A gift of a day

Here's to more like it (41)

Frankly we never visualized all that much about what life here in Portugal would be like. We know those who saw themselves sitting outside at cafes, or having 2 euro glasses of fabulous wine at a lovely little outdoor eatery. We never got around to that. It was pretty much decision, go. No time for imagining involved.

So here’s the day we never dreamed would happen. We had an invitation to visit with friends for a lunch. We took a bus from near the metro stop at the end of our street to Alcantra, one of the neighborhoods to the west. It’s about an hour’s walk, to give you a perspective. It’s on the water, and near the Ponte de 25 April bridge, which crosses the Tagus River.

Our bus was moving slowly (if by slowly we mean not at all) so as the minutes ticked by and we became later and later we made the decision to hop off and started walking. Naturally an intersection later it cleared up and our bus soon passed us. However we were having fun walking, until we got to their hill. We had thought that the hill on Rua do Salitre, our street, was a killer. We now know that our hill is a baby hill. Sadly, our friends do not have an elevator in their building, so after the hill, it was up 5 floors. They’re good friends ;-)

Waiting for us were new friends, a fabulous charcuterie board, and A View. How they get any work done looking at the river and bridge and the boats and a charming chapel and its courtyard is a mystery to us.

After the chatting and gawking, we moved along to the outdoor seating of a tiny restaurant at the top of the hill. We’re sorry we don’t have pictures of the wide staircase we were perched on top of or the wonderful Brazilian dishes, but the hours spent there were so magical we never thought to reach for our phones.

We capped the afternoon, now evening, off with a quick tour of Santo Amaro Chapel, which dates from 1549. Our photos are not very good, as they were taken in and among a gathering that was starting to break up while we visited.