Delicious Lisbon

Two days ago I returned from my latest trip overseas, this time to present at a conference in Lisbon, Portugal.  One week from today I'm heading back to Africa with twenty students, so I'll have to do a pretty quick jet lag turnaround.  Oddly, my presentation at the conference was very well received, although it was about international education (and I guess I know at least a little bit about that).   This was my third trip to Portugal and I definitely love it there.  It made me wonder why I haven't led a return student trip there.  I'm in the middle of planning my tenth student trip, and that includes three to Zanzibar, three to India (including one with a side trip to Sri Lanka), three to Jordan, and yet I've never thought about repeating the Spain/Portugal Thanksgiving trip I led two years ago. It was easy to plan, worked brilliantly within the framework of the class (Aesthetic Expressions), and worked seamlessly on the ground.  This last trip inspired me to reconsider that mistake and I've already worked out an itinerary for a Thanksgiving holiday trip to Portugal in November 2020. Why Portugal?  There are so many reasons, and I'll get around to them, but at this point I just wanted to post some pictures and jot down some thoughts before they disappear in the chaos of organizing the next trips (Zanzibar next week and India in March).  For now, food.  I stuffed myself in Lisbon. 

When people think of paella they tend to think of Spain only, but Portugal also makes a mean paella.  I don't normally choose one of those restaurants on the main streets in Lisbon (or anywhere) but it was a beautiful day for lunch and people watching.

But Portuguese food is a hell of a lot more than paella.  I ended up going to a little mom and pop places several times, and they featured an absolutely delicious rice and octopus dish.

And, well, if you're going to have octopus, then you should have octopus.  I ended up in another little place down the same side street and ordered an entire grilled octopus served over potatoes.  Apparently ordering octopus is actually a very Christmas thing to do in Portugal, so it fit.  I posted this picture on Facebook and, naturally but inexplicably, many people were horrified by the thought of eating grilled octopus.  Cretins.  It was delicious.

But after saying all that, one of my best "meals" was the latte that I had on the street on one of my last nights.  I had ended up getting lost - not desperately lost, just estimated poorly where I'd end up when I dropped down the hill - and I plopped down along the street and relaxing.  I'm not the type of person who is going to age gracefully, and it truly bothered me that I tire more quickly than I used to and that I suffer through a lot more pain, but all was forgotten with a delicious latte and soaking in the holiday season on the streets of Lisbon.