One Night in Lisbon

On my way home from Israel, I stayed a night in Lisbon.  There was no way I could get off a plane, pick up my bags, get over to terminal 2 (a short bus ride) and check in on a different airline, and be able to board my plane in just one hour.  There was no better excuse to stay in Lisbon overnight and visit my favorite mall. 

 

Hello Lisbon!  I have said this before, and I will say it again, but I love Lisbon.  Maybe because it seems foreign, yet familiar because I recognize the stores, the language and even the TV channels (same as my home TV on the island).  What ever it may be, I love Lisbon and if you are considering places in Europe for a vacation, do not overlook Lisbon (or all of Portugal).

This time I stayed at Hotel Roma, which was the perfect price, a good location between the airport and the mall, and it came recommended by a friend.

I had nice, clean accommodations.  Even if just for one night it is nice to have something clean.  I don’t mind small or lacking amenities if only for one night, but clean is very necessary. 

I even had a view.  Not the best one (because I wasn’t near any of those things), but it was still a view.

 

My main intention for this was a trip to the mall.  The mall is across from Benfica Stadium, where the popular Lisbon football (yes, I mean soccer) team plays.

Here is Colombo Mall.  This is by far the best mall I have ever seen in my life.  It has over 400 stores and over 65 restaurants, a movie theater, a gym, and even a fun center complete with a roller coaster inside.  You can see why I had to stop there.

 

Actually, the biggest reason was that I needed a trip to my favorite store, Natura.  I bought tons at this store last summer in Spain and I really wanted to get a few more things before we move so far away.

Good thing this store was right by where the cab dropped me off and I got my shopping done early in the evening.  Then I was able to relax and stroll around this gigantic mall.

Take a look at this!  I usually do not miss shopping so much (not much on the island) because I can buy things online, but I did get excited to visit this mall, not only to see what they have there, but to see all the different people there, and also check out all of the food options.

Speaking of food options, I went a little crazy in the food court and restaurant section, and took pictures of just about everything with an unobstructed view.

 

I was impressed to see so many places with fresh fish cases on display.

Cerveja anyone?  I mean beer, anyone?

 

They all looked so cute inside.

I love the boards with the menu and the decor of the restaurants.

They even have an outdoor area connected to the restaurant area that has a fountain, and then more restaurants outside with nice patio seating.

There was a KFC here, and also a really nice looking Pizza Hut, which Ryan has eaten at before.

I went with Taste of India for my dinner.  I really miss Indian food so it did not surprise me that this was my choice.

I also really liked all the fun pink inside.

Dinner started with some dipping sauces and some bread.

For dinner I ordered my favorite, which is mattar paneer, which is cheese and peas.

 

I liked that when it came to the table there was the candle underneath to keep it heated.

I also ordered some rice to go with my dinner.

 

Then I wandered around some more.  This time I headed to the food court.  I loved the names of these ice cream places.  I also think it is funny that they are in English.

This is by far the nicest food court I have ever seen.

If you are at all familiar with Portuguese cuisine, you will know that cod is a major thing here, and the Portuguese word for cod is Bacalhau.  Therefore, I found this restaurant name really funny (like Mr. Cod).

I don’t eat meat, but I found this concept really neat.  These were super gourmet style.

I loved this long table set up.  This is traditional for like make shift street bars for festivals on the island, although this is a little nicer than the ones we see set up for just a week.

Again, an English sign.

After dinner I checked out the fun zone.

Inside is a roller coaster.  Not a huge one, but still a roller coaster.

As I continued through the mall, I located this cafe, where last summer I enjoyed some coffee with my mom and Joe.  I made sure to stop in again this year.

As I went to leave the mall I found myself tempted to enter the HUGE grocery store.  It was a Continente, which is what we have on the island, and it was amazing how familiar it felt inside, despite being larger than some Wal-marts.  My favorite find of the evening was this.  This is smoked cod, like smoked salmon (and they had smoked trout too).  I didn’t buy any since I was leaving the next morning, but I did imagine how cool this could be to try with a bagel and cream cheese.

I stopped and took one last look at the mall, and the beautiful decorations and waterfalls, and then headed back to the room to get come sleep before my 8 am flight back to the island.

  

At the airport I had a nice breakfast sandwich.

Then on the plane I had a veggie sandwich.  They still serve meals or snacks with this airline, and actually many European airlines, depending on the flight length.

I was so happy to be home after hours of traveling and not seeing Ryan for almost 2 weeks.  He went to the States and then I left for Israel before he came home.  It was good to be back, but there was so much to unpack.  Plus, I had to present Ryan with all of the goodies I picked up for him.

Here are some of those.  This first contains mini ruggelach, which is a Jewish type of cookie or dessert.  This are tiny little bite sized ones.  Ryan has had them at my mom’s before and so I know that he likes them.

I also could not resist these Jewish star cookies.

I purchased this giant box of Turkish Delight to give to people as gifts.  It had about 50 pieces in a variety of pistachio and other flavors.

Boy, I am glad to be back, but of course, I will be turning around soon and heading to Italy.  I am looking forward to that trip, especially because I will be there with Ryan.  Make sure to check back regularly for posts from that trip.  I may not be able to get on and write them often because I want to spend as much time as possible doing things there, but I will try and work on posts along the way.

Oh, and please do not think I have forgotten about any of you because I have not been able to read all of your posts and leave comments.  I promise when I return and get settled into my routine again, I will be more visible in the blog world.  Thanks for bearing with me, and I hope you enjoyed reading all about my time in Israel.

QUESTIONS:  What is your favorite city?  What is your favorite mall or store?  How do you keep up with blogging while traveling?