Blogs from Lisboa, Portugal, Europe - page 7

After finishing biking in Italy we were on our way to Portugal. The original idea was that we would continue our bike ride along the coast of Portugal and some of the valleys. After we had a bit of a discussion, we decided that it may be a bit of a handful for us, even with E bikes so, we opted to fly into Lisbon, transfer to a flight to take us to Porto and stay in Porto for 3 nights so we could enjoy looking around this city that is located on the banks of the river Douro. As mentioned at the end of my last blog Di's bag didn't arrive at Porto so after a couple of hours waiting we finally got to our hotel at about 3am. Not a great start to our ... read more

We flew in on TAP from Gatwick to be greeted by at the arrival lounge for our transfer. They were waiting for more so we had half hour to have coffee in the glorious sun and warmth. Having checked into Hotel Iberostar as booked by our agent we decided to go out rather than nap. We walked into the park of king Eduardo 2nd, where they have, I think it is the Judas tree with lilac flowers- they look better from a distance with a hazy blue aura, but apart from that there was nothing really attractive. A festival finished a couple of days ago and there are many small huts still to be cleared. We did not walk up to that viewpoint because we could see down Avenue da Liberado and we were both tired. ... read more

Sunday: Rain this morning, but since Marji and Gary were leaving tomorrow, we decided to head to Sintra and hope for the best. The four of us settled into a cozy Starbucks (I know, right?) at the Rossio Station and waited until the next train. The dreary Sunday in Lisbon meant everyone was escaping and the train was SRO. Luckily, we found a four-set and were able to watch, comfortably, as the sky became more and more ominous. The pouring rain began in Sintra and forced us to squish into a tiny cafe where we shared a delicate apple tart until the storm passed. The theme of the day, I think, was hurry up and wait. Finally, slightly soggy, we were able to head up the hill to the historic center and look for a Tuk-tuk, ... read more

Monday: Mike, Glen, Marji, and I ended up with food poisoning. Karen and Gary were spared. Sorry, no pictures today. it wasn’t pretty.... read more

My flight from EWR to LIS went swimmingly. It left at 5:45p and arrived at 5:45am, which means the overnight flight jumped into the future by 5 hours. Unfortunately, my plan of trying to pre-adjust to the time change backfired as I didn't sleep a wink on the flight. If you've never been, all International flights are like luxury. They continually feed you, like every 2 hours. About an hour in, dinner was served and then halfway through a breakfast snack was served. TAP Portugal is a legit budget airline, for the record. The plane was beautiful and modern, with lime green headrests and touch screen entertainment consoles for every seat. I pre-ordered vegan meals. They succeeded in giving me an entirely vegan meal (complete with non dairy butter and soy creamer), but they must think ... read more