On my way to places I've never been. I know this is shameless, but any restaurant or sightseeing suggestions for Lisbon, Barcelona, Sorrento, Taormina, Santorini/Thiva, or Athens? I'm also looking for a good restaurant in London and Lulu's home phone number. I figure I have readers from all over the world, why not take advantage? Isn't that what blogs are for??
Thanks and now go back to entertaining posts.
23 comments :
Hey there mr Levine. Screenwriting dilettante from Lisbon. What s your fancy? Fish, meat, portuguese food?
Two favorite restaurants in London: the one at the top of the OXO Tower and a Japanese place in Soho called Abeno.
I'm also a young screenwriter and, in fact, I've been doing a comedy workshop in Lisbon. I just recommend walking around Bairro Alto, Belém (where you can find Torre de Belém, Mosteiro dos Jerónimos and Centro Cultural de Belém, the first two being the most famous portuguese monuments and the latter maybe the biggest cultural centre in Portugal), Chiado, Rossio... just find yourself a good map and walk around, Lisbon is a pretty town. As for restaurants, I'm not an expert, but I think Bica do Sapato (owned in part by John Malkovich), Solar dos Presuntos and Café Café are good...
Ok. I can see what inhatko was thinking... successful screenwriter goes to London, lemme name some very expensive places! :)
But I am going to suggest an Indian restaurant which is one of the hidden gems of London's restaurant scene.Oh... You do like Indian food, don't you? The restaurant is called Chutneys and it's in Drummond Street (nearest Tube Station: Warren Street. It's very near the West End) It's nothing fancy, but they do the most amazing "eat as much as you like" buffet at lunchtime and all day on Sunday. It's only six pounds and the food is amazing!
If you like Indonesian food, I'd suggest a visit to Nasa Dua in Dean Street (Off Old Compton Street, bang in the middle of Soho. Nearest Tube Station: Leicester Square or Tottenham Court Road.)
Enjoy your meals! :)
There are some great Chinese restaurants in London and approximately none of them are in Chinatown, which serves tourist food in bottled sauces... but I can recommend the Y Ming on Greek Street, right in the heart of town. It's neither exclusive nor expensive. The last time I ate there, Colin Firth and Kelly MacDonald were at the next table. It was great because my wife was too distracted to eat and I got more.
The Mandarin Kitchen on Queensway, in Bayswater, is famous for Chinese seafood. It's another place with no pretensions. Andrew Lloyd Webber praises it but I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad.
In London:
Bombay Brasserie for Indian
Beotys (Upper St. Martin's Lane) for French/Greek/Cypriot
Wagamama's for the Japanese noodle experience
In Barcelona make sure you see Gaudi's Church of the Sacred Family.
It's amazing... like something from another planet.
I'm just smiling because, like me, so many are recommending Indian restaurants in London. :)
Have a great and safe trip, Ken!
Funny enough, a literary critic has just posted a chart with his choices regarding restaurantes. Check out http://daliteratura.blogspot.com/2006/05/paparoca.html . "Cz" stands for cuisine, "Sv" for service and "Am" for, well, I don't know how to put it right, ambience/environment/mood, something like that, I'm sure you got it. The classifications are "Mau" (bad), "Medíocre" (mediocre), "Bom" (good) and "Muito Bom" (very good).
Check out WikiTravel and World 66 - both can be helpful in this kind of thing.
Chapitô is a nice, cool bar-restaurant in Lisbon, with a beautiful view.
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Chapitô
Costa do Castelo, nº 1 / 7, 1149-079 Lisboa - Portugal
Tel: (00) (351) 21 885 55 50
Fax:(00) (351) 21 886 14 63
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In Barcelona, you should visit the Majestic, I think.
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- Passeig de Gràcia, 68
08007 Barcelona - ESPAÑA
- Tel.: 93 488 17 17
93 507 61 00
- Fax: 93 488 18 80
- E-Mail:
info@hotelmajesticbarcelona.com
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Have a nice trip!
