Blogs from Lisbon, Lisbon & Tagus Valley, Portugal, Europe - page 5

Monday November 13, Lisbon The short drive from Sintra to Lisbon had us arriving at the Hotel Mundial by 11am. It was a large, modern hotel in the center of town. We were too early to get into our rooms, but we dropped off our luggage after parking in the hotel's underground lot and off we went on our walkabout. Dawn and I visited here briefly 8 years ago while on a cruise, but my memory of the city was quite vague. We do remember the incredible history and atmosphere here in Lisbon, the capital of Portugal since 1255, and one of the smallest European capitals...vibrant and multicultural. There are many beautiful squares with fountains and statues, one after the other, between our hotel and the promenade on the River Tagus. We walked through the Praca ... read more

We're on our way at last and hope to keep you all updated with a few photos every now and then ! After a long debate about how early we needed to be at the airport, Olivia won and we had to wait n hour for the check in desk to open... Abdel has finally finished moaning and we're waiting in Lisbon before heading off to Accra ! Ça y est on est enfin partis et on espère pouvoir vous tenir au courant en partageant quelques photos de temps à autre ! Après un long débat sur l'heure a laquelle être a l'aeroport, Olivia a gagné et on a attendu une heure avant de pouvoir déposer nos bagages... Abdel a enfin fini de s'en plaindre et nous attendons à Lisbonne avant de définitivement entrer dans notre ... read more

It's AFL Grand Final day back home, so I get up at 5am to watch the game on a streaming service on my iPad. I start to feel homesick and a bit emotional; if I was in Melbourne right now I'd be at the game. The sentimental favourite Richmond wins. I'm very happy for Issy's brother Tony who's waited patiently for 37 years to see his beloved Tigers win the premiership. I had too much Port, Ginja, Sangria and beer last night, and not much sleep, so I'm now feeling a bit ordinary. But not to worry, Mark and Mandy have organised for the four of us to spend the morning sailing on the Tagus River, with a company called "Sailing with Nigel", so that should do wonders for the hangover. The dock's directly under the ... read more

Issy decides to have a day off from touring so I set off on my own. First stop is the Lisbon Pantheon. This was originally a sixteenth century church, but it's now been converted into a monument where famous Portuguese people are buried including various presidents, Vasco da Gama, Henry the Navigator, and the soccer player Eusebio. The building's spectacular, and I climb stairs to exhibits on several levels, and then get excellent views over the city from the roof. I board the train to the waterfront suburb of Belem which is about five kilometres west of Lisbon. It seems that I owe the people from the Lisbon Metro Authority an apology. The card that I loaded up with money yesterday, and which I thought expired last night with lots of unused cash still on it, ... read more

Like most things in our apartment other than the terrace, the bedroom's very small - the bed fills just about the whole room. There's no space between the sides and the walls, so we can only get in and out by crawling over the end. As we discovered yesterday our apartment's in the very hilly Alfama neighbourhood, and we read that Alfama means "the baths" in Arabic. It‘s apparently the very oldest part of Lisbon, and in Moorish times it was the whole of the city. Unlike other parts of the metropolis it apparently fared quite well in the Great Lisbon Earthquake of 1755, which is a bit surprising based on the rickety appearance of most of the buildings. We go wandering. First stop is the Lisbon Cathedral which is also in Alfama, but there's a ... read more