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Published: December 30th 2009
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What a long day! But it's been a good day. After our four hour layover in Amsterdam we loaded on to a plane bound for Lisbon. Unlike our flight to Amsterdam, which was practically empty, the flight to Lisbon booked every seat. It was a relatively short flight, just a couple hours, but since it was operated by KLM they fed us, which was nice. I was impressed, too, that I received both a glass of wine and a cup of water without having to ask for both. (Delta should take notes. And I must give a shout-out to Thu, who provided wonderful snacks so that Matthew and I wouldn't go hungry on our first night here. What a life-saver!)
When we arrived in Lisbon it was raining and a dreary 47 degrees. The airport was not as clean and modern-looking as Amsterdam, but the bathrooms were nice and relatively clean, which is one of the most important features of any airport. Matthew and I snaked our way through the halls of the airport, heading for the exit - we had to figure out the transportation situation. Matthew spent some time a few days ago researching buses and routes to
get us from the airport to the train station, but in the end we took the aerobus, the more expensive but easiest and most direct option.
Upon arrival at the train station we realized that even though English is quite common, it is certainly not “everywhere you want to be.” The ticket machines said “tickets” in English, but that was where it ended, so we ended up finding the one ticket agent working on Christmas Day (thank goodness!) and bought a one-way ticket to Estoril, the town in which we are staying. It's about a 30 minute train ride from the center of Lisbon, and a pretty trip at that because the train snakes along the coastline. Looking out the window we were treated to what I imagine San Diego looks like in the rain - gray with palm trees and ocean-like water. We are hoping that the weather improves a bit because I would so like to take some beautiful pictures of scenery.
The train left us at Estoril and we made our way past Estoril Park, past the largest casino in Europe, and into a residential neighborhood. The rain came pouring down and I learned how
to use an umbrella while pulling a suitcase over cobblestone sidewalks. After a bit of walking and a bit of checking the map we finally found Hotel Lido. It is a decent hotel with fairly clean rooms and private bathrooms. If this were summer we'd be able to enjoy the beautiful pool surrounded by palm trees. Since it is the dead of winter and raining we will keep our evening enjoyment of the outdoors restricted to seats on the tiny balcony just outside our room. It provides a great view and since we are on the fifth floor in a residential area it is fairly quiet.
Tomorrow we will make our way downstairs to breakfast - this hotel was particularly appealing because it offers a complimentary breakfast, which is rather unusual in European hotels - and then we'll most likely head back to Lisbon for a day of walking around to see the sites, ending with, perhaps, if we are lucky, an evening meal accompanied by Fado. We would like to hear the traditional Portuguese music, but most places charge at least E35/person, which is outrageous. One guidebook mentioned that a small restaurant has good prices and the owner sings fado on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, so that seems a bit more reasonable. We'll try to check it out. We are ready for adventure!
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