Lisbon, Portugal

Sunday was Day 2 of the Individual World Championships. There are now five of us staying at the apartment I rented and only Jenny Cerff from So Africa played. Everyone else practiced…I practiced with Jenny Klitch and everyone else went to warm up Jenny and practice at the National Stadium Jamor.

In the afternoon we decided to walk to the old town and see the cathedral. We meandered slowly down. Tracey Thompson noticed a Sunday market along the Ave. Liberdade. Since Ave. Liberdade is one of the most expensive shopping streets in Europe, with Cartier, Chanel, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, Miu Miu, etc having storefronts along the “Avenida” as it’s called in Lisbon. It links Eduardo VII Park to Baixa or the old town. It’s very wide with two rows of trees in the middle.

After we all got some small souvenirs at the flea market, we headed towards what we think is the best Pasteis de Nata store in Lisbon, Fabrica da Nata (to be sure we haven’t sampled them all but have tried about half a dozen). They make the Pasteis to Nata there, from hand rolling out the dough into the small tart pans to filling them with custard and baking them on site. We bought a couple dozen, then continued into the Baixa, which is at the base of the castle.

We walked by one of Lisbon’s three funiculars at the base of a steep hill. I think it was the Ascensor da Bica, but we didn’t ride up since we’d been on top of Lisbon at the castle the previous day. We continued past the Fabrica da Nata into a pedestrian mall with shops on either side and restaurants, cafes and street musicians in the middle. It was very crowded, being a Sunday afternoon, but had a very fun vibe.

We walked all the way to the river, then up to the Cathedral, which was roped off except for one small area, then Ubered back to the apartment.

Susan and I play our first singles matches today; Robin plays mixed in the evening and Jenny plays singles and mixed. Tracey has the day off. There are two sites being used and Susan and I play at the Football Club at different times while Robin and Jenny are at Jamor.

Draws are here.

Photos from individuals are here.

All links from Cups and Individuals are here.