During our first week in Valencia, we had lunch inside the Mercado de Colón, a former traditional market that’s been renovated to house two floors of upscale restaurants, shops and cafés.
Read the full post »Mercado de Colón
Around Russafa
Unfortunately we’ve both been quite sick since before we arrived in Valencia, and our lingering colds and flus are not letting go easily. That means that during our first week here we’ve been mostly sticking to our local neighborhood for lunches or dinners, and stocking up at the local Consum supermarket to cook at the apartment. Luckily none of this is a hardship as the neighbourhood is filled with nice places to eat, and the produce is great.
Read the full post »Our Favourite Lisbon Eats
Before our Lisbon memories fade, we wanted to document some of the best restaurants, cafés and bars we visited. Over our three weeks we had great luck finding tasty food, with only one or two of the “meh” experiences that can happen anywhere. In no particular order, these are some places we’d recommend to others.
The Amazing Store
As we spend our last week in Lisbon, it’s time to close the gaps on a few areas we feel we haven’t adequately explored. One of those is Bairro Alto, so we took a meandering wander from the top of the Acensor da Bica along Rua da Rosa.
The area definitely has character, with lots of little bars and restaurants, but around noon on Easter Sunday there was still a “morning after” vibe going on.
Príncipe Real
Here are some of the buildings in the more upscale Príncipe Real neighbourhood of Lisbon. It felt a bit like Nolita in NYC with its eclectic mix of interesting shops, bars and restaurants.
One of the most impressive sights at the Jardim França Borges park in the heart of Principe Real is this giant white Mexican Cypress umbrella. It is over 100 years old.
Boutique Taberna
Earlier in the week we’d passed by this little bar located on the Escadinhas de São Cristóvão stairs leading down to Baixa. It looked pretty cool, but it was mid-day and nobody was there.
We decided to go back on Friday evening, and although we were still much too early by Lisbon nightlife standards, things were heating up with some live music on the stairs outside.
Kajitsu
We visited Kajitsu for the second time. It’s a very minimalist and meticulous vegan Japanese restaurant on East 39th near Park Avenue. We sat at the chefs’ counter had the multi-course “Kaze” seasonal menu, made with ingredients that are at their peak in the summer.
Copper & Oak
On our first night we ducked into Copper & Oak, a tiny nook of a bar on Allen St in the Lower East Side that specializes in brown liquors including whiskys, bourbons, scotches and brandys.
The staff are very knowledgeable and retrieve bottles from high on the shelves using movable ladders. Here I’m receiving some recommendations.
Around Reykjavik
Our Reykjavik layover was short, so we only had a few hours on our last evening to explore the downtown area.
This was the colourful corner of Klapparstigur, Týsgata and Njálsgata near our hotel.
As in most cold-weather countries, Icelanders consume a lot of coffee. We visited Reykjavik Roasters, one of the city’s most serious coffee places, where I enjoyed a very nice and very hot $6 Americano.