While Amanda, Emmie, and Gee Gee were in their cooking class, we hung around the apartment for a bit, just relaxing. Noah and Eilidh each had turns playing on the iPad before playing together with Elsa’s useful collection of toys.
We did venture into the city, taking the Metro to the Cais de Sodré station in search of a currency shop we’ve seen the day before. Noah and I have talked about the Pound and Euro on this trip, and how many countries have their own currency, so the idea of visiting a store with foreign and collectible coins and bills for sale was quite appealing to Noah.
Noah posed with a bottle of juice we purchased exiting the Metro station; he was ultimately not a fan, as the consistency was more like applesauce than apple juice.
Unfortunately, the store we returned to was disappointing, as most of their selection we had already seen through the front windows, and the bulk of the business was selling lottery tickets. We had a brief bout of hope as a shop literally next door seemed to have far more collectible currency for sale, but the shop was closed with a sign stating the proprietor was out to lunch. He or she must have taken a long lunch, as the place remained when we returned more than an hour later.
Our unsuccessful shopping trip sandwiched a visit to the very-much-in-theme Museum of Money. Operated by the Portuguese government, we had to do a security check before entering, and after perusing the displays on the building’s first floor, the museum looked to be a disappointment. However, once we found the museum directory and took the steps up to the second floor, we found a series of fun exhibits. We saw a number of ancient coins and bills, worked our way through panels outlining Portuguese currency history, and garnered insight into the production of the Euro.
Eilidh got a kick out of seeing Noah on a big screen, part of the coin exhibit’s interactive features.
We stayed at the museum as long as Eilidh would allow, then chose McDonald’s as the final stop of our outing. Noah demolished his 8 chicken McNuggets, but I was underwhelmed by the limited-time “Rustico” chicken sandwich. I did enjoy the garlic mayonnaise which accompanied the fries, and the ice-cold fountain Coke hit the spot.
I had a mostly unsuccessful trip to the city in the afternoon to look for a few more souvenirs before returning to our apartment with some to-go ice cream from Mu – Gelato Italiano. While Noah’s newfound love of pistachios did not translate to the pistachio ice cream I purchased, everyone liked and quickly finished the Oreo-flavored side of the takeaway ice cream container.
We ventured into the city for this year’s Lisbon photoshoot, following up on our successful and fun experience from 2017. We wanted to end at the same Praça do Comércio square but explore a different area along the way, and our photographer Rita developed the perfect itinerary.
We started near the Santa Justa Elevator, and although we did not go to the top, we used the connecting chainlink fence as a starting photo backdrop, then worked our way to a number of charming neighborhoods for photos. We even had the opportunity to pose inside a trolley car that was on break! Rita was again generous with her time, taking photos for nearly two hours, and even carried our backpack for safekeeping, and ensuring it didn’t end up in photos.
During a break, I bought a can of Guarana Antartica, a Brazilian soda popular in Portugal. I thought it resembed Cherry 7Up; Amanda compared it to cherry cough syrup.
Downtown Lisbon was hopping with World Cup fever, though the square was expected to be far more packed in two days when Portugal is scheduled to play Uruguay in the event’s first round of elimination games. We hung around a few minutes before making the short walk to our dinner destination for the evening, Café do Rio. The restaurant’s focus was hamburgers, and I’m happy to report that after several disappointing Portuguese hamburger meals over the past two years, these were quite tasty.
The hamburgers were served without buns; instead, most toppings were sandwiched between a large bottom patty and petite top patty.
Emmie was excited about her dish of fries and eggs but was surprisingly disappointed by the over-easy eggs, cooked the way she usually likes.
Amanda, Noah, Eilidh, and Gee Gee took the quick Uber ride home, allowing Emmie and I to do a little exploration during our last night in Lisbon. She’d wanted to buy a dress from H&M and I wanted to visit a hypermart I remembered from last year’s vacation to pick up some additional candy to take back to the states.
Emmie poses while we wait at our first-ever visit to a blue (“azul”) line metro station.
The candy purchase was successful, but Emmie was distraught to find out the H&M at the mall only stocked men and women’s clothing. Fortunately, it was next to a place called Zippy’s, a Portuguese chain of children’s clothing, where Emmie picked out a few outfits, a hair tie, and a pair of shoes. I appreciated the reasonable prices and that the dress she bought was not only designed in Portugal but made in Portugal, something which we would not have gotten from H&M.
Eilidh poses by the array of snack purchases from the Continente hypermarket. In addition, we found some more of the lemon-apple-mint juice I discovered at the Moorish castle.
They only had big bags left at Zippy’s, which made for a great photo.