LISBON NEST

MODERN COMFORT IN HISTORICAL, TRADITIONAL AREA OF MAGICAL LISBON

The local food and culture recommendations in the Lisbon Nest’s guest guidebook are amazing.

I never would have found world class restaurant Estamine and many others in the area -- without their book of prime suggestions.

Considering that this nearly 400 SF home is often priced below the cost of a barely more than 100 SF hotel room -- I would say book it every chance you get.

Bedding is super comfy.

They have thought of everything -- including a trio of space heaters for those chilly spring nights on the highest windswept hill of beautiful Lisboa.

One other thing to note, the apartment is in an old, traditional building -- but everything is super modern and updated inside.

Expect warm water in the shower and appliances that are almost brand new.

LISBON NEST

MODERN COMFORT IN HISTORICAL, TRADITIONAL AREA OF MAGICAL LISBON

The Lisbon Nest vacation apartment is naturally cooled.

I have not stayed there in June, July or August -- so they may want to put air conditioning on the list of upgrades.

It is up 15 steps in a super traditional old Lisbon neighborhood apartment complex.

It's not a knock, just a head's up that the unit is not at all suitable for people with disabilities. 

And it may not be ideal for those that have trouble doing steps -- 

though all of Lisbon is hilly and has alleys that become steep staircases, so if you're up for the city, you should do fine with Lisbon Nest.

 

 

 

 

LISBON NEST

MODERN COMFORT IN HISTORICAL, TRADITIONAL AREA OF MAGICAL LISBON

This was my second time staying a week at Lisbon Nest and the third time at a Nest property in the perfect Lisbon neighborhood of Graca.

Valeria is a wonderful point person. 

She keeps in touch via text/whatsapp, meets you the second you leave your rideshare and saves your neck when you misplace the key.

The property is big enough to live in year round.

It has everything including a big kitchen with dishwasher and clothes washer.

Everything is clean and spotless.

I slept like a baby. 

You can hear the neighbors just a tiny bit, but it's a very quiet property for an increasingly loud and bustling city.

LISBON NEST IN BAIRRO GRACA

LIVE LIKE A LOCAL AT A FULL-SIZE APARTMENT

AT AN OUTSTANDING VALUE

Lisbon Nest welcomes you with a bottle of very good regional wine and fresh fruit.

The two greatest lookout sites -- Miradouros -- are within walking distance of the Nest. One is the highest in Lisbon and the other has a little cafe for local wine and snacks.

Two of the greatest fresh catch plus local meat dish diner-sized mom and pop places are right down the hill from the Nest.

Camones has eclectic live music very close by – but it closes early and the music never disturbs your sleep.

 

LISBON NEST IN BAIRRO GRACA

LIVE LIKE A LOCAL AT A FULL-SIZE APARTMENT

AT AN OUTSTANDING VALUE

The Lisbon Nest hosts have written a fabulous guidebook -- in English -- waiting for you on the kitchen table.

It has a guide to dozens of locals’ restaurants within walking distance of Lisbon Nest.

It also suggests dozens of day trips -- Sintra, Mafra, Cascais -- and gives good details on how to get there.

It has a rundown of monuments and museums in Lisbon and tips on the easy to use and inexpensive transit system.

LISBON NEST IN BAIRRO GRACA

LIVE LIKE A LOCAL AT A FULL-SIZE APARTMENT

AT AN OUTSTANDING VALUE

For drying clothes, Lisbon Nest has a clothesline out the window -- that's what the natives use.

The living room has a flat screen TV and a couch that's plenty big for a person to sleep on.

There's also a small writing desk when you enter.

LISBON NEST IN BAIRRO GRACA

 LIVE LIKE A LOCAL AT A FULL-SIZE APARTMENT

AT AN OUTSTANDING VALUE

Lisbon Nest is in Graca.

Graca is central, but not in the noisy tourist areas. 

It's the best of both worlds -- fabulous restaurants, things to do, historic tram plus major bus routes -- but you can live like a Lisboan, not a tourist.

The apartment has a modern kitchen with a small fridge, stove top, oven, dishwasher, toaster, coffee maker, microwave and best of all -- a clothes washing machine that spins clothes dry.

