Hotel Avenida Palace Stairway

October 27th 2015
The tiny room is only slightly lit by the pre-dawn sky. Outside the window, two cruise ships have moored in these last few minutes before dawn. The ships are lit like giant Christmas trees against the grey Rio Tejo. The sky to the east of the river begins to develop a faint orange band along the horizon. The bright white buildings that flow down the hillside to the river reflect the early light an ... read more

Europe » Portugal » Lisbon & Tagus Valley » Lisbon

Following its heyday as a world power during the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal lost much of its wealth and status with the destruction of Lisbon in a 1755 earthquake, occupation during the Napoleonic Wars, and the independence in 1822 of Brazil a... ... read more

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Nanci and David Curry

nancic123

In July of 2011, we made the decision to leave our comfortable jobs in Northern California to see the world. We weren’t sure where we were going to go or how long we would be gone, but we wanted an adventure and we knew we could find it if we looked carefully enough. We would travel slowly, staying in cities and towns for longer periods than most tourists have time for. Hopefully, it would give us an opportunity to observe local life in a unique way. In June of 2019, we completed our 8th consecutive year of travel. We visited 53 countries on 4 continents and travelled for 2873 straight da... full info

Joined	May 15th 2011	Trips	12
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29th October 2015

taracloud
Tara Cloud

Slice of Life
Thanks for sharing a taste of everyday life in your new city with its colorful neighborhoods and funiculars. How lovely to stay in the Alfama, that oldest part of town. When I was there, in my cheap hotel, I could hear fado wafting up into my room--so lovely. I wonder if the 25th of April Bridge didn't make you a little saudade for home?

29th October 2015

nancic123
Nanci and David Curry

Thinking of Home...
Many things in Lisbon remind us of home. The tiny trams are like cable cars, the bridge is like the Golden Gate, both cities have "7 hills", the river looks like the bay and the Castle reminds me of the Presidio. If I find a Chinatown there won't be much reason to ever go home! Thanks for reading, Tara!

31st October 2015

taracloud
Tara Cloud

English, please!
I also found that many Portuguese loved to speak English, pointing out that the oldest treaty in Europe is between the English and the Portuguese. They weren't overly fond of my Spanish, since Felipe II had invaded about 400 years ago. I love the ancient hill towns, and since the country was the most affordable I'd visited in Western Europe, I do have fantasies of living there someday. I love your explorations, though maybe there won't be an end to these.

31st October 2015

nancic123
Nanci and David Curry

No Spanish, please!
We laughed when we saw this! Other than Bom Dia and Obrigado, we have no Portuguese at all. At times we have tried to communicate in Spanish (I have no idea why?) and kind of gotten dirty looks. I assumed that it was because we spoke so poorly, but we never thought it could be because of the "little brother" complex Portugal sometimes has with Spain. We have found that everyone (almost) speaks some English and they seem to like speaking it. No one likes speaking Spanish. Only 10 more days until we speak English again, not to give away our next destination...

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