Hi all,
We hope you all enjoyed the party in Lisbon like we did!!!
Hope you also felt it was some evening not to forget!
Thanks again for all of you for beïng there.. For those who couldn't make it to Lisbon and for those who partipated, but the day after didn't remember everything...., some first pictures.
With thanks to Reiner and Eric...

I'm sure there will be more later...

FAQs: The party on 11 of October...

Hereby some more information for everybody having questions on the party... and yes, you can take your party-outfit with you to Lisbon.....

What to dress?
Portuguese tend to dress for a wedding just like people do in Belgium. Normally in a formal way: suit for men and dress for women.

What’s the weather like?
Historical Averages
High 23°C
Low 15°C
Check the forecast at: http://uk.weather.com/weather/10day-Lisbon-POXX0016

How to get to Cristo-Rei?
We will organise a Bus who will take the guests from Marques de Pombal (the big roundabout at the top of the main street (avenida de liberdade) of Lisbon) to Cristo-Rei. The bus will leave at 14:00 sharp, we suggest to gather 30 minutes in advance at Marques the Pombal. In the evening the bus will take you back again from Cristo-Rei to Marques do Pombal in Lisbon.

FAQs How to get from the airport to lisbon

Hi all,

to help you with your arrival in Lisbon we add some FAQs on our blog...Hope it helps you out while visiting lisbon..

If you want to get fromt he airport, there are mainly 2 ways to get into the center: by bus or by taxi..

Bus (“Carris”)
Bus 91 does the route from the airport to Marques de Pombal area and Restauradores (where most of you will stay) and the river area (Cais do Sodré)
Lisbon's Taxi Services
There's no dearth of taxis across cities in Portugal, especially in Lisbon! The good news is they aren't prohibitively expensive - in fact, most travellers find it quite affordable. Taxis are usually coloured in black and bright green, while some are beige. All of them carry a glow sign on the roof. Fares go by the meter inside Lisbon city limits during the day, with a 20% surcharge at night (10pm-6am). Outside city limits they may charge a return fare and luggage will also bring on surcharge. It is standard to tip 10% to taxi drivers in Lisbon, Portugal.

Port wine or Portugese wine?

I assume everybody knows Port wine, named to the famous city Porto along the Douro river in the north of Portugal. The brand that Portugese drink is not the "Sandeman",which is largely exported, but they rather choose a "Calem" or "Ramos Pinto".

What is less known is that Portugal has a large variety of great wines cultivated in a various regions. My favourite region for Portugese wines is Alentejo, a region south of Lisbon with a very dry climate which enables to make great wines. It's popularity in Portugal is huge, and wines from the region represent 44% of the market. Especially the red wines which are fully bodied and often oak aged remind of the world wines of Argentina and South Afrika. The majorty of wines of this region use local grapes such as Arregones and trincadeiro, sometimes combined with French varieties such as cabernet sauvignon or merlot. Famous brands are Esporão, Borba, Montsaraz.... If you are in a Portugese restaurant and need to choose among multiple wines, just choose a wine of the Alentejo region and you are almost always on the "safe"side. Off course, price and quality are also here linked to each other, and good wines in a restaurant start from EUR 10-15 up to 25-30 and more...

Regarding white wines, the typical wine in Portugal is the "Vino Verde", a light and slightly sparkling white wine. I'm not particularly a big fan of these but when it's hot in the summer they are fresh and tasty, especially in combination with typical sardines roasted on the barbecue.


Another famous wine who many people might know is "Mateus", the sparkling sweet rosé with a special bottle, which you can find in almost any supermarket. According to a portugese friend of us, Portugese tend to export it, keeping their best wines for themselves...;-)


cheers!

Benfica versus Sporting

When you fly in to Lisbon, you will notice during the landing 2 huge football stadiums, from the 2 rival teams in Lisbon: Benfica and Sporting. The red stadium is from Sport Lisboa e Benfica (SLB), also called "the cathedral" by their supporters. I can confirm it is a spectacular arena as we already watched a match over there. The Sporting stadium has a green/white/yellow colours from the outside and is therefore, called "casa de banho" by the Benfica fans, as it resembles to the interior of the smallest place of the house.
The eagle of Benfica is the symbol of the team. Before each match in the home stadium, the eagle (called Vitória) flies from the top of the stadium to the center to bless the game.It is needless to say that the majority of Ana's family are Benfica supporters. :)

breakfast in Lisbon

Hi all,

As you will notice while walking through Lisbon, or any other town in Portugal, you will find everywhere small pasteleria's. Its the typical place where Portugese have a quick breakfast in the morning before going to the office. You will find here "uma bica", the typical strong expresso, next to a various cakes (pasteis ). The most favourite one are the pasteis de nata, Ana's favourite which you should definitely taste. The most famous location for this is in the Belem neighbourhoud next to the "Mosteiro dos Jéronimos". Over there you will find people in the waiting row to taste the Pasteis the Belem in the most famous pasteleria from Portugal. Here they actually invented these pasteis. It's worthwile to pass by if you would visit the mosteiro.

If you don't like too much sweet pastery, you can find also salty food in the pastelerias. I always take a "tosta mista" (a croque monsieur). They also serve a regular sandwich with cheese or ham. Concerning the drinks, if the expresso is too strong for you, switch to "um galão" ("lait russe") served in a glass (half milk half coffee). The best part is that having breakfast in a pasteleria remains relativily cheep. For example, you still find expresso's for less then 1 Euro. You would need to search long to find an expresso for that price in Antwerp..

Uma Cerveja por favor..Sagres or Super Bock?

Hi all,

If you consider of drinking a beer in Portugal, it is good to know that Sagres and Super Bock are the two most important brands of beer in Portugal, and you could consider them the Portugese lookalikes of "Jupiler" and "Maes". Sagres, which was founded in 1940, name to a city in Algarve, is often considered as "Lisbon" beer, compared to Super Bock, which is considered as "Porto" Beer. For a long time Sagres was the dominant beer, but in recent years, it has been passed by Super Bock, by a market positioning focussed on youngsters and now has a 42% market share, while Sagres branding remains more "old fashionned". Six years ago, when I visited for the first time Portugal, these two beers, were the main beers you could find in Portugal, but in recent years, both Sagres and Super Bock have extended their product range, and I would invite you to taste also the "Sagres Bohemian" and the "Super Bock Abadia", in some way similar to our "Leffe Blonde"...I leave it up to you to choose between the two brands..... I stick to the Belgian Duvel! Saúde!/cheers!