Perfectly Portugal

The national dish of Portugal is, apparently, bacalhau, or codfish. Against my better judgment, I partook in some last night and am now suffering from a touch of le gastro today. Having not eaten a single smidgen of seafood (well besides the fake, mostly mayonnaise blend from Subway) since approximately 1997, it was somewhat stupid of me to try and combine creamy white fish draped in grilled onions and cheese with a few bottles of Super Bock and a very nicely mixed mojito courtesy of the Lisbon Lounge Hostel, where Doug and I are staying.

I forgot that one rule I usually stick to when dealing with food (in travel and in life): avoid seafood. It´s so simple. But I guess I got carried away when the hostel chef presented us with an amazingly fragrant three-course meal and bacalhau was what was on offer.

And yes, you read that correctly: this hostel has a chef, along with well-mixed cocktails. And in the chef´s defense, it was just me who ended up with a stomachache after the big shared dinner . . . perhaps proof it wasn´t really the fish that did me in but in fact my own overindulgence.

Some friends scoffed when I told them of Doug and my plans to stay mostly in hostels on our trip through Portugal, Spain, Morocco, and the Dordogne, and in truth, I was very nervous about it, too. Finances being such that we couldn´t really justify charging the kind of hotels we (I) deem acceptable, we are finding that the hostels in Porto and Lisbon were excellent choices. With earplugs to drown out the snoring, and a decent locker for our valuables, we´ve enjoyed two amazing places that you should really check out should you come to Portugal. Supposedly hosteling is somewhat new to this country and you can tell from the fresh-faced staff and the beautifully equipped lodgings these hostels aren´t yet jaded or run down from dealing with hysterical, drunk, rude or just plain idiotic travelers. How refreshing!

Today feels like kind of a waste, because my sleepless night watching my dinner come back up has left me a bit too hazy to navigate much of the city, and I´ve instead been hanging out with a fat British romance saga and nursing the nausea with Coca-Cola Light. However, Doug´s got a lovely tour lined up for us tomorrow to Obidos and Fatima, lasting all day, so maybe I´m smart to save up my energy.

Later on this afternoon I plan on visiting ViniPortugal with Doug, so that I can let the free-flowing wines of Portugal soothe my system once and for all. It´s a free wine-tasting place on the Praça de Commercio that lets you try the good stuff for free as long as you´ll fill out a survey about what you think of their local vintages. After that, I plan on going out and ordering a steak, or something else reliably easy on the stomach.

(If you know me at all, you know that a steak always, always puts me right.)