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Published: September 10th 2008
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Highway in the sky
You can see how closely planes follow certain paths Tim version
* beautiful flight and good approach into Lisbon.
* Did walking tour and bars and got to see a good bit of lisbon.
Really really long version:
So, on to the flight out of Heathrow... I was so glad when the thing finally took off. Not because of all the shit that happened getting out of there but really more because I was sick of the UK and its mangy weather and general social bad attitude and so excited about hitting Portugal!
The flight was beautiful... actually beautiful doesn't cover it, but thats the only word Ive got to try and match up to what I wanna say. Its one of the best views during a flight Ive ever had. As youll see from the photos you can see all the flight paths of previous flights, including a few cool little cross sections where you can almost imagine needing a little set of sky traffic lights. The view was only obscured by cloud a little bit along the way and the mountaineous regions were incerdible. Oh, saw a decent sized mine site too in a really spectacular looking region... Immersive, sell these guys a simulator please
Lisbon from the sky
cheating here, this was actually taken leaving Lisbon... but that main white area is where the yellow buildings and statue is, and if you follow that up and left about 1/3 of the way up the photo maybe, probably less, thats where I was staying, the Barro Alto area. and send me over to set it up so I can use it as a hiking base, please?
Landing in Lisbon Portugal you get a wicked approach around the bay and in over the city. No hiccups at the airport and Im on my way to the city centre (Lisboa aka Lisbon). The airport staff are helpful, the bus driver is helpful, random other passengers are helpful, and im getting to practise Portuguese, perfect. Look up Lisbon (Lisboa being the name for it here), its magic aye. The colours, the people, the undulating hills constantly providing good views, pretty perfect. Portuguese architecture is really cool too, with a warm white and orange colour scheme always making the place seem warm and nice, with the odd brightly coloured house or tiled front providing even moer character.
Walking through town I could babble for ages but the photos will speak better than my words. Rocking up at the hostel I was so glad Dan recommended it. It has a mad view from a hill up the top behind it where you can chill with a few brews and just relax on the grass. The hostel itself, Oasis, has a really
close plane
this plane was flying at a right angle to us, not all too far away from us either... good garden and bar area, comfy couches, and a friendly feel, and good beds. I got lucky and they were doing a free 3 hour walking tour just after I got there so I got to check out a good part of the city including the ugliest looking metal lift apparently built by the guy who built the eiffel tower? I didnt take a photo coz I thought it might crack the lens of the camera, its that bad! And everything else around it is incredible so it really sticks out. It does, however, provide a good viewing platform! Again, the photos will do the talking about the views... One of my roommates, Tanya, who i met first, is a fuckin champ. She is from New Delhi in India I think it was, 23, mad as a snake, and constantly smoking something. I hope I catch up wit her again some time. She let me know about the tour just above. Anyway, just wanted to describe her in here before heading on... the tour (thanks Caitlin!) gave me a good grounding for the place and some history, and a good social kick start for the hostel aye.
Drinks started
early that arvo and I headed to a bar with a couple of girls from Holland/Germany (gettin me to come along wasnt too had since one of them was pretty damn cute), I cant remember, with some good local live music, and tried a drink called a Tango that comes out looking red and its a mystery to me whats in it! The rest of the night post that was bar hopping around, finishing around 4am wit bed for me at 5:30. Aaand my net time is up... this bloggin is gonna take forever. apologies for the longwindedness, Ill learn to cut these down as I go... just too much excitement bottled up at the moment so I cant shut up. I swear there wont be one for each day...
One last note: due to crappy net connections, Im uploading the photos in the most shite quality! Ive got 8 megapixel versions of it all but am uploading in 320 by 240... otherwise Ill never get them up. Give me a yell if you want a higher res version and Ill send it your way, as most of the detail is lost in these versions which hurts me a
bit as that means half the life and beauty is getting sucked out of them...
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