Foodie tour in Lisbon

We got up at 8 and put some washing on. Our aim is to clean all our clothes before we board the cruise. 

We had booked a 4 hour food walking tour via AirBNB, called "Oh My Cod". We walked to the Arca da Rua Augusta, where we were to meet our guide, Miguel. There were 10 of us on the tour. We were the only Aussies, while the others were Americans from Virginia, Pennsylvania and Utah.

It was a great tour. We called into a food store and three restaurants, walking around the Alfama, Mouraira and Baixa areas. We learned about the history of Lisbon and various groups of people who had lived here over the centuries. Major earthquakes occur every 2 - 300 years. A tsunami wiped out the low lying areas of the city in 1755, so that part was rebuilt as an ordered and planned streetscape, while the areas not impacted, higher up, retain much of the original character and narrow streets.

At the first stop, the food store, we sampled tawny port, 4-month cured Sao Jorge cheese with quince marmalade, traditional con bread called broa. The store sold big piles of salted cod too.

Before the second food stop we went to the Church of Sao Domingos. During the early 16th century the king at the time decreed that any non-Catholics would have to leave Lisbon. As a result, many Jewish people had to pretend to be Catholic. During the plague, in 1506, a “new Christian, ex Jew” disputed that a shaft of light that lit the face of Christ meant that the plague was over. The friars encouraged the murder of this person and any other “New Christian”. Thousands of people died and the killing only stopped with the king intervened and executed the instigators.

The church was damaged by earthquakes in 1531 and 1755. then by a fire in 1959. The roof was restored, but everything else in the church has been retained. It is a very eerie and sad place.

Our next stop was a Mozambiquan restaurant. We enjoyed samosas and then rice with bean curry and Vegie curry with okra, accompanied by our drink of choice. This was really nice, comfort food.

Mozambique restaurant to the right

Third stop was at a typical a Portuguese family-run restaurant, O Trigueirinho, where we enjoyed cod with potatoes and Vinho Verde, a sparkling green wine.

Our guide, Miguel, with a cod and
potato dish

Our final stop was at a tapas restaurant, where we had octopus salad, sardines, chorizo, morcela (blood sausage), then a sheep cheese (Serra da estrela) that has been called the second best cheese in the world with tomato jam, washed down with a lovely red wine. Then there was dessert! Not Pasteis de Nata (the famous Portuguese Tart), as we can get that anywhere, but we had egg yolk flan and rice pudding with a delicious cherry liqueur called Ginginha. Then coffee (for Ian anyway)!

We said goodbye and wandered down towards to cruise port where we caught an Uber back to our apartment. 

We had a rest and digested all the food we had tried! Unfortunately our apartment is not an idyllic as it should be. There is a family upstairs with a child that runs around almost constantly, thumping, jumping and goodness knows what else. The floors are obviously quite thin a we can hear their dog walking around (it’s nails clattering). We don’t hear voices or other noises, just the thumping!!

The front entrance to our apartment
- blue tiles and bougainvillea 

We had hoped to buy some food to eat in, but sadly not many decent grocery options around. So we walked further up the hill to get to a well-reviewed little restaurant, Fumeiro de Santa Caterina, right on opening time at 7 pm. Just as well we did, as it soon filled up. We really didn’t need a lot of food, but had a cheese and meat plate, “grand-daddy fries” and a sandwich with pear and melted cheese (Serra de estrela again). We then had dessert - Ian had a small, rich chocolate mousse, while I had grilled fruit with basil ice cream. It was all lovely and we wanted to come back tomorrow night, but sadly they were not open Sundays.

It was a pleasant, short walk downhill to our apartment and an early night.