek and modern, the bed was very comfortable , we were allowed in our room by 11am so we got to rest before beginning to make the rounds. Wonderful staff and I have to say a gorgeous hotel. Only one day into our adventures in Lisbon and already the excitement has started.