Advertisement
Published: July 23rd 2023
Edit Blog Post
Arriving in Lisbon, the cicadas are singling merrily indicating it’s getting hotter! and we are looking forward to a dip in the beautiful campsite pool. However, relaxing at the campsite was a challenge, there are hoards of children, primary school aged, seemingly in summer schools, identified by different coloured hats. They are everywhere, including over 100 in our campsite pool!
Tram 28 featured highly in the guidebook and social media as the ‘best way to experience Lisbon’. We arrived via bus from our campsite, duly bought our public transport tickets and headed to the recommended start of the tram route, only to find over 100 people queuing! The trams are delightful vintage stock, but they only take around 20-30 people at a time and run every 15-20 mins.
Plan B -walk the tram route, its only 7km, after a couple of hours we had seen some sights, but had no real sense of Lisbon. A little frustrated and hot, we headed by metro to the Oceanarium, reportedly one of the best aquariums in Europe, and we were not disappointed. The building itself was interesting, modern square, over the sea. The main tank in the centre was huge and held
a variety of rays, sharks and other fish, there were views of this tank as you walked around other exhibits. My favourite were the two sea otters we watched them being fed crab, oh how they enjoyed it!
A cooler evening, a much shorter queue we finally got to take Tram 28 across the city, it winded through very narrow streets and flew along when not obstructed, it was really enjoyable. For dinner we headed to Barrio Alto area, bars and cafes spread across the streets, a lovely convivial atmosphere heightened by an opportune alfresco classical music concert (military band). Catching the last bus back to the campsite around 10.30pm, we reflected that visiting cities in the height of summer is not easy, Lisbon is a huge conurbation, the areas we wanted to see quite spread out, maybe a Red Bus tour might have been a better option.
The following day we decided to take a more relaxed approach, took the bus into the city a little later, and headed for Praca Comercio, a lovely space surrounded by lemon-coloured buildings, facing the wide expanse of the river Tejo. You could imagine grand boats arriving in the 18
th C,
its certainly the gateway to Lisbon. Now huge cruise ships still moor along the riverside which is busy with docks, a train station and roads with cars and trams.
A little cooler today we walked uphill, (everywhere is uphill in Lisbon! to the extent there was an escalator in one street!). Our destination was the hilltop fortification of Castelo Sao Jorge, we really enjoyed taking in the fabulous views of the city from around the ramparts. Feeling much more orientated today and taking time for drinks and snacks (little fishcakes were good) we found, and got lost in the Alfama area. A real labyrinth of crazily narrow alleyways, with little shops and restaurants that had small doorways with dark interiors, ladies selling port, jumping out of the way for the occasional rogue car. Literally people moved their pavement side seats to allow the odd car to pass! Reviewing the restaurants as we wove our way through the narrow streets we chose one that had live Fado music, we could also sit outside and watch the chef grill our sardines. The Fado music is a type of traditional Portuguese Folk, it created a special atmosphere, increased by the lamenting voice
of the lead (blind) mandola player.
Exhausted, this was a lovely time to take in Lisbon, over the last 2 days we had walked nearly 20 miles in the Lisbon heat, thank goodness for the lovely breeze.
Now to find somewhere to rest up for a few days.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.151s; Tpl: 0.022s; cc: 16; qc: 60; dbt: 0.0723s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb