Tem pão de ló?

Or, the search for the most elusive pastry yet

In case anyone has been worried by the recent lack of posts, let me reassure you - everything is absolutely fine. I have just been a bit busier, keeping track of Stephen who came to visit for a week (Wednesday 24th - Wednesday 1st).

Forget port and vinho verde, these are the best Portuguese drinks - Ucal and Compal

If any of you are keeping track... I last posted nearly two weeks ago, on Sunday morning, so I will briefly inform anyone who's interested what I've been up to from that point onwards!

I spent the rest of Sunday at church and made some lovely new friends, including Carly and Feyikemi (names which will reappear!). The three of us went for lunch, which extended into the afternoon, and walked through the Parque Eduardo VII back towards our homes. In the evening I had the pleasure of dinner with the fabulous Sofia (soon to be a Merton student) and her family - they were so kind, and I had a great time.

A new working week - there's not much to report from the office, although I feel you should know that I'm developing a good 'interny' position for myself in the hierarchy, including doing photocopying, picking up shirts from the dry cleaners, buying stationery (three trips so far), carrying coffee in to clients, and making 'proper English tea' for the boss (only one cup... I guess I did something wrong?). I am doing real work too, though, promise! I'm continuing to make the most of my free time. On Monday evening I went down to the river for a rowing session which was really fun - I went out in a quad with some middle-aged men, definitely a new experience but a positive one. Then on Tuesday evening I was invited to Feyikemi's birthday party at a fancy seafood restaurant in the Baixa - it was great to meet more people and see a different zone of Lisbon. I made it home successfully on the metro ready for a good night's sleep.

Then Wednesday brought all sorts of excitement in the form of Stephen's visit to Lisbon. He arrived just before midnight, and despite leaving loads of time, I nearly failed to make it to the airport - the metro workers were going on strike for Thursday. Without knowing it, I ended up on the last train before everything was shut soon after 11pm - the man literally locked up the gate to the platform after me. Still, once I'd met my guest at the arrivals zone, we managed to get back into central Lisbon by taxi. Stephen was staying at the Pousada de Juventude (youth hostel), not too far from where I live, but I stayed there too that night to avoid waking up everyone in the flat, also meaning we could have breakfast together in the morning.

Rainbow! (if you look closely)

The weekdays fell into a pleasant pattern of Stephen meeting me outside my flat to walk to work, then meeting up again for lunch, bought from a pastelaria (pastry/cake shop... and more) and eaten in a convenient shady spot, and in the evening going for a wander and finding dinner somewhere. He seemed to find enough to do during the day time - lots of walking up and down hills, I'm told, as well as discovering the Botanical Garden's museum which had an exciting maths exhibition... each to their own. On Thursday evening we both went to dinner with some of my colleagues, who were just starting a night out, which was suitably amusing.

In the middle of the week-long visit, we had a very adventurous weekend, finding our way to the beautiful town of Sintra, which is about 45 minutes' train ride away from Lisbon, and far more peaceful and green than the city centre. The town is full of historic buildings - castles and palaces in particular, since its cooler micro-climate has attracted important people there in the summer for centuries. We definitely did our fair share of touristing while we were there. We looked round the Palácio Nacional de Sintra, full of amazing ceilings and furniture, among other things, and climbed up the hills to see the Moorish Castle and the Palácio de Pena, a ridiculously pink and yellow fairytale palace (although didn't venture inside those two).

If you've read the previous sentence, you'll probably be able to work out what this is.

A particular highlight was the Quinta da Regaleira, which is a house and gardens designed in an extremely eccentric Romantic way, with all kinds of towers, caves, waterfalls, secret underground passages, a 'reverse tower'/deep well, and much more.

The poço (well) - pretty cool!

I didn't quite feel a sense of 'philosophical discovery of the tensions between good and evil', as promised by the leaflet, but I loved the way there was always something new around the corner.

At Regaleira, complete with excellent tree ferns

No account of a trip involving me could be complete without a report on food, so I'll note here that we also sampled the local delicacies, including some different pastries, like travesseiros and queijadas, and went round loads of pastelarias looking for some 'pão de ló', which look suspiciously like Yorkshire puddings but, as we eventually found out when we tracked them down in Lisbon, tastes nothing like them! Our chocolate one disappeared so quickly that it didn't even get photographed. (Having said that, none of my Portuguese food has been photographed yet... probably because it's all so delicious...)

The week passed very quickly and soon Stephen had to return to sunny England. Although to be fair, Portugal has been much sunnier and warmer for the last couple of weeks - apparently it got to 30 degrees yesterday, for example. I'm not complaining! We had had a lovely time, and inevitably felt a bit sad that it was coming to an end. Still, rumour has it that a surprise birthday visit will be occurring in November...

Extra photo just because

After Stephen left, I spent Wednesday evening at home relaxing and chatting to my family, and Thursday evening doing lengths at the swimming pool. I managed to hold a proper conversation with someone in my lane (or rather, the lane - when there are classes happening, there is one 'leisure' lane open with signs for both 'fast lane' and 'slow lane'). He was bemused to find out that I'd only been in Lisbon for a month and already spoke Portuguese, until I said I'd studied the language for two years beforehand... I had another small moment of triumph earlier in the week when a waitress told me that, although I have an accent, there are lots of returned emigrants who speak with an accent like mine - though I'm not entirely convinced!

I'm now looking forward to a trip to the beach with Carly tomorrow - taking advantage of the amazing October sun and warmth. So, on this warm Friday evening, I wish you all the best, and must thank you for reading. Until next time!