Lisboa

Lisbon has been really cool so far.  I will start with the food. My favorite food I ate so far is octopus.  I like it grilled and they make it really yummy here. My second favorite food so far is called Pastel de Nata.  It is a custard tart dessert, a pastry, that’s what Pastel means in Portuguese. And de Nata means with cream. You are supposed to sprinkle powdered sugar and cinnamon on it, but I like it plain.  I ate so many of them. If there is more than one of them they are called Pasteis de Nata. Lisbon is famous for them and they sell them EVERYWHERE!!

Octopus, YUM!!
Pastel de nata

Other cool things about Lisbon are the mosaics on the ground, the tiles on all the buildings, the street art and murals and graffiti.  It’s really cool and I like it because it is really colorful. Mostly the murals are of faces. There is even an exhibit on a street artist called Banksy here.  No one knows who he really is because he keeps himself to himself. 

There are mosaics covering all the streets and sidewalks in Lisbon
Tiles on the buildings
Close-up of the tiles
There are cool murals like this all over. Like in LA.
More cool street art. This is a Fado singer. Fado is a big deal here.
Banksy street art. This is from a magazine about the exhibit.

The Portuguese people are nice and so are the dogs.  Dogs are all over and run around without leashes. We met a nice shop owner named Cedric who we go to every other day for groceries.  We also met a family with a little boy named Theo which is pronounced tay-o. We gave him our first friendship pin (small USA flag pin, we packed 30 to give to friends we meet on our trip so they remember us.)

A dog I met at the park we play in everyday. The park is right across from our apartment.
We just found these one day. There’s a lot of sculptures and art everywhere.

The weather here is really hot.  It is nice to have an ice popsicle or ice cream sometimes.  Luckily we have air conditioning in our apartment. Speaking of our apartment, our room is really cool.  Out of the window you can see a huge dome and at night the dome lights up and it is so beautiful. In our room we also have bunk beds.  I sleep on the bottom and Anna sleeps on the top. Our apartment is located in a very old part of Lisbon, called Alfama.

Me and my dad drinking cold lemonade
The dome outside our window
Me and my sister eating Ola ice cream. This ice cream is all over in Lisbon Ola means hello.

Today me, my mom and my sister went to the Oceanario de Lisboa.Aquarium.  We had a great time. We have one more week in Lisbon and we are going to see Sintra Pena Palace and  probably go to a beach called Cascais. Then we head to northern Portugal to a city called Porto were J.K Rowling started writing Harry Potter And the Sorcerer’s Stone.

Me and Anna at the Oceanario
Outside of the Oceanario. It is really fun and theres a lot of kid stuff to do.
Inside of the Oceanario, this was a sculpture of a sea turtle made out of fishing hooks.
More fun stuff for kids. Hammocks, lots of them are just out for anyone to relax in.

24 thoughts on “Lisboa

  1. Cole,
    You make Portugal sound wonderful!
    I’m so happy you’re having a great time. Thanks for sharing many details in your beautifully written blog.
    Love,
    Anni

  2. You are clearly having a wonderful time… Thank you for teaching me a lot of things… I am a big fan of Banksy’a work… Keep having an awesome trip! ??

  3. I LOVE reading about these adventures through the eyes of Anna and Cole, especially all the food commentary and the reports about how much you are walking. Incredible trip so far!!

      • Hi Auntie Shirlee, Thanks for bringing us the yummy coconut cupcake in July. They were sooooooooooooo gooooooooood!! Love, Cole and Anna

    • HI Cole and Anna,

      I am so excited you are doing well and having the time of your life. The Octopus looks amazing! I want you to know how incredibly blessed you are to be able to experience this journey in your very young life. I saw your cousins fishing the other day at the park. Although they did not have octopus, Henry caught a turtle! So precious…..

      Be safe always kids,

      Love,
      Aunt Mary

      • Hi Aunt Mary, We were happy to see you in July. We heard about the turtle!! Anni told us!! We hope you are feeling better. Love, Cole and Anna

  4. Wow! The mosaics and the tile walls are beautiful! Great pictures and story telling, Cole! What a great idea the friendship pins are!

    • Hi Quin! Hi Norah! We miss you. Congratulations Norah!! We heard the news that you made the USA National Team!!!! We are so proud of you. You two are really good at sports. Quin have you climbed any good rock walls recently?? Any V14s? hahahaha!!! We can’t wait to see you next year. Good luck with your climbing and gymnastics competitions! Love, Cole and Anna

  5. Cole, I am so excited to read about you and your sister’s time in Lisboa. Sounds like you guys are having a blast and getting to experience a lot of new things. I am also so jealous that you to see a Banksy painting. Awesome!!! Tell your sister, mom and dad we say hello

    • Hi Mr. Stas, I miss Isabel and Violet. I like Banksys art too. It was nice seeing you in July. Say hi to Isabel for me. From, Cole

  6. Wow! Cole- you eat octopus? That’s really cool. And Pasteis de Natas sound interesting. Lisbon seems like a fun place (especially instead of school), old and new at the same time. You are so lucky.

    • Thanks Arielle for the comment. Our mansion in Minecraft is full of monsters. I can’t wait to see you in December. I love you so much and I miss you so much. Love, Cole

  7. Hi Cole-
    Thank you for the awesome photos and descriptions of Lisbon. It sounds like you are learning a lot AND having a great time too! That’s the best way to learn, I think 🙂 I’m happy you are making new friends! Enjoy your travels and I’ll keep popping in to see what you’re up to!

    Cheers, Ms. C.

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