Blogs from Lisbon, Lisbon & Tagus Valley, Portugal, Europe - page 14

Another beautiful day on our adventure and today we head to Lisbon. But first some unfinished business in Coimbra and what better place to start than breakfast at the pastelaria we visited yesterday. We still wanted to visit the university, the oldest in Portugal. For reasons known only to the creators of this wonderful institution it was built on top of the hill. Actually it was once a royal palace and this is the reason it is so high above the city. So once again we climbed up steep, narrow, cobbled, streets. You need an entry ticket to visit the historical parts of the university so out came our New Zealand Teacher Registration Certificates and we received the concession entry. We were lucky to witness a student presenting her research to a jury and faculty leader ... read more

We finally reached my favorite city in the world.But then, I'm biased... I was born here. The train stations in Portugal are all very interesting. The station we arrived at in Lisboa is called Orient, a newer train station built for Expo 98. It's all glass, metal and cement , but the design is wonderful. It's a very open-space concept that from afar looks like palm trees; really beautiful. The only time we were a bit apprehensive was by the elevator. The glass floor in front of the elevator had some deep cracks in it so we all stood back until the elevator came and then quickly jumped in when the doors opened. Down we went with a sigh of relief to the taxi queue. For me this was the best part of our trip. I ... read more

At first, Lisbon just seemed like another European city, albeit one with an incredibly long bridge across the Tagus River that seemed to disappear into the horizon. However, I discovered that this is a unique city and I thoroughly enjoyed exploring it and some of the nearby towns. My favourite area of Lisbon is undoubtedly the old Arabic quarter, known as the Alfama. It is typified by streets only narrow enough to squeeze your shoulders through, winding their way up and down the hill between the port and the Castelo de São Jorge (St George's Castle). From above, this part of Lisbon looks like the houses and churches are built atop of one another in a pattern too complex for Google Maps to discern. Giving someone directions for a café in this part of Lisbon would ... read more

HI all Well we've been in Portugal for over 3 weeks now, here's were we've been so far. Thursday 14th October Our first stop was just over the border at a site in Caminha and as the name suggests it is on the banks of the Minha river, from the empty beach we looked north across the estuary and back into Spain from where we had just come, it was literally a stones throw away. The site was run by a company called Orbitur who run around 20 sites along the coast of Portugal, more details to come on them later, the site was to a decent standard and next to the beach. We spent 2 days here, again on the beach and in the sea and having the locals watch us thinking are they stupid ... read more

Wow I know I have complained before but Lisbon is built on mountains, that's what I think anyway others might think they are only hills. On the map we got it looked like our hostel was only a few streets away from where the bus dropped us from the airport. Unfortunately we did'nt take into account that it was all up hill by cobbled streets and we had to drag our luggage up with us. My suitcase is very heavy now with all the presents I have bought for Melanie!!!!!!!! We made it though and after our 5.30am start we were sooooooo happy to get there. The hostel is in the old part of the city called Bairro Alto and it seemed very quaint and quiet when we arrived. We went to bed very early as ... read more