Staying in Buenos Aires’ San Telmo neighborhood, RaRa was my home base.

During the day, it has an artsy café feel, with great coffee, good food at fair prices, and lots of natural light for reading, writing, and people-watching. At night, it has more of a bar and restaurant atmosphere.

If I recall, the Caesar salad and prosciutto sandwich were especially good, but that was about three years ago.

At the corner of Carlos Calvo and Peru in San Telmo, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Tired and jetlagged, I stumbled into Café A Brasileira my first night in Lisbon. I didn’t stay long, but remembered it looked neat enough to come back with my camera.

Open since 1905, Café A Brasileira was once an intellectual hangout but now seems to cater mostly to tourists. It’s right off the Chiado Square. There’s a clean toilet in the basement.

Some great photos of the interior and carved front door sign on Flickr.