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Blogs from Lisbon, Lisbon & Tagus Valley, Portugal, Europe
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Exploring Lisboa (Lisbon) Nov 1 - Nov 6, 2012
Published: November 26th 2012Europe » Portugal » Lisbon & Tagus Valley » Lisbon
November 25th 2012
What follows is a short highly abridged history obtained through Wikipedia of this part of the Iberian Peninsula. Feel free to skip this paragraph if you are one of those who are still recovering from high school world history (sorry John). Pre-Celtic tribes are the first to leave their mark on this part of Portugal. A number of burial mounds and stone carvings have been found in the area around Lisbon. Phoenician influences dating back to 1200 BC have also been discovered and it is believed the Phoenicians had extensive trade with the tribes along the Tagus River. Following the defeat of Hannibal during the Punic Wars, the Romans determined to deprive Carthage of its most valuable possession: Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula) moved into this area conquering and establishing many cities, building bridges and roads which ... read more
DAY 5, Wednesday, November 7, 2012: Lisbon, Portugal
Published: November 9th 2012Europe » Portugal » Lisbon & Tagus Valley » Lisbon
November 7th 2012
Met the group around 10 am, got off the ship and caught the hop-on/hop-off bus. Rode 2 lines. The hill town electric tram took us through the old neighborhood with very small streets and old houses. The streets are so small that you have to be careful about opening your front door so a car doesn’t hit it. The blue line bus took us around the new city area which took us past the Monument of the Discoveries and the Jesus sculptures and the Belam Tower. Others sites were the President and Prime Minister’s homes and several large churches. Lots of large malls and what looked to be expensive shopping areas. It was raining so we headed back to the ship around 2:30 or so. A few came back earlier. Later in the day, I played ... read more
August 14th 2012
October 2008 We awoke to a beautiful, warm, blue sky day in Lisbon, Portugal. Today we took a 3 hour bus tour through downtown Lisbon, the capital, the resort city of Estoril, and back along the Tagus River to Lisbon. While in Lisbon we stopped at the top of the hill that overlooked King Edward VII Park. It was one of those postcard sites. We were warned by our tour guide not to purchase the linens on sale by the gypsies, as they were of inferior quality. Unfortunately, for those wishing to buy linens, it was our only shopping stop on the day's tour. Our stop in Estoril was really a wasted stop. Both as a destination and the valuable time you have on day tours. Our bus had parked near the casino. However, it was ... read more
Portugal - Lisboa e Porto
Published: November 21st 2012Europe » Portugal » Lisbon & Tagus Valley » Lisbon
July 2nd 2012
Yoooooo!!!! Como vão todos!? Tudo nos trinks!? Esperamos que sim!!! = !!! Neste post falaremos da primeira etapa da viagem que nossos pais fizeram nos visitando, espero que curtem! Ahhhhh papai e mamãe!!! Nada melhor que ver sua família depois de aproximadamente 2 anos e meio!! Apesar das freqüentes conversas por Skype, de sabermos das coisas que acontecem no Brasil, a possibilidade de abraçar e beijar muda tudo, e esse tempo que passamos com nossos pais foi novamente especial!! Nossos pais compraram suas passagens num esquema em que teriam que passar por Portugal, então, nada mais lógico que esticar a escala de algumas horas para alguns dias e nós, os filhos, irmos para terra lusitana encontrá-los, e foi exatamente o que fizemos!!! Como eles chegaram primeiro tiveram que esperar quase 2 horas pela nossa chegada, mas ... read more
June 24th 2012
Lisboa (Lisbon Portugal) Today we leave Spain for the drive (5 hours) to Portugal. We are heading to Lisbon on the shores of the Targa River. Portugal, much like Spain is famous for maritime history due to the efforts of Balboa, de Gama , and Magellan. All departed from the Tagus River to discover new lands, much like Columbus. Today was another beautiful day, sunny but not so hot, temperature was only going to be around 90. Our first stop was a rest area around 10: AM however since we were traveling west it was actually only 9:00 AM local time but nobody told us! Portugal is famous for many things one of them is Port Wine from the Modena Region. Since we were in Modena the rest area store was filled with Port Wines. We ... read more
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June 24th 2012
Lisbon day 2 Today we had the chance to sleep in, all the way to 7:00 AM! We were heading today to some smaller towns around Lisbon. Our first stop this morning was the fishing village of Cascais. This small village is filled with small shops, restaurants and seaside sights. It is a resort town where the locals go to relax, especially on the weekend. We saw some of the major sights and then had some free time for shopping. We were able to buy some more Port Wine and enjoyed an espresso. Then back to the bus for the short ride to Sintra. Sintra was the summer palace of the King of Portugal. Here we were to tour the summer palace; however Cathy and I had been here before so we decided to shop the ... read more
June 21st 2012
After nearly six months of teaching, I'm on holiday! Ben and I had planned a short trip to Lisbon before he went home, and then I would do a short tour of Andalucia on my way to the airport. Our plan for the trip was to spend the day in Seville sight-seeing before getting an overnight bus to Lisbon, but of course the trip wouldn't be complete without a Ben 'n' Orla transport adventure! The bus was full and we would have had to wait until the next night. Luckily we took a few minutes to discuss our options and found another bus company that would take us there that day. Which only gave us 45mins before the bus left! We arrived in Lisbon around 9pm and embarked on a mission to find a hostel. Luckily ... read more
A fantastic first day in Lisbon!
Published: June 20th 2012Europe » Portugal » Lisbon & Tagus Valley » Lisbon
May 26th 2012
The inspiration behind my trip to Lisbon was to visit one of our good friends from Mike's lawschool class in London (CTLS), Maria, who is from just outside of Lisbon. Not only was it a great opportunity to spend more time with her, but it was great to see some of Portugal from a local's perspective. We were staying with her family in their apartment that is just outside the main city of Lisbon (in an area called Corroios), and a 20 minute drive or train ride away. On this first morning we took it a bit easy because I had gotten in so late last night. After having breakfast, we drove into Lisbon to visit an inner-city homework program that Maria usually volunteers at on Saturdays. From the moment that we walked up to the ... read more
May 10th 2012
We've had a a wonderful 4 days here in Lisbon, with the weather getting progressively better. Today was sunny and 28 degrees. By now, we have figured out the public transit system, but today, I could not stop laughing at all the crazy experiences we had with using it. There is a transit card that you buy at small, specially marked shops. You load it with money and then activate it each time you enter and leave a transit vehicle--metro, bus, tram, or train. It is great when it works, but...yesterday, mine worked fine when we took the train along the Water to Caisca. But R's did not. He knew money was loaded on it, so tried several times, put more money on it, no...finally, in desperation, I went through the gate and he followed me ... read more
Lisbon, Portugal's capital
Published: January 5th 2013Europe » Portugal » Lisbon & Tagus Valley » Lisbon
May 1st 2012
Lisbon, a huge city, with a mix of old and modern. If you want to see the entire city, you will have to take public transport, especially for the Belem tower which is at the exit of the city. When you're from the center and you want to go to the hyper center, near the sea, you have to go down a huge street with a lot of statues, foutains... Like the most cities of Portugal, there is a lot of churches, you can enter in the most, and it's gorgeous inside! Once near the sea, you have a lot of shop streets, especially one which lead to a large place passing through kind of arch. There also is a metallic tower where you can go up and have a nice view of this part of ... read more
