Welcome back! Seems like we were just here. Oh, that’s right, we were! Lisbon is almost like Barcelona for us now – sort of a 2nd home. Today, though, we aren’t doing anything in particular. We arrive at 7am and leave at 3pm, so anything outside the city in a car would be too rushed and we’ve done so much here in town, we figure it is a good day to just relax and wander around.

We don’t even get off the ship until after 11, a slow relaxing day. As we make our way toward town, it begins to sprinkle a bit, so we dive into a little restaurant and ask about cappuccino. The owner says sure, sure, and tells us to sit in the window seats while he makes our coffee. It is the coziest place, small, decorated all in teal, including the plates and table ware. We sit in the window, me on a teal pillow, enjoying our cappuccino while the rain tries to taper away.

Luckily we are done at the same time the rain is, which makes us happy. And as it turns out, this little cafe is actually a full service restaurant, Menina Sardinhos, that I don’t even think was open when we walked in. The owner just decided to be nice and make us our cappuccino! he told us to come back for lunch as they would be opening at 12:30! How sweet was that?

We’ll plan on coming back for lunch then! Continuing our journey, we snap all the obligatory pictures of the buildings we love that line the waterfront road, then dive into the commercial heart of the city.

We have no specific plans, except to buy some Pasteis de nata for our favorite crew, and do accomplish that at the great Manteigaria bakery where a sweet, but harried sales girl also gives us some little boxes so that we can divide up the tarts for our different guys. Deciding it is time for lunch, we reverse course, only for me to stumble upon a great little shop where they have a cork purse that is exactly what I need for the ship and for our travel backpack. Score! I keep saying I’m going to make one myself and never get around to it, so this is a great find!

At one point the skies open up, and we hang out on a street corner under a shop awning. Once the rain shower passed, we head to Menina, where they aren’t yet open, so we continue on into Alfama, climbing up those steep streets, looking for someplace to eat. There is a little shop selling Obidos Ginja, which we can’t pass up and right around the corner an open restaurant with a patio area, but also a few tables inside by the windows – which is the best choice as it begins to pour once we settle ourselves inside for an excellent meal of chorizo and a tender, perfectly seasoned grilled octopus.

We are super lucky, and the skies have cleared by the time we have finished eating. Not willing to push our luck, we head back to the ship between the rain drops. Then just hang out for the rest of the afternoon in the relative warmth and dryness of the ship.

Tonight, dinner at Cagney’s then a show in our fav seats. And balcony and bed. Broken record, but it is our record and we’re happy recording it.