As Vicentinas

Beware of the entrance, you can easily pass by it (I think). But this historical looking sign should offer you no doubt you are in the right place.

Vicentinas, also known as Santa Isabel teahouse, initiated in the 50's as a sewing saloon in an old banana warehouse that was ceded to the Vicentian Group so they could help the needed.

In that place there were as well fashion shows to display the garments and it was offered tea and scones to the guests. This trend started to have some success and that was the beginning of the tea house. Scones overruled fashion, the spontaneous pleasure was better than the long lasting one.

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It is impossible not to notice the religious motive that is going on. Jesus figures here and there. This looks like a selective place. Most of the people are elder, and probably religious, I fit neither of them and I can't help feeling a bit dislocated.

There was a table FULL of cakes and I was drooling. Try not to look at it while passing by, because a bit further there is once again one of those inside/outside esplanades. You can see the sky covered by the tree branches and through one of the windows you can see a sewing room.

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I asked a cold tea first, the best ever, it was something fruity but not too red fruity or else I wouldn't have liked it. The other one was black tea and lemon. They were 1.50€.

The scones that came were amazing and I had to ask for more, 1.90€ for two (because the second one doesn't need to bring butter so it is 10 cents cheaper). I started to have the feeling I should be eating like english royalty.

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Monday to friday from 11:30h to 19h. Saturdays from 15:30h to 19h. Closes sundays.

Pensão Amor

I have a curious relationship with this space. First time I heard about it, it opened along with two other cool bars in what I considered to be a sudden cultural movement in Lisbon: the pink street, named as so due to its manly pink color.

This fostered a very interesting mesh of people, on the one hand, the squalid people that hang out in the sleazy bars that dominated that area before, on the other hand, the high classes that eat tapas and caviar, that began do be attracted to this filthy street due to is new fancy places. And there was harmony, go figure!

Then, when I returned from my first trip to Budapest, Pensão Amor seemed like a wannabe Ruin Pub with selective clientele and boosted prices. And I became more disappointed, because my expectations came high. 

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Nevertheless, I still can enjoy this place. There is a cabaret feel, kitschy stuff and furniture decorating the place. In the big room there is some space to dance and a bar with night and day prices (so watch out and don't be fooled!). On the wall a big deer head is staring at us. It is lightened by a spotlight so it comes as an important piece of the room. There is also a more kinky room near the erotic literature and accessories shops, with leopard print, psychedelic ceiling, a strip pole and mirrors.

It is not the same as the ruin pubs, but it sure is over crowded on fridays and saturdays.

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Open from monday to wednesday from midday to 2h and thursdays and fridays from midday to 4h.

Vertigo

The ceiling was one thing that I think characterized the place. It is a stained glass with an intricate pattern filled with flowers, some animals and an inca touch. One of three different light sources that prevail, giving it a more ostentatious aura.

There is also natural light coming from the windows and an orange hue coming from the lamps, it ends up being a mix of different light sources and color. Giving it a gloomy but imposing feel.

The mysterious snail stairs to the basement make me wonder if they have concerts, or if they are hiding some sort of goblin down there. Further investigation is needed. Maybe they have concerts with goblins.

There was also a checkers game nearby but it was incomplete, games don't survive in coffee places for long.

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I had the usual and my friend asked for açaí. Açaí is the new trend in fruit, it comes from Brazil and it is said to be super nutritive. It arrives to us as a pulp already (that is why it has such a high price). It looks like chocolate ice-cream but tastes like red fruit yogurt with porridge, go figure, it is really good.

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Monday to thursday from 11h to 22h. Fridays and saturdays from 11h to midnight. Sundays from 12h to 19h.

Alface Hall

There are many things which we can use to rate a place and an experience and that I always take in consideration. I don't write them in a paper, it is kind of an emotional process. So they are:
- Physical space (architecture/design/concept);
- The place where it is located on the map (the area);
- The people that belong there (and their niceness);
- The food (but maybe less relevant);
- The company I take with me (can turn a bad place in a wonderful experience);
- The extras (music, events, games, interactive stuff).

