Lisbon

At the end of each year we celebrate our Anniversary.      Sometimes we are lucky enough to be in a great place to celebrate our anniversary and this year we was really lucky because we was able to celebrate New Year Eve in Lisbon Portugal.    Lisbon is an incredible city.     In many ways it is similar to San Francisco it is hilly has trams and a bridge that looks like the golden gate bridge.

One of the main things we went on this african tour of Lisbon that was led by Naky Gaglo

This tour was incredible.     He had all of the tour participants be really involved in the tour and we learned a ton.    We went to areas of Lisbon that had a heavy African presence, learned about the past history of the Portuguese slave trade and we talked about the upcoming African memorial that will be built in Lisbon soon.    Even though this tour was in Portugal, the people we talk to was from York Pa, New York City, Rio De Janeiro, and Boston.    Nobody we talk to was from Portugal.

For New Year Eve Lisbon had a huge party at their main plaza by the river Praca do Comercio     This party was huge there had to be at least 1 million people there and the fireworks show they had there was incredible.

The first thing we did when we got here was go to the Time Out Market.     Time Out has a few markets throughout the world including one in Brooklyn but this is first one they had in the world.     This place is great.    It is like a lot of the food hall that are appearing all over the world.     This place is super crowded.    So crowded that we had no place to sit but fortuneately we was able to sit in a park right outside of the market and the weather cooperated.

One of the most popular areas in Lisbon is Belem.    Belem is a neighborhood that is on the western side of town.    Three of the most popular things in Belem is 1) Pasteis de Belem.     For the DC area people think of this as the Georgetown Cupcakes of Lisbon.     There is always a line here.    The main thing they sell here is a very sweet egg tart that Lisbon is famous for.     You can find this all over Lisbon but people really want to come this to this particular place.     2)  Padrao dos Descobrimentos this is a huge statue along the river that is a tribute to Portugal exploring history.

3) the tower of Belem     this was a fort and lookout tower in the 16th century.    We did not have time to go here but was able to view it along the river.     Also in this area you are next to a bridge that cross the river that looks very similar to the Golden Gate Bridge

The final thing I want to mention is the place we had our Anniversary dinner the Bellalisa Elevador Restaurante.     This restaurant was next to the Santa Justa Lift which was an elevator which transport people from streets in the lower level of town to the upper level.     The restaurant was at the top of town and had excellent views of town and we was able to eat outside but in a covered area so we could see everything.

I can not wait to get back to Lisbon