Having a mate to travel together is always a blessing, moreover having a foodie to travel along is absolutely fun! Nonetheless, this has not been the best time to travel due to the recent slumps of sterling where the exchange rate is at 1:1 against Euro or even lower (thanks to Brexit yo…).
8th October 2016 (Saturday)
8th October 2016 (Saturday)
As the flight was scheduled to depart at 13:45 from Heathrow, we have plenty of time in the morning getting to the airport and lingering in the terminal. First time flying with TAP Portugal, we find that the customer comments were true whereby a delay of 30 minutes is rather common and expected. For our lunch In Heathrow Terminal 2, we decided to randomly pick a restaurant to dine-in and regrettably came to this Ca'puccino Cafe. There is no one at the entrance to guide us to our seat, and we waited long to get served as those staffs seem to be well-trained to avoid eye contacts with the customers. Surprisingly, the first thing the staff said to us after a long wait is demanding us to change from a four seater table to a two seater desk while the whole restaurant was not even 20% occupied. The ladies sitting two tables away from us also commented that the restaurant was in fact empty so why bother asking us to shift. If this is their so called policy, their staffs should have pointed us to the right seat in the first place. What a terrible and unprofessional service. We eventually loses our patience and appetite hence walking straight out of the restaurant. After doing some research while writing this blog post, I came across dozens of comments condemning the services of this restaurant and therefore what we encountered was probably something common and regular after all.
After getting ourselves the Lisboa Card at €39.00 in the Lisbon Portela Airport, we took the Metro from Aeroporto to Alameda. The Metro system in Lisbon was extremely convenient and easy with only 4 metro lines: The red, yellow, blue and green. Anjos is the nearest station to the Czar Hotel but is always jam-packed. Luckily most stations along the green line were close enough to reach by foot. The check-in process at the hotel was quite smooth but we were surprised that both single rooms given to us were different. The one with bath tub is without a coffee machine, while the other without bath tub is with the coffee machine but charging €1.00 per capsule?! In addition, the wifi was almost unusable throughout the stay. (Ok….more complaints to come)
After taking an hour’s time to refresh ourselves, we headed out to town as we couldn’t wait to hunt for a famed seafood restaurant to satiate our hunger. We were lucky to grab the last 2 seats in Solar 31 da Calçada without an advance reservation, however it feels awful sitting right beside the tank where we were looking straight at the crabs while they were being caught and brought into the kitchen getting ready to be served on the table. (I am so sorry crabby…) One thing I realized is that adding salt to a glass of coke is extremely rare and uncommon in Europe because anyone sitting beside me is staring and whispering while I was doing so. Even my colleague from Finland was once amazed by the same hence I am supposed to conclude that this is some odd Asian (or Malaysian) preference and flavouring? We did enjoyed the grilled octopus, fresh white fish, the crab and the mouth-watering clams, and I would give them a high rating of 9/10 for their food and services. While on the way walking back to the hotel, we were shocked by a “racing tram” as neither of us have seen such a tram at a high speed on the road. Looks like there are hidden surprises everywhere if you pay enough attention to the surroundings.
9th October 2016 (Sunday)
Waking up around 8.30am for breakfast, we were rather disappointed by the choices we had at the breakfast counter. Claiming to be a 4 stars hotel, many things were in fact below standard. After the light breakfast and a small chat over the table, we were ready to kick start our day.
Our first stop is Belém and we spent almost an hour in the queue trying to enter into the Torre de Belém (Belém Tower). Luckily the weather was warm and sunny accompanied by some cooling breeze which suppresses our annoyance. After entering the tower, we were amazed to find another line of queue towards the top of the tower but we were rather exhausted and gave up the idea of reaching to the top.
We continued West to the town of Cascais. The initial plan was to look for a decent place for lunch since we do not find anything attractive in Belém, but the fantastic landscape caught us by surprise and we ended up spending the rest of the day in this coastal town. We were having fun taking crazy pictures along the beach and the sand was so smooth allowing us to walk around barefoot. We were fortunate to find Clo-Clo Seafood Restaurant in one of the alley and once again the duo small-sized Asian ladies ordered a table full of foods including the cheese and bread as appetizer, followed by the grill prawns, seafood risotto, mussel tagliatelle and some drinks.
