Blogs from Lisboa, Portugal, Europe - page 9

Another busy day for the jani! Today, we decided to do a walking tour of Lisbon, thanks to our best buddy, Rick Steves, and a set of headphones. It was cool because, not only did we see a lot, but we learned about the history of the area. I can tell you, that the 1755 earthquake-tsunami-fire that devastated the city was a reboot for Lisbon. It is as if the entire city changed their whole life philosophy. Housing, churches, and government were altered to most efficiently get back on its feet. The city center was laid out in grids, with a design including universal five story live work units. Very walkable! Thanks to the Marquis of Pombal for getting us back to our new urbanist roots. Our walk took us through various neighborhoods, each with their ... read more

The crew arrived at our airbnb after a long but uneventful travel day. Our home for the next 30 days is lovely. Most importantly, its in a great neighborhood. Lots of shops, markets and restaurants and not in a touristy area. Much to Cathy's delight, there are pastry shops everywhere! Here's the link for the Airbnb, if you're interested: https://www.travelmob.com/p4098491 Some initial observations: 1) English is widely spoken; 2) Products and services are very inexpensive; 3) Uber is a great way to get around; 4) Using a European SIM card in your iPhone is a great option for taking advantage of the Internet while traveling. Recognizing that we need to pace ourselves, we explored our neighborhood a bit then headed down to a big flea market in town, Fiera da Ladre. Actually, Cathy and our entourage ... read more

Today has been a long day already and it's only 6pm. Our alarms went off at 3am, so we were up and ready for the taxi at 3.15am. We checked out the hotel fine and got the taxi across to Terminal 2. When we arrived we found that our flight was one of three leaving at 6am which were the first of the day. We had already checked in on our phones and queued up waiting for the bag drop to open. We dropped our bags off then queued up waiting for security to actually open! It's a standing joke that one of us normally gets searched, the last few times it's been me although nothing can be as bad as the incident at Gatwick when going through to New Zealand. My bag got swiped with ... read more

It's been a long time since we got more than 5 days to travel abroad and finally we were able to take some time to get to know Portugal. We have already been there visiting some cities, but we had never been able to take a couple of weeks to discover the less touristic cities. First of all, I have to say it is a great destination to visit. What can you see in Portugal? It has some beautiful places, beach and mountain, cities with history, forests, great food (and quite cheap by the way). Our favourite dish was url=https://www.thelisbonconnection.com/bacalhau-codfish-a-must-try-portugals-dried-faithful-friend-luxury-food-shop-manteigaria-silva-lisbon/Bacalhau . It also has some drawbacks such as its management of highways and roads or the price of fuel. But from my point of view it is a must visit. Portugal in 10 days. How can ... read more

With the heat, crowds, and lingering jet lag, we have been occasionally wondering why we left our comfortable life to journey here...and we got answers yesterday! We visited the giant Saturday flea market to begin our day, which included walking (always up and down hills in Lisboa!), a subway trip, and more walking...for some unknown reason the subway stop nearest us was closed, so we walked to the next one, got off near the water (and a cruise ship dock), and went up hill to the market. Flea markets are my favorite stop for souvenirs! We got a gift for our grandson (who requested rocks or fossils), a new tiny animal for our collection, and some beautiful handmade holders for children's napkins (they would carry them to school) for a Euro ($1.20) each!...It was so much ... read more