In love with Lisbon

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To celebrate Russ's birthday we took a trip over to Lisbon. For two people who have travelled quite widely, it came as a surprise to many of our friends that neither of us had been to Portugal before. We are so pleased we put that right.

Over the last few years we have become increasingly confident at travelling hand-luggage only. We have 30 litre rucksacks which, even when stuffed to bursting, fit into an overhead locker. The DSLR is a bit of a pain but once you've crossed that line from a compact camera, there's no going back, so other sacrifices have to be made! No laptops this time though, as we have both made the transition to tablets for this type of trip.

Our flight with TAP had us up at a ridiculous hour in order to enjoy our local cheap public transport all the way to Barcelona airport. It takes about 90 minutes in total but costs us only €2.70 each. The flight was smooth and took just over 90 minutes to reach Lisbon. It felt quite strange arriving in another country but not having to go through passport control or change money. Ah, the joys of Schengen, which us Brits can enjoy the benefits of without having to join in!!

Once in Lisbon we quickly found the Metro station and hopped on a train for just 3 stops to the ultra-modern Oriente station. From there we jumped on a train to Santa Apolonia, but we're not really sure if we were suppposed to do that or take the metro all the way into the centre and then back out again! At the airport we had bought Viva Vigem cards. The guy tried to put €30 on each card but we made him put just €15 on. In the end we probably spent about €30 each over the 5 days we had in the city so, on reflection, maybe he was right.

We had booked an apartment in the Graca area through Only Apartments . Our landlady met us near the station in a cafe she had recommended. She had bad news for us. The apartment we had booked had suffered some water damage and was not available. We had to go to another place but the price would be lower. Her plea to "keep this between us" made us suspicious and unfortunately we are still waiting to hear back from the website about our concerns. The apartment we ended up is was really nice, it just wasn't what we had booked. It was deep in the heart of Alfama, the old Arabic part of town with a warren of narrow streets and steep steps. We certainly felt we were living Lisbon life there and it turned out to be a great area. We just had to put up with no wifi (talk to each other or read!) and no outdoor terrace. We decided to put aside any feelings of disappointment and have a great time regardless, and that's exactly what we did.

After settling in we went off exploring the labyrinth of Alfama. It's not for the faint of heart as cobbled stairways are everywhere and there are some pretty steep climbs. The castle of St George dominates the hill but we decided not to go in settling instead for getting lost in the maze of lanes and alleyways. It was beautiful up there and the sight of trams running up and down the hill and plenty of tourists (but not so many that it felt crowded) was marvellous. Somehow we stumbled across one of the city's many elevators and took a welcome lift down to the lower level of the city. The Baixa area is where you'll find the shops, squares and statues which give Lisbon an aesthetic quality unrivalled by other big cities. We popped our heads into a couple of impressive churches along the way and dawdled around the square at Rossio feeling slightly seasick at the sight of its tradition wavy Portuguese cobbled pavement. Then we strolled down Rua Agusta, through the triumphal arch to Praca de Comercio. That's where we saw the first signs of how Lisbon was about to be engulfed by Champions League fever and the arrival of the two Madrid giants of football for their clash of the titans. We finished our walk by taking in the waterside area and the huge cruise ships which were lined up along the wharf.

That evening we walked into the city centre past the imposing Sé Cathedral. Along the way we passed many Fado restaurants which lined the streets of Alfama. We decided it was a bit too mournful for us as we heard the sad songs belting out from every other building. Instead we climbed up into the residential area above Sao Domingo. The restaurant we were looking for has become a Nepalese restaurant so we dived into the Floresta de Santana on the opposite side of the road. What a decision that turned out to be! We feasted on fresh fish and pork steaks, washed down by local wine for a measly price of €25. A bargain for the amount we ate!

The next day we used our travel cards to get to the big roundabout looked over by the Marques de Pombal. It was quite a sight, and led us nicely to the Eduardo VII park. This park was actually named after the British king of the same name. We walked up along one of the paths flanking the park and weaved our way around the brightly coloured kiosks which had been placed along the entire length. At the top of the park you get an amazing view of the city towards the river, and if the wind is in the right direction, you get the curious sight of aircraft inbound to the airport flying over the giant Portuguese flag.

Our next stop was back down Av. de Liberdade where we rode on the Lavra elevator. This one is actually a tram but it saved a very steep climb up the hill. At the top we found the viewpoint with great views over the city, then slowly made our way back down. We had a not-so-light lunch at the Leitaria Anunciada , sat outside on the street beneath the huge blue tiles. The special of the day was feijada, a hearty bean stew with huge chunks of meat. More than enough for two hungry tourists to devour! It was embarrassingly enormous and absolutely delicious.

After a siesta we rode up the Gloria elevator (another tram) on the West side of the city. At the top we made our way over to the British Council where we met up with Christina, who we had worked with in Tunisia a few years ago. It's always great to meet up with old friends and she took us around the Estrela and Santos areas. We sat outside in a park for a beer (from a kiosk, none of this paper bag nonsense!) before getting a glimpse of the huge basilica and the imposing parliament building. The surrounding streets were amazing with steep slopes lined by high buildings clad in decorative tiles. Bizarrely our first choice of restaurant was fully booked. Instead we dined in style at Petiscaria Ideal . The dishes are mostly fish based and served tapas style but 4 or 5 dishes is more than enough for three people to share. It was fabulous. Don't leave Lisbon without dining in either of the restaurants we enjoyed that day. Exhausted, a taxi took us close to home and we meandered back up the cobbles of Alfama to the distant sound of fado.

And that's probably enough for one blog! There's lots more to come. You have been warned!!

If you like the photos here, there are an awful lot more for you to see on Flickr . Don't worry, they are displayed in a way that you can browse them very quickly.

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Lisbon
This is one of the places we really want to go. We love street musicians. Great photo.