In Barcelona you MUST go to Parc Güell (you didn't go to Barcelona if you didn't take a picture of you from the Parc Güell balconies). If you have time, go to every Gaudi building you hear of, they all are worth being visited.
Greetings from an argentine reader!
First of all, Welcome to Lisbon. Second thing, get out as soon as you can. But wait, you're lucky, you're just visiting. There's actually a lot of very nice restaurants around here. You can go posh with Olivier, in Bairro Alto, or Bica do Sapato. If you wanna fell traditional, just take a walk around Bairro Alto, and choose a 'tasca' of your preference. 'Tascas' are very dirty looking restaurants with very rude service, so it's quite nice. You can even listen to live 'fado' in some of those. Or rent a car, go to Guincho, in Cascais, and eat some fresh fish by the sea. It's about 30 minutes from Lisbon. Enjoy your stay.
If you like Mexican, Chiquito's in Leicester Square, London is great -and is even mentioned in a Snoop Doggy Dog song. How's that for trivia.
It's not a restaurant, but when you're in Sorrento, be sure to try the lemoncello and the orangecello. If you go to one of the main stores they have there, you can get awesome presents to take back to people because they have cool bottles.
If you have time, you have to go to take the ferry over to Capri and take a boat tour around the island. It's the most romantic thing in the world.
Go to Naples, take a taxi across town, bring an extra pair of shorts. It will be a better ride than anyting at Disney World.
Let me echo two other post by saying that when in Barcelona, the Sagrada Familia (Sacred Family) Church and Parc Guell are mindbending must-see's. Don't forget to try the txakoli (Basque white wine), fresh cider, and tapas.
Ken - if you have any time at all in Sorrento, catch the hydrofoil to Capri for the afternoon. If you've never been, it's an exceptionally beautiful little island (I was married there last September). A great place to eat is Da Paolino - it is a outdoors in a lemon grove, with a living roof of lemon trees. Great food, too!
... and if you are still in Lisbon, one of the best places to eat portuguese food is Sinal Vermelho, in Bairro Alto. A Cataplana has a very nice açorda. It s also located in Bairro alto. Enjoy and watch that colesterol.
If you're looking for a special treat, I went to L'Escargot a while back.
The food was fantastic, and well worth the extra few quid.
http://www.lescargotrestaurant.co.uk/
visit www.carryontravelling.co.uk
There is too much too see and experience! It's very difficult to advise what to prioritize, want are the “must sees”, as each one have it's own tastes, preferences, budget… When planning your trip to Barcelona, I suggest you doing a little research at these sites: - Barcelona City Council webpage: www.bcn.cat You'll find there a complete guide to the city events, you can search at the "diary" . You can look for events in a given date, do specific searches, or just see the highlights. In addition you have loads of interesting info about places, itineraries, etc in the "turisme" section. - Another good website with tourist info: Barcelonaturisme - TMB , Barcelona public transports services: TMB.net , there you have also links with suggestions of routes around the main sites of interest, transport cards, prices, etc.
Barcelona is on everyone's must-see list, and there's good reasons why. The incredible architecture, the crazy night-life and the beautiful scenery and weather are just a few.
One of the most awe inspiring sites I saw was the Sacred Family church, Sagrade Familia (I'm probably spelling it wrong). It's a huge huge church designed by Gaudi, and hasn't been completed yet. Just the textures of the building and the sheer size of it is truly incredible. It's one of many building in Barcelona designed by Gaudi. Another one of my favorites was the Gaudi park, with it's different styles all mixed into a beautiful park overlooking Barcelona. By far those were my favorite highlights. I suppose you will not have troubles with restaurants and Barcelona hotels, cause they are at a great value. Also there are many more attractions Barcelona has to offer. Sites include the Picasso museum and the Olympic village among many others. Also close by are the beaches on the sea.
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