An erasmus day in Lisbon: Alfama

“Hostels in Lisbon are very good”, was the first thing my hosts told me when we met. I chose to take that remark as an informative one: “Thank you, now that I know that, I won’t have to see one”. They weren’t happy with the answer, but the pursuit of happiness is not easy. You don’t get happy with answers, you get happy with drugs. Is this “happy” or “high”? Sorry, my english are not very good.


I’m not a drug addict, but my hosts are erasmus students to Lisbon University and we all had to stay in a minimum sized bedroom, designed for one medium sized person and furnished with two small beds. Obviously, I had to sleep on the floor for 5 nights. It wouldn’t be easy without the proper Moroccan chocolate. Yes, that’s right, candies help you sleep.

Miraduras are a favorite place for students and young people in Lisbon. A mirdura is a terrace or a park with a view.

 

I have to be honest with you: I didn’t visit any museums during my Lisbon trip. I had to skip them all. I even missed the Pena palace, although I took the train to Sintra and walked at random streets in the village without knowing what I was doing, which is pretty much the daily routine of my friends in Lisbon. So, instead of museums, we went to miraduras.


A miradura is a kind of a terrace with a view, accessible to everybody, just like a park. Some times a miradura is also a park or a paved area. There are more than one miraduras in Lisbon. Young Lisboneans and students like to go there and do absolutely nothing for a while (which is cool). If they get bored of doing nothing, they like to talk, lit a cigarette,  drink a refreshment or a beer. There are two brands of beer in Portugal: Super Bock and Sagres. They are both OK. People don’t seem to care anyway, they just buy the cheeper.

Walls, doors and pavements.

 A rua (road) at Alfama, Lisbon

My companions led me to three miraduras, around the Alfama area. Alfama is a very nice place to visit or live. All the streets are made of stone, have old trams to ride them and resemble snakes. Non-straight (gay?) streets make a nice scenery, which is completed by the old buildings, usually covered with colored or painted tiles, and small outdoor coffee shops and restaurants. Did I mention the trams? Anyway, Alfama miraduras give you the good vibes of relaxation, because of all the relaxed people you can meet there. Between them you can spot a few street musicians or artists who might try to sell you stuff. Of course, at these places, other people might try to sell you “stuff” too, like candies and coke. You have to ignore them nicely and continue your relaxation and beer drinking until you get hungry. Feeling hungry should be treated as a signal to leave the miradura and find something to eat.

 

There are quite a few turns like this in Alfama, Lisbon.

Trams, stone covered pavements and low profile stores are typical in Lisbon

My people are not the kind of people who will pay more than 10 euros per person (epp) for a good meal. They are the kind of people who will pay around 7 epp for a stomach exploding luinner (the meal between lunch and dinner) at a local tavern of Alcantara neighborhood. We ordered enough pork to feed 5 or 6 persons (we were only 3), with a generous side of piri piri. Piri piri is a quite hot sauce. If you can consume a tea spoon of piri piri, tabasco will taste like cold soda to you. Piri piri will burn your mouth and nose until you won’t be capable of tasting anything else. But that wasn’t enough to stop as from cleaning the table off food. That luinner luined our stomachs for a couple of days