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Lisbon Travel Blogs

Background: Following its heyday as a world power during the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal lost much of its wealth and status with the destruction of Lisbon in a 1755 earthquake, occupation during the Napoleonic Wars, and the independence in 1822 of Brazil as a colony. A 1910 revolution deposed the monarchy; for most of the next six decades, repressive governments ran the country. In 1974, a left-wing military coup installed broad democratic reforms. The following year, Portugal granted independence to all of its African colonies. Portugal is a founding member of NATO and entered the EC (now the EU) in 1986.

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By Bapu
December 24th 2007

Getting Ready for Portugal

Europe » Portugal » Lisbon & Tagus Valley » Lisbon

We'll be flying into Lisbon on January 4, 2008, from Toronto. Four days there at the hotel we stayed at earlier this year on Rossio Square. We're looking foward to re-acquainting ourselve with the Baixa. Particularly, we're looking forward to relatively warm weather and sunshine! [View Full Entry]

By Deirdre C
December 17th 2007

Portugal

Europe » Portugal » Lisbon & Tagus Valley » Lisbon

Portugese azulejos

Hi - I'm finalizing 4 months of travel in Portugal. In fact, I'm in my last 2 days here. I started in Lisbon, then rented a car and drove north to see the ancient towns of Sintra and Obidos, south to the Algarve, and back to Lisbon. Photos attached. When I arrived in Lisbon on 9th December, the place was full of sirens escorting VIPs around the downtown area. Right on their heels were demonstrators complete with banners, jugglers, and marching bands. What was up? The Lisbon Treaty to amend the EU constitution which also contained some votes regarding trade with [View Full Entry]

Lisbon 2007 - Good old fashioned political demonstration

By Al and Jen
December 16th 2007

Where do you get Port?

Europe » Portugal » Lisbon & Tagus Valley » Lisbon

Downtown Lisbon
Most of the city looks like this, with the cool lights.

....Portugal, where else? We arrived in Lisbon in the glorious sunshine and not so warm 12 degree heat of an Iberian winter. The Portuguese claimed it was cold, which I guess it was, but from the damp of France and the cold of Germany, Lisbon was positively tropical. Portugal is an interesting country. It's laid back, introspective and apparently living on past glories. That's what the guidebooks say and for the most part it's probably true. We arrived a bit after lunchtime from Paris and by the time we'd been in the country two hours we'd already been offered hasish by [View Full Entry]

By John Miranda
December 10th 2007

The Beautiful Game

Europe » Portugal » Lisbon & Tagus Valley » Lisbon

Estadio Da Luz
France v England

June 2004 Euro 2004! This was the one - the tournament we were going to win. There were steady signs of an improvement under Sven, we were almost on his home patch - well he’d been boss of Benfica and he still had his villa in Estoril - and the boy Rooney was going to come into his own on the big stage. Well that was the theory…. and the practice was … err, very different. The tickets transpired to be the easy part with a combination of the direct applications to UEFA and working out the possible group combinations. We [View Full Entry]

By Omega
December 2nd 2007

On Explorers and Travelers’ Sacred Ground

Europe » Portugal » Lisbon & Tagus Valley » Lisbon

Torre de Belém Famous Perspective
I wondered how many times the Tower of Belém has been photographed from this spot...

As I was going through the Metro system between my hotel and the Baixa area with the ultimate intention of visiting Belém, on the far western side of Lisbon, I noticed that a lot of people were wearing sports apparel (e.g. spandex shorts, running shoes, etc). I thought at first that Portuguese people were really into exercising and wondered why they were riding the Metro system. Perhaps there was a better place in Lisbon for jogging, biking, etc. that you needed to ride the Metro to reach. Maybe this place was along the Tejo River? When I exited the Metro system [View Full Entry]

By Omega
December 1st 2007

Exploring a Cradle of Explorers

Europe » Portugal » Lisbon & Tagus Valley » Lisbon

Alfama's Roofline
... and the Panteâo Nacional beyond

After a short flight from Madrid late yesterday afternoon and some needed rest overnight, my objective was to start exploring in earnest the most prominent sites in Lisbon today. Because the first time in a new city is usually slower than when one is on familiar turf, I tried to secure additional navigational information from the hotel's concierge to have a more precise idea how to get around and not to waste time getting lost. The concierge gave me great advice and also an information package from Carris, the largest local transportation company in Lisbon that runs the Metro system, the [View Full Entry]

By TravelinZ
November 17th 2007

Travelin Z- Portuguese Shopkeepers(35)

Europe » Portugal » Lisbon & Tagus Valley » Lisbon

Ivone Patrocinio Furtado

One capricious afternoon, while walking the streets of Lisbon I started “collecting” pictures of Portuguese shopkeepers and soon thereafter these inevitable 12 fictional impressions pervaded my mind. (Kindly note the intrinsic connection between each story the corresponding picture) PORTUGUESE SHOPKEEPERS - ONE DOZEN ESOTERIC SECRETS Ivone Patrocinio Furtado Ivone indulges in feeding poisoned breadcrumbs to city pigeon in the piazza, right outside Santo Antonio do Penedo church. She only uses homemade bread, a wholesome multigrain with lots of caraway seeds, she lear [View Full Entry]

By Jull
November 8th 2007

Lisbonne la Perle

Europe » Portugal » Lisbon & Tagus Valley » Lisbon

Lisbonne
La belle ville de Lisbonne

Vive le Portugal! C'est tellement beau! Aussitôt arrivé dans la belle Lisbonne, j'ai su que ce serait le grand amour, et ce le fût. Ville qui nous a épuisée par ses beautées et ses festivitées tardives, je me promet d'y retourner un jour. La visite des ruines d'un chateau surplombant la ville offrit une vue spectaculaire sur la cité provocant multiples clics de mon appareil photo. Nous avons couché dans un magnifique petit auberge jeunesse où l'ambiance et la convivialitée était au rendez-vous et aussi le mal de tête le lendemain matin. Ce qui ne nous empêchat pas d'aller visiter Cabo [View Full Entry]

By Katiebug
November 4th 2007

Thieves, green wine, and sinful pastries in Portugal

Europe » Portugal » Lisbon & Tagus Valley » Lisbon

Lisbon over the sea

Just as I was patting myself on the back for having made it two full months in Europe without losing anything or getting robbed, a Portuguese thief stole my wallet right from under my nose! Celia and I took the overnight bus from Madrid to Lisbon Wednesday night and arrived at 6:00 am Thursday morning. We were exhausted and delirious in the metro station of yet another country where we don't speak the lanuage. The first thing on the agenda was to find the place where we were staying so we could drop off our bags and start wandering around the [View Full Entry]

By Shaz Guy
November 3rd 2007

Lisbon

Europe » Portugal » Lisbon & Tagus Valley » Lisbon

Lisbon
An elevator near the centre of the city saved you the trouble of having to walk up to the higher areas of the city.

From Madrid we flew to Lisbon where we spent a very pleasant few days. We didn't really know what to expect of Lisbon, but it turned out to be a lovely city. It was picturesque, had enough attractions to keep us busy for a couple of days (and we could have done with more time there), and after the hussle and bussle of Madrid the slower, more relaxed pace was a welcome change. The weather was also very good while we there, with bright sunny days and maximum temperatures of around 23 or 24 degrees, although it did get quite cool [View Full Entry]

Praco Rossio - one of the main squares seen from the top of the elevator

Praco do Comercio - looking back towards the city

Travel Blog » Europe » Portugal » Lisbon & Tagus Valley » Lisbon