Lisbon Day 4

Today was our last day in Lisbon, a place where we have come to feel very comfortable in our skin. As we only had a few hours here today, we took breakfast at the hostel, grabbed a cafe con lech (John), and then did some clothes shopping. Every clothing store is having a sale right now, which is great because Europe is where clothes actuary fit us. The only tricky thing about clothes shopping is that one has to find room to pack purchases!

We trained to the airport and had lunch there before flying back to Spain. The flight ran late and we miscalculated when we had to be there, so we had some extra down-time at the airport. This was not a problem. We shopped more for clothes in the airport mall and Adam even served as a model-in-waiting for a French shopper (Geraldine) who was buying shirts for her husband.

 

In Madrid, we took the bus into town to get to our Airbnb. We have a neat little apartment on the top of a sixth floor walk up (118 wooden stairs). We have a quiet little balcony with a view directly out of Mary Poppins, had the story been set in Spain. This also gave us our first hand at using the Spanish system of window and door coverings, which really help keep out the heat of the ever-present sun.

 

 
For dinner, we found a restaurant that seems to have been caught in time. I think this was the first time we had cervesa the entire trip. In an attempt to consume the elusive green vegetable (really, neither the Spanish nor the Portuguese seem to eat greens at all) we ordered the highly recommended ensalada rusa, or Russian salad. It has been on menus all along the trip. We were in for another surprise along the lines of the corn/trope problem we had back in the Basque region. This is Russian salad:

 

It is a Baptist potluck dream: some concocted mixture of potatoes, eggs, tuna, roasted red peppers, and possibly pimenton. We're not sure what makes it Russian, but you eat it with little cigars of bread. 

As it turns out, the world pride festival is happening in Madrid right now, so there are many more than the normal number of tourists. The town has changed their crosswalk signals for the event. We are not planning to go to the north central part of the city where the festival is happening...unless we hear about a good pancake breakfast.

 
 
Addenda: all of Iberia has a love affair with fresh orange juice and we have seen these juicers everywhere. The oranges are sweet and the juice is wonderful.

 

Also, the Portuguese were often mopping the outside of their building facades and also the street tiles.
 

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