 

 

LISBON NEST IN BAIRRO GRACA

LIVE LIKE A LOCAL AT A FULL-SIZE APARTMENT

AT AN OUTSTANDING VALUE

Lisbon Nest is an apartment.

Most everyone else in the building lives there year-round.

By European standards, it is big enough for 2 adults and one child.

The bed is super comfortable and the surrounding units and part of the neighborhood are super quiet and tranquil. 

LISBON NEST IN BAIRRO GRACA

LIVE LIKE A LOCAL AT A FULL-SIZE APARTMENT

AT AN OUTSTANDING VALUE

This was my the second time staying with the Nest property.

The same couple manage several vacation homes in the Graca area.

They have the same fabulous person clean the unit to spotlessness, meet you with the key, show you how appliances work, bring over extra sheets or coffee, etc. 

L’APPART: THE DELIGHTS AND DISASTERS OF MAKING MY PARIS HOME

DAVID LEBOVITZ’S LATEST BOOK IS A MUST-READ                                (EVEN IF YOU SKIP OVER RECIPES SHARED AT CHAPTER ENDS)

L’Appart has plenty of details, often told in sardonic humor, about life, food, culture, cost and rules of living in the culinary capital.

But it mainly focuses on the never-ending setbacks experienced by a results-oriented American in a city whose laws seem designed specifically to delay closing the deal on buying that perfect apartment…

…then going through endless torture with untrustworthy and (it turns out) incompetent contractors.

We live in Miami, so evil...careless...corrupt...disappearing contractors are actually considered the good ones!

Many here exist only in a circle of hell below corrupt/incompetent.

So we feel Lebovitz’s pain while he endures strings of five figure costs for perpetually delayed, always shoddy work worth less than four figures when the dust clears.

Will our hero live, sans nervous breakdown, to see the completion of his dream Paris kitchen in an apartment that he will own?

Find out at

https://www.amazon.com/LAppart-Delights-Disasters-Making-Paris/dp/0804188408/ref=as_li_ss_tl?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=&linkCode=sl1&tag=davidleboviswebs&linkId=76c7bc04325a5c6cae423c22cbec67b7&language=en_US

L’APPART: THE DELIGHTS AND DISASTERS OF MAKING MY PARIS HOME

DAVID LEBOVITZ’S LATEST BOOK IS A MUST-READ                                (EVEN IF YOU SKIP OVER RECIPES SHARED AT CHAPTER ENDS)

The author’s DavidLebovitz.com blog shared recipes, as one would expect a cookbook author to do, but it gained popularity has he also shared matter of fact tales of everyday life in a beautiful city that can be rather unforgiving in etiquette, tradition and red tape.

L’Appart (busy Paris contraction for The Apartment) comes with the bonus of recipes from an expert chef who has been featured in: Bon Appétit, Chocolatier, Food+Wine, The Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, Travel and Leisure, The New York Times, People, Saveur and USA Today.

But for those of us who enjoy memoir over a countertop of bowls, mixers and dozens of ingredients -- it's easy to skip over, or speed read them.

My fingers were eagerly flipping pages to keep up with his perfect blend of storytelling spiced/spiked with details about peculiarities of Paris, French bureaucracy and contractors.

L’APPART: THE DELIGHTS AND DISASTERS OF MAKING MY PARIS HOME

DAVID LEBOVITZ’S LATEST BOOK IS A MUST-READ                                (EVEN IF YOU SKIP OVER RECIPES SHARED AT CHAPTER ENDS)

I have just completed L'appart and commend Chef/Blogger/Cookbook Author/ExPat in Paris David Lebovitz for his ease with the language and ability to to season trying tales with good humor.

To me, the kitchen only is a place to store, refrigerate, freeze and re-heat stuff.

So the having recipes part of the book scared me away from buying it for a half year.

Lebovitz began working in restaurants at the age of sixteen and ended up at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, working with the famed Alice Waters and co-owner, Executive Pastry Chef Lindsey Shere, who he credits as his pastry mentor.

He moved to Paris in 1999 and started an early blog to coincide with the release of his first book, Room for Dessert.