Lisbon Visit – New Shoes

Hi shoe people,

As you may know from previous posts I have recently returned from a little holiday.  One of the stops whilst aboard Navigator of the Seas was Lisbon and I was very excited as I have noted over the years that a lot of my lovely shoes show on the soles as ‘Made in Portugal’.

We docked in Portugal quite early so my husband and I were up, dressed, breakfasted and ready to catch the courtesy bus into town before 9am.

A short ride on the bus and we were in the centre of Lisbon.  It was a beautiful day but quite early and it didn’t take us long to realise that none of the shops actually open until 10 or 10.30.

There were lots of lovely cafes with tables lining the streets so we decided to sit and have a drink, soak up the sun and wait for the shops to open.  We have never visited Lisbon so didn’t know which café to go for so I chose based on the name.  One was called ‘Café Nicola’ and I have a cousin called Nicola so it seemed like a sound basis for deciding.

It’s at times like these that I curse myself for being useless at foreign languages.  I only learnt French at school and barely know any other languages but we found a few words of Portuguese to use and ordered a tea and a coffee.

Time ticked by and it was shopping time!

Shop number one yielded the pairs on the far sides of the pictures below.  The middle two came from shop number two (after this my husband considered it too dangerous to shop any further and we went back to the boat!)
The shoes are all leather, made in Portugal and as comfortable as shoes can be.

These were the first pair that I picked out.  I went for coral coloured fronts but they also had them in blue.

These were the first pair from shop number two.  I have to admit that they look a bit old fashioned in the photo but they look really nice on and they have a cushioned footbed and are just so comfortable.  When we had a rough day at sea and the contents of the swimming pool were spilling out onto the deck I wore these and they were lovely!

These were pair two from shop two and a bit of an impulse buy.  The shop was small and they had to go to another shop down the road to get their stock so while I was waiting for the black ones above to be brought back to the shop I saw these on the shelf.  They were in my size so I slipped one on to have a look and loved how they looked on so got them as well.  I wore these to London the other day and they were great for running across the station and I wore them to work today.

These were from shop one and were the most expensive.  My husband picked them out and I wasn’t sure to begin with but when I tried them on I was hooked.  My husband does have great taste, I have to admit.  He’s bought me clothes and shoes before that I look at and I’m not sure but when I put them on they look brilliant.

When I got home I realised that my new black shoes were separated at birth from their shoe twins.  Not the same colour and slightly different width straps but exactly the same style.  I love these silver Carvela sandals so it’s no wonder I knew the black ones would look nicer on than off.

I would love to visit Lisbon again as there were many, many shops that we didn’t get a chance to see.  I would definitely take an empty case to bring back more gorgeous shoes.  If you’re a shoe person then I’m sure you’ll find something you love in Lisbon.

Have you been to Lisbon?  Did you find any lovely shoe shops?