On Wednesday, November 26th we flew from Barcelona to Lisbon.  I am usually so careful but somehow I booked the car pick-up for August of 2026 rather than 2025!  After relentless teasing by David, we jumped into the cab to Memmo Principe Hotel.https://www.memmohotels.com/principereal/  It is a Design Hotel, quite contemporary, with views over the city.

That night we walked first to a favourite store, Vista Alegra, and bought a gift.  Then we had dinner at Oficio. https://www.paradigma.pt/venues/oficio-lisboa  It’s a very unpretentious restaurant that is well rated by Michelin.  It was a bit different, for example, we had seaweed in a creamy cheese sauce.   We enjoyed it but unfortunately my stomach didn’t love it, so my sleep wasn’t great that night.

My lack of sleep didn’t get in the way of me having more food and we joined our food tour at 10:30 am.  We had a chatty guide, originally from Chile, who was very enthused about the local food.  We first went to a hole-in-the-wall and had a cherry liquor- think they like cough medicine.  I had a sip as it was a bit early for me to go all in.

We also went to a place for a pork sandwich, a place which had some Portuguese cold cuts and cheeses, a big rice dish (somewhat like paella but soupier), and a place with empanadas.  We also went to a very old shop and tasted ports.  

Each place was a unique, out of the way place that we wouldn’t have visited without advice so we really enjoyed the food, seeing local restaurants and of course, the drink.

We chilled that night and cancelled our reservation at Canalha (sister restaurant to Oficio) and ate a simple dinner at the hotel.

The next day we boarded the ship and just relaxed with dinner at the Grill outside.   We were originally scheduled to depart that evening but there was a dock workers strike so we were forced to leave one day later.  

As we had seen enough of Lisbon on our previous trips, we enjoyed the ship and then went to the movies to see Wicked II.

Literally as soon as we left the protection of the port the seas the ship began rocking, so it was generally a dance down the hall (much later we learned that the ships stabilizers were not functioning properly). 

Over the next few days it improved but it has continued to have enough movement to know we are at sea.

The next day was a day at sea and we have again committed to practicing our Bridge.  We took in an expert talk about the spies of World War II, worked out and relaxed.