When all these requirements are fulfilled we know we are in a perfect place. We feel it. And this place nailed it.

First time I came by accident. We passed by it and the wonderful free jazz lured us inside. We asked for a cocktail that was a mix of lemon ice-cream with vodka. They let us try first which was pretty awesome, and served it after it had our approval. They won me completely, so I quickly planned my return.

The second time, I came back for a working session, we got to talk a little bit with the bartender and we got some neighborhood knowledge (they want to close the convenience stores at 20h to stop the botellón).

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Between tables and sofas, we can chose what best fits us: are we drinking? Eating? Jazzing? Or working?

It is incredible the number of details of Alface Hall and the ways they use the material. The t-shirts, instead of being shown in a boring way are hanging like drying clothes and help to fill the empty space left by the high ceilings.

Over the door there is a motorcycle, and there are also some old gas pumps, telephones, bottles, radios, cameras, dolls, and the barber chairs (my favorite detail, no doubt about it).

I asked for a ham and brie toast, it was the best toast I have ever eaten. For 4.50€, I don't care really, any price, feed me this. Then the jazz started around 21h and I was in heaven.

Before leaving I decided to leave them a gift, and so my first cat from a small series was born. The Alface Cat (yes, that is a lettuce, sorry).

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This place also ends up being more multicultural as it is connected to a hostel. You can hear english frequently. It is also near the erasmus corner (if I am not mistaken).

Funny how the word hostel creates by itself a kind of erasmus world where freely socializing is normal. We don't randomly talk to people in cafés, we have our folks, but we do it in a hostel, we are more polite and have more guts to ask some questions and they are somewhat well received.

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Open from 16h to midnight everyday.

Café Saudade

The word "saudade" is such a portuguese thing. It has a melancholic vibe and refers to the deep feeling of missing something or someone. I use it a lot when I am away from Lisbon, it is not only the people but the city itself, it has some kind of mesmerizing power only understood when you explore it deeply.

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I asked for this super big super sweet lemonade (1.60€). It was amazing. It was painful (I have loads of aphtae) but I survived. A hot chocolate was also our demand (the girls), and the boys shared some tea (how awkward does that sound?). There is no rule that says that men can't share a teapot.

We didn't stay long in Saudade but it was long enough to explore the place. It has an exhibition space, rooms with stuff for sale, and a kitchen situated in the middle of everything. They usually have some events but the facebook should have information about that, since their blog is a bit pointless.

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Monday to wednesday from 8:30h to 20h. Thursday to saturday form 08:30 to midnight and sunday from 08:30h to 20h.

Salla de Estar

If you go to Lisbon you CANNOT miss Sintra. There are some sweet spaces in between the jagged streets. Salla de Estar reminds me of Wanli mixed with the Chinese Pavillion (a very interesting fancy place in the center).

The entrance hall gives access to both up and down floor. This down floor seems to be the most lively one, with a snooker table, the bar, a piano, and a tv set.

On the top floor we have wonderful view for the menu written on the sides and for the bald heads of the passing by people.

The velvet curtains give it a burlesque look and we only expected some vintage looking woman to come from there and dance for us.

This is a hodgepodge of styles! Bottle packages are floating on the wall, Chaplin is there, Heineken stuff everywhere including even a beer fountain, vintage "posters" on the walls, paintings with no special criteria, equestrian material, music discs, plates, books, nautical stuff, art nouveau wall pattern, whoa!

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The toast degustation moment was particularly interesting. Me and my friend asked for a chicken and tuna sandwiches. But they traded them. Worst part is: we didn't notice! In our defense, tuna is a meaty fish, and with mayonnaise on top, I mean... Could happen!

Well but they're pretty big and delicious and only 3.50€ each. They had a fish shape and reminded me of a delicious dessert from the north city of Trancoso called sardinhas doces (sweet sardines).

Overall this is a kickass place to visit when you are in Sintra and I totally recommend it.

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Couldn't find the schedules of this place but ask away on facebook!