Subsequent to the heavy seafood meals that we have had during the day, we were craving for some light dishes for the night hence this nearby Grande Palácio Hong-Kong Restaurant appears to be the best choice for dinner. Claiming to be looking for a light dinner, we ended up ordering a big bowl of dumpling soup, a plate of duck rice, a portion of chicken claw and a plate of glutinous rice balls.
10th October 2016 (Monday)
Food poisoning is one of the worst thing that could happen amidst an overseas vacation (whether it is due to unhygienic food, over-eating or the curse and revenge of the crab remained unknown…but soon to discover that it might be the Norovirus that spoils my holidays after all). Our initial plan was to visit Sintra for a full day however the fever is draining my last bit of energy hence I was left with no other options but to give up the idea of going out and remain well-wrapped in the blanket. My full day was spent lying on the bed trying to fall asleep. I’ve booked a 4 stars hotel expecting to enjoy some better environment and services, but I was so wrong because even the basic respect and tranquillity seems to be too much to ask for in this hotel! The housekeeping services has been the worst I have ever experienced. Despite putting up the “Do Not Disturb” sign, the staffs still tries to get into my room and eventually opened the door while I am still in the room. They came back knocking on the door after a few hours asking if I want housekeeping, I declined and replied with “No Thanks”, but they called again to my room by phone asking the same question once more. I have to just get a few items from them to prevent being asked the same question repeatedly, and I really wonder what is the purpose of the “Do Not Disturb” sign since they could not even respect the choice of the guests. I have an almost sleepless afternoon because there were loud noises produced by the staffs ceaselessly throughout the day including the loud slam of the doors countless of times and throwing of things loudly while cleaning the neighbouring rooms. I was left with no choice but ended up writing a full page of negative comments on their feedback form.
11th October 2016 (Tuesday)
10th October 2016 (Monday)
Food poisoning is one of the worst thing that could happen amidst an overseas vacation (whether it is due to unhygienic food, over-eating or the curse and revenge of the crab remained unknown…but soon to discover that it might be the Norovirus that spoils my holidays after all). Our initial plan was to visit Sintra for a full day however the fever is draining my last bit of energy hence I was left with no other options but to give up the idea of going out and remain well-wrapped in the blanket. My full day was spent lying on the bed trying to fall asleep. I’ve booked a 4 stars hotel expecting to enjoy some better environment and services, but I was so wrong because even the basic respect and tranquillity seems to be too much to ask for in this hotel! The housekeeping services has been the worst I have ever experienced. Despite putting up the “Do Not Disturb” sign, the staffs still tries to get into my room and eventually opened the door while I am still in the room. They came back knocking on the door after a few hours asking if I want housekeeping, I declined and replied with “No Thanks”, but they called again to my room by phone asking the same question once more. I have to just get a few items from them to prevent being asked the same question repeatedly, and I really wonder what is the purpose of the “Do Not Disturb” sign since they could not even respect the choice of the guests. I have an almost sleepless afternoon because there were loud noises produced by the staffs ceaselessly throughout the day including the loud slam of the doors countless of times and throwing of things loudly while cleaning the neighbouring rooms. I was left with no choice but ended up writing a full page of negative comments on their feedback form.
11th October 2016 (Tuesday)
Being 90% recovered on the next day is almost a miracle and on this last day of our trip, we decided to ride on the Number 28 tram but after waiting for 30 minutes in the queue, we estimated another 1.5 hours waiting time hence we left the queue and took a stroll in the old town of Alfama. I am still not giving up the idea of trying the Pasteis de Nata, but disappointingly it wasn’t as good as I’ve imagined. Getting ourselves the 3 days pass (Lisboa Card) is absolutely a bad decision and eventually a waste as the value we have used is so much below the cost of the pass. The overall weather during the day was lovely and sunny, however the temperature usually drop drastically in the evening after 6.00pm. This has always been the indecisive moment to consider whether a thicker jacket should be brought along despite the limited hand-carry allowances…lol. All in all this is still a great and memorable trip accompanied by a wonderful friend and I would love to return to Portugal once more in the future hoping to be in a better health the next time.
