Two days ago, 3/4 of the Lilla family united in Lisbon, Portugal for the beginning of our next family adventure. But how did we get here?

• D has been in Amsterdam, Croatia, Montenegro and Greece for the past three weeks and he spends the next three weeks in Greece with friends.
• Paul has been in Pico, Italy working on the house, enjoying the extended time off as a public school employee. 
• And finally, taking 3 separate flights, Paul, Miss M and I all met up in Lisbon. 

The train from the airport dropped us off 200 feet from our hotel, the Convent Square, and I’m so happy with our choice of hotel. It’s centrally located, great amenities, staff, etc. 

We spent the afternoon walking around the city, popping in and out of stores, seeing the Praca do Comercio riverside square, Livaria Bertrand (the oldest operating bookstore in the world), Elevador de Santa Justa, Rossio Square, and enjoying the pool and sauna at the hotel attempting to stave off the jet leg. 

One of our first culinary stops was to try pastéis de nata, a Portuguese egg custard pastry. While the pastry wasn’t new to us, having one in the birthplace of this delicacy was a must do and well worth it. 

For dinner, Paul and I went to a touristy place a block from the hotel and grabbed sopa verde (creamy soup with a few slices of chorizo) for me, chorizo that the waiter set ablaze and cooked at the table, and bacalhau a bras (shredded salt cod, onions, potato and egg cake) for Paul. 

On our first full day we enjoyed pastries from Confeitaria Nacional for breakfast and then taxied to another area of Lisbon for some site-seeing. First Mosteiro dos Jeronimos (Jeronimos Monastery), then the Padrao dos Descobrimentos (Monument to the Discoveries) and then with Torre de Belem. 

We also made a pit stop at Pasteis de Belem, the birthplace of pastéis de nata to compare to yesterdays treat. 

After a quick trolley ride we spent the early afternoon walking around LX Factory, a 19th C complex which houses over 50 small restaurants, shops and galleries from local merchants. 

For lunch we had tacos at Ni Michi and made then made our way to another area of Lisbon to see “pink street” before doing more shopping and then heading back to the hotel for another dip in the pool.

That evening we went on a sunset boat cruise around the harbor. Two hours on the Tagas river brought us out and around to see the city from the water.  

Dinner at 10p was Cantinho do Avillez where I had deep fried green beans and oven baked cheese from the Nisa region topped with pancetta, rosemary honey and truffle oil. Miss M had tagliatelle bolognese and Paul had steak.