Day 13 - June 4, 2008 - Ola Lisboa

  Lisbon, Estremadura, Portugal
Thursday, June 5, 2008

Our flight out of Rome was at 6:30a so we left the hotel at 4:30a. I donīt know if I mentioned this already but the days are super long in Europe. In Paris specially, daylight would last till 10p. So I was half expecting the sun to be up at 4a, but it was 5a before we saw daylight. What a stretch huh?

We ate at the airport (orange juice, creme croissant and cappucino).

Anyway, the flight on TAP was much better than the flight from Paris to Rome on Ryan Air. Right outside the plane, in the thing that leads up to the entrance, there was a rack of newspapers and magazines. I almost knocked it over rummaging for an english publication, creating quite a stir among the flight crew.

The flight otherwise was uneventful. They served us food but we had to contend with sides of fruit yogurt and coffee since the main item was a ham and cheese croissant.

Nasser (Feibaīs son) met us at the airport. I must mention that Sofia was so excited that she made two stops at the airport (from the gate to the exit) to have pastels (pronounced pash-tels). This is one of the many things she misses most about Portugal and she was determined to catch up to the number she would have consumed had she not relocated to the US.

First stop - Pasteleria

We stopped at Nasserīs new condo in Ãmora to drop off our luggage, picked up Feba (Sofiaīs dadīs sister) and Salima (her daughter) from the train station and headed to a pasteleria for Tosta (toasted bread with cheese) and pastries.

Back at Feibaīs, while I took a nap, Sofia and Salima went to get groomed (mani/pedi ladies stuff). I woke up at lunch time and met Tio Nawas and his wife Tia Nafeesa (Tio Nawas is one of Sofiaīs chachas). For lunch, Feba made shrimp and crab stew with rice. Sofia and Salima then returned to attend to their "ladies" matters while Nasser, Tio Nawas and I went to the mall. I discovered a shop called Springfield and made a mental note to return there later.

In the evening, we went to the new jamat khana in Paivas (not the main one which is in Lisbon). It has a nice large lobby with smooth marble floors and the inside is spacious, yet small. The walls are divided by a wood panel towards the bottom and the ceiling has a beautifully designed square in the middle with a typical Aga Khan architectural drawing.

Sofia and Salima ready for Khane

We returned home from JK, had dinner, chatted for a while and went to sleep.