The Irish Invasion*

*Or: 'The red tap means hot, right?'

Well, to be more precise, it's the Northern Irish Invasion. Lisbon has been taken over by the Northern Irish, who are here, from what we can gather, for a soccer match between Celtic FC and someone else (I guess a Portuguese side). I first noticed them last night when walking back through the city from Alfama. There were about six guys, all wearing stripey green and white jumpers, all very drunk and all very loud, wandering around with their arms around each others shoulders, singing Irish folk songs at the top of their lungs (when they weren't telling each other how much they loved each other). Or maybe it was the Celtic FC theme song. And now today the most part of the city is crawling with the same guys, only there are what seems like hundreds of them. Praça D Pedro V (Pedro V Square) has been taken over entirely - all the cafes have green-and-white-clad people at all the tables, and in the centre of the square (an area that normally houses simply a tall monument and a fountain) there is a never-ending soccer game being played out by the fans. Well, it was never-ending until the ball was kicked into the top of the fountain, unreachable by normal means, until one of the drunken guys stripped to his waist and jumped in with a fishing pole (kindly donated by a cafe owner) to fish it out. Game resumed. Oh, and the bottom of the monument is now adorned with an Irish flag.

In explanation of the alternative title to this blog, that phrase, uttered by Sam Francisco a couple of nights ago (and preceding the comment, 'Just checking ...'), pretty much sums up our European trip! We've had many, many cold showers, or showers that only heat up to lukewarm at best. Some of this is due to the hot water being turned off at hostels at certain time of the day, but some of it, I think, is due to our bad luck. In our current hotel, it takes about 10 minutes for the water to get hot (hence Sam Francisco 'just checking' with me on the night we arrived!).

Anyway.

Last night Sam Francisco realised she'd been pick-pocketed (from her backpack) - probably on the tram as we went up to the Castle. Her camera case was missing. I suspect that the thief thought there may have been a camera in the camera case, but luckily she was actually wearing the camera around her neck at the time. There was, however, a really nice pair of earrings in the camera case, which she'd placed there for safe-keeping. So she was pretty devastated about that. The funny (well, not funny) thing is that we usually wear our packs on our fronts when on public transport or in other crowded areas, but on that particular tram we both had our packs on our backs. And on the very same tram ride, a nice elderly Lisbonian man had actually told me (using hand gestures and a few Portugese words) to take my pack off my back and put it on my front. Which I did, as it reminded me that I should have been doing that anyway! So now we're being extra diligent.

This morning, to begin our last day in Lisbon, we planned to head to the Church of Saint Clara, which we had seen from the sightseeing bus yesterday. There was a sightseeing bus stop at the church (Stop #3), so we thought we'd catch the same sightseeing bus, before the 24-hour expiry, and get off at that stop. Then we'd walk back down the hill through the lovely Alfama area. So, on the bus we get, and very quickly we're passing the port below Alfama. I look up the hill and there's the church. I know we're about to turn left up the hill, because that's what we did yesterday. And then we just keep going straight. No left turn. And the church and the Alfama hill are getting smaller and smaller and further behind us. This isn't right, I'm saying to Sam Francisco. This is not right at all. Then next thing, we're stopping at Stop #6, which was really far away. Uh, hello! The driver totally skipped stops #2 to #5 on the map, and hadn't even been anywhere near the church! Man.

So we ended up staying on the bus - which was a bit annoying because we'd been there, done that - until the Parque (Park) Edwardo VII, north of the city and actually really close to our hotel. This park looks like the long rectangular lawns outside Parliament House in Canberra, and it's really nice. We walked along the park, where one of the straps on my backpack promptly broke (that's what I get for buying a cheapy pack!) - but I tied a knot and I think it'll hold.

From there we walked up towards and through the Bairro Alto area - a thriving part of the city that sits on a hill overlooking the main downtown area. (Lisbon goes: hill to the west side [Bairro Alto], valley in the middle [downtown], sea port to the south side, hill to the east side [castle and Alfama].) Bairro Alto is similar in looks to Alfama, only Alfama seems to be more residential - as evidenced by the washing hanging out the windows and adorning the balconies! Both areas are beautiful, with patterned ceramic tiles covering the facades of some of the buildings, and the black or other-dark-coloured wrought iron balconies that have a kind of gothic feel. Then there are other buildings newly painted in bright colours, while others are really dull in colour and actually have paint peeling off! All types are lovely.

Oh, I haven't mentioned the paving here. The paving is like cobblestones, but not quite cobblestones. The stones are smaller and seem to be set closer together than your average cobblestones, and they're a creamy colour that actually shines due to wear (and blinds you when the sun is shining directly on them at sunset!). But on most walkways there are patterns formed by black stones amid the cream. It looks great.

En route back down the hill to the city we visited a beautiful cathedral - the Basilica Dos Martires - which we happened to notice as we walked past. Inside it was, in my opinion, one of the nicest churches we've seen. Not too heavy, not too light.

Our time (well, my time) in Lisbon has mostly been spent wandering around the city taking in the beauty. Aside from the castle yesterday and the sightseeing bus ride, we haven't really been to any more actual 'tourist' sites. There are several museums we could have visited, but I think we've both been happy with absorbing the city and seeing the buildings, the squares and the people. So we have been actually seeing stuff, in that way. And it's probably just what I needed at this time, and we both needed at this stage in our travels.

But what we haven't spent on admissions to museums, we've spent on some retail therapy this afternoon. Back in the downtown area, we wandered the shops and accidentally went shopping! H&M, so good.

We must now head home to pack (yet again) for our flight to Paris in the morning. It's pretty exciting, because we'll be meeting CK there. It's also exciting because it's the third-last time we have to pack!! And we'll have to get up at 2 a.m. and turn on the red tap. Maybe then it'll actually be hot by the time we want to shower at 6 ...

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