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The secret to youth? If your birthday is celebrated away from home, you get the party, but not the added year! It’s just like travel calories. They stay on foreign soil when you leave the country. So I have been able to avoid 14 years of aging in my 14 Shirleyfests and left thousands of calories in 14 different cities. Try it!

My sister MJ arrives on Wednesday. She has made it to 12 of the 14 Shirleyfests which makes me very happy. After a long flight, I know just what she needs…..a long walk…uphill. Off we go, stopping for lunch at Taberna da Rua das Flores for some very fresh seafood.

A few more hills and miles and I let her rest before we head out to Mercearia da Século for a delicious dinner. Fernanda is there, but her husband Paulo is in Italy helping immigrants get settled in their new country. Her daughter fills in and we have a delightful dinner followed by, of course, gelato on the walk home.

But why go to bed before I show MJ my little wine bar. The guys are as usual quite welcoming and so ends the first day of MJ’s visit to Shirleyfest.

Thursday, after coffee at Copenhagen Coffee Labs, we take the train to Cacais. Little did we know the adventures that would await us. While touring the art galleries in Cacais, we come across the Saltão Gallery where we talk to a man wrapping art for shipping. Glancing at a coffee table book nearby, we suddenly realize from the picture on the cover that he is the artist, Néliio Saltão! He is delightful! I love his art and I love his joyous nature. Before long he is pouring us the classic Portuguese drink Ginja! #neliosaltaoart

Just then we get a text from my friend Catarina who we had hoped to meet for lunch. She has reserved for us at Furnas do Guincho a little way out of the town center. We Uber there and arrive at this stunning restaurant right on the water.

Many courses, many desserts and many hours later we think we will return to Cacais and train back to Lisbon.

But Catarina asks if we had seen the Boca do Inferno. We have not. Off we go walking along the ocean. First we come to a hidden enclave of little shops called Casa da Gaia.

Afterwards, we walk further and we arrive at “the mouth of hell”, which is a breathtaking natural wonder. The dramatic coastal cliffs, sculpted by the power of the Atlantic Ocean, create a mesmerizing spectacle of waves crashing against the rocks. This rugged beauty, combined with the deep chasm and the powerful sound of the sea, gives us a sense of awe and reverence for nature’s raw power. The view from Boca do Inferno is spectacular. The endless expanse of the ocean, the interplay of light on the water, and the sheer cliffs are just magnificent.

We stay awhile and then reluctantly leave and walk to Cacais where we say goodbye to Catarina and train back to Lisbon.

Friday we walk all over beautiful Lisbon.

For lunch, I am bound and determined to take MJ to O Velho Eurico. Careful readers will note that if I do that, it will be my third lunch there in 10 days. We show up and the chef smiles broadly. “You really like my food, don’t you”? he says. Yes, I do and we proceed to show him how much by ordering many courses. Several of the staff have gotten to know me and stop by to say hello.

Later that day we explore the area above Belém known as Restelo. It is a neighborhood filled with embassies and beautiful big homes.

We head from there to the Museum of Contemporary Art, followed by dinner at Este Oeste.

Of course I have to show MJ the monuments of Belém lit up at night. It is a beautiful evening.

At 8:50pm we realize that the famous Pastéis de Belém is closing at 9pm and we are all the way over by the water. Not to be deterred, we race to the store to find them just about to close. It’s only 8:58 pm we say! Ok, they let us in and we get those warm pastries and are as happy as if we had gotten gold bullion instead of golden pastries.

Saturday we explored the Rato neighborhood because we have scored a lunch reservation at the award winning Forno d’Oro. This place consistently is awarded the Pizza Versace Napolitana Award, which is essentially a Michelin star for pizzerias. I must admit I come into the place biased, because the other award winning pizza restaurant is of course my favorite, Tony’s, in North Beach in San Francisco. This restaurant is beautiful and sparkling.

The most impressive feature though is the golden mosaic oven which is burning brightly.

We decide to make this our big meal of the day and go for a delicious pizza and a pasta and of course a nice bottle of rosè.

You think we could resist dessert, but we can’t.

To walk off this wonderful lunch, we stroll down Avenida da Liberdade and visit the high end fashion shops. When that wears us out, we stop for tea at the beautiful 138 Liberdade Hotel.

We are very good that evening and go to my neighborhood vegetarian restaurant Senhor Uva where my friends kindly fit us in without a reservation.

