Extraordinary Adventure 2018 Day 14: Sailing into the Sunset
Having a late flight is a double edge sword. On one hand you don’t have to wake up early and rush out of the hotel. On the other you lose some or most of your day to travel. We didn’t have to leave our Madrid hotel this morning until 11 AM so we stayed relatively lazy. I was able to get a run in and by the time I got back and showered it was time to head to the airport.
Unlike Marrakech, the Madrid airport was the epitome of efficient. We dropped our bags off and went through security in 1/4 of the time it took us to just drop our bags off in Morocco. Once through security and a thorough inspection of our gear we went to the airport lounge where we enjoyed some water and good Wifi while we waited for our flight. The flight from Madrid to Lisbon our final destination on this adventure was a little over an hour. When we landed we grabbed our bags (which felt like they took forever) and stood in a line just as long as at JFK to get a taxi.
A little after 1 PM in Lisbon we were at our hotel the Fontecruz Lisboa, Autograph Collection where we checked in and got a beautiful room on the third floor. What we loved about this hotel when we booked it was that it had a unique style and the room/lobby did not disappoint. Once we checked in and dropped off our bags it was time to grab lunch. Jenn usually is very patient with me meticulously going through the TripAdvisor/Yelp reviews to find the perfect place. If you’ve watched Master of None on Netflix I’m totally Aziz trying to find “the best” always. She was hungry so I quickly found a place and we were off.
We ended up at Mr. Lisboa and had one of the best meals of the trip. Mr. Lisboa is a Portuguese tapas restaurant and we went a little nuts. After ordering two glasses of white wine we went with five different tapas which included: fried shrimp rolls, pork cheek, mushroom and bacon rice, sausage corn bread hash, and ceviche. To top it off (we thought these were small plates given the prices) I got a chicken sandwich which was one of the best chicken sandwiches I’ve ever had. By the time the last bit of food came we both looked like we might pass out. The waiters who were appreciative of our order came by with a nice after lunch liquor to help the digestive process along.
We left lunch with our bellies full and our minds ready to conquer Lisbon. That lasted maybe 30-minutes as the 90-degree weather beat down us in the middle of the afternoon as we walked around the nearby neighborhood. We did stop and grab our third and final Starbucks mug of the trip before we walked back to our hotel, unpacked, got cozy and waited for our one excursion for the evening.
At a little after 5 PM we got ready and left via an Uber to the coastline where we boarded a boat at 6PM for a two-hour sunset cruise. We had heard that there was nothing better then taking in Lisbon on the river at night so this was one of the first excursions we booked when we booked the trip. We boarded a few minutes after 6 PM and were off to sea. From the photos it may look like we had the boat to ourselves. We actually had eight others on board. But right when the boat left the dock I grabbed Jenn and took her to the front where we grabbed a bean bag at the front of the ship where we laid down and watched the sun set over our first day in Lisbon.
The entire ride was peaceful and beautiful. No one ever came to the front of the ship so it felt like a private excursion. We spent the entire two-hours just enjoying the beautiful evening. When we arrived back at the dock we took an Uber back to our hotel. We were still pretty full from our big lunch so we split a room service burger and turned out the lights on our first night in Lisbon by watching the Apple Conference and Ozark on Netflix. Today we tasted Lisbon, tomorrow we devour it.