Sunday I go back to Church of Saint Mary Magdalena for mass and afterwards we wander about the lower part of Lisbon, stopping for lunch at my favorite rooftop, Hotel Chiado.

That evening involves a stroll though the Principe Real area followed by dinner at Decadente.

I love the location of this restaurant with the Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara in front of it. We enjoy being serenaded there before the walk down the hill home.

Monday is my birthday. What a day! First breakfast at The Folks where we are given flowers to celebrate.

Then a stroll along the river at Parque das Nações so MJ can see the Vasco da Gama bridge.

On impulse we ride the overhead tram before getting lunch at Time Out market and buying flowers from one of the 8 historic flower vendors at Mercado da Ribeira.

A bit of a rest at home before the serious partying starts. We start with rosé on Nick and Ivan’s balcony.

Then we Uber across the “Golden Gate Bridge”.

We walk into Casa Reîa and it is unbelievable. Right on the sand, beautiful furnishings and lighting and the sun just starting to set.

Champagne, oysters, whole local fish and Wagu steak all make for a festive evening.

Then we get to the birthday cake which Ivan has made and brought to the restaurant. It’s a sky high apple cake.

Speaking of sky, when we finish, we take the ferry back to Lisbon and look at the night sky from the ferry. Magical.

But still not done….we run into my friends who run Senhor Uva on the way home and even though they are closing, they decide to let us in and another bottle of champagne appears and two more plates of dessert, with candles! My favorite part is Adrian decides to DJ and gets me to tell him my favorite songs. It truly was the best birthday!

MJ must leave the next day. Each trip I go to the cinema in my host city to compare and contrast. With my partner-in-crime departing, today is the day. I take the Metro quite a few stops away and emerge to a rainy Lisbon.

This is the first day it has rained since I came. Google maps says this cinema is close by, but I walk all around a huge shopping complex and only find it because I see a giant IMAX sign in the sky.

I go for a Pierce Brosnan movie that here is called Jogo Assassino, which translates to “Killer Game”. In the states, this movie is called Fast Charlie. Tickets are $7 which is a new low among my 14 Shirleyfests. Concessions are also inexpensive, but like every other cinema I have sampled, the sizes of popcorn are huge.The main thing I notice is the preview commercials. In Kyoto I was surprised that the only two kinds of preview commercials were for cosmetic surgery and a video about how they will criminally prosecute you if you video tape the movie. Here its all car commercials…BMWs, Audis, Mercedes.

The movie was entertaining, but hardly Oscar material. When I emerge I see I am in an enormous in-door shopping arcade called Columbo. One wing is all shoes, one wing is Spanish designers, one wing is every kind of restaurant imaginable and so on.

I look it up later and learn there are 50 restaurants, 300 shop and it is the biggest shopping mall of the Iberian Peninsula.

The highlight of the day though is that Ivan cooked dinner for me at his place. Delicious “Black pork” with a mustard sauce, potatoes and spinach.

There are two famous cemeteries that I have yet to visit in Lisbon. First is the British Cemetery. It is very close to my apartment and has an Anglican Church, St. George, on the property. After strolling around the graves (the most famous is Henry Fielding who wrote the novel Tom Jones), I try to enter the church.

It is locked, so I am about to give up when a lady with a cane is slowly coming up the long driveway. She says she is here to open the church, but she is late because “some fool has blocked the driveway.” She is the priest! Her name is Fran and she is from New York originally, but has lived in Lisbon many years. She had a big job in corporate America before switching gears and turning to the the Anglican priesthood. She lets me into the sacristy and proceeds to get her robes and vestments on, all the while telling me about the church, the cemetary, her life and her favorite things to do in Lisbon. I really enjoy talking to her.

I had such luck with this cemetery that I walk off to find the Prazeres cemetary. It is considered one of the most beautiful cemeteries in the world. It is the resting place for many famous personalities, including Prime Ministers and Presidents of Portugal. Poets, novelists and the “Queen of Fado” are all buried here. It is exclusively made up of mausoleums. It reminds me quite a bit of Recoleta Cemetary in Buenos Aires where Evita Peron is buried.

I end the evening at my favorite rooftop bar, Hotel Chiado. A light dinner and I head home.

Tomorrow I leave early as I’m taking the fast train, Alfa Pendular. I am excited because it reaches speeds of 220 km/hr. Stay tuned for one last post from Portugal about 36 hours in Averio and Coimbra. You won’t want to miss it as Coimbra is one of Portugal’s most beautiful cities.

Thanks for reading!