As mentioned previously there was a friend from the African trip who comes from Lisbon. She had imparted a massive amount of wisdom about what to see and do in Portugal and we had organised to meet her for dinner on our 2nd evening in Lisbon. Even more impressively, she had somehow convinced a friend of hers who was also on holidays to be our guide for the day in Lisbon. We had unfortunately not completely organised the meet-up; with our infrequent access to internet it was all a bit haphazard.
We had a meeting place in the city (near a McDonalds – the universal meeting place around the world) and a time but no idea what he looked like. (and as we found out later – he had no idea what we looked like…) The only clue was he was going to wear some distinctive socks. Was a bit awkward staring at random people trying to find the ‘friend of a friend’ – some people were sure they knew where he’d gone and took off in the wrong direction. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw a guy stop, lift up his socks (which were the correct red and white strips) and then walk towards us. After the somewhat awkward swapping of names we realised later how lucky we were to have such a fantastic guide to help us for the day. There was no way we would have learnt so much, seen so many different things and enjoyed the day as much if it wasn’t for him.
In a very basic sense, Lisbon is situated on a massive river between two hills. To get up the first one we caught this elevator to the old town. Situated right in the middle of the low section between the hills it saved quite a lot of huffing and puffing and had a fantastic view from the top.
(Lisbon elevator)
We wandered to quite a few squares – including one of the main ones involved in Portugal’s Carnation Revolution. The Portuguese overthrew a dictator without a shot being fired. Some fantastic photos floating around of demonstrators placing flowers in the barrels of the soldier’s guns. Headed to a couple of fantastic viewing areas over the town as well as going to oldest Bookshop in the world according to Guinness Book of Records. Bought an English book from there as a souvenir.
(view towards castle over Lisbon)
Our first food/drink stop was an old-school café with a statue of a famous Portuguese poet out the front pondering the actions of the crowd. Had to get the tacky tourist photo…
(Pessoa – Portuguese poet)
We managed to use nearly every kind of transport available in Lisbon in the one day (I counted 5 at least). Unfortunately we didn’t catch the ferry across the river but we did catch the funicular towards the aptly named downtown. Crossing the valley between the hills we stopped for lunch at only a place the locals would know about. It was hidden down a corridor off the main touristy bits but we had an amazing fish dish. The Portuguese certainly like their olive oil and so glad we had our friend to order for us. The chocolate mousse was also the best I’ve had so far this trip – so rich and incredible.
After this huge meal we caught a tram (another mode of transport) up the other hill to the castle. My balance isn’t that great at the best of times and after too much fish and dessert I was feeling a bit bloated. The tram wasn’t the most stable platform to stand on and I was grimly holding the handrail as we shuddered our way up the mountain. It was going well enough until an old man wanted to walk past me and I had to let go of my hand grip. At that exact moment the tram lurched and I went flying towards the back.
The tram was reasonably full and I launched towards a young teenager who was blissfully listening to his ipod. To avoid a painful incident I somehow twisted in mid-air so I smashed my hip into the railing between people instead of getting up close and personal with that poor guy. Obviously I made a fool of myself, and my so-called friends stood there laughing hysterically. I think the teenager thought I was on drugs or something…
We finally reached the castle without any further incidents and enjoyed another Portuguese castle with limited barriers. Had an amazing view but the camera struggled a bit with the direct sunset.
(view from castle towards ‘Golden Gate’ Bridge)
It had been a fairly gruelling day so we retired to our hotel to refresh before meeting up my Portuguese friend for dinner. We’ve been slowly getting used to how late everyone eats around here and Portugal is nearly worse than Spain. We arrived at the restaurant a bit before 9pm and we were the first group there. Another great meal (but desserts weren’t my favourite – they like their eggs) and so easy when you had locals ordering.
As is usual for this part of the world – we finished dinner very late and went back to a look-out to see Lisbon all lit up. Another beautiful city which just lights up at night. Our local friends then took us to a Fado concert. Fado is a very Portuguese style of music and is very serious. It’s unlike anything I’ve heard and was very moving – even not understanding the lyrics. The performance was in an intimate restaurant and one of the female singers was just fantastic. A superb experience only made possible with the help of our friends.
Drive to Albufeira
Our 2nd and final stop in Portugal was a beachside town of Albufeira. My Portuguese friend holidays here over summer but warned that it might be a bit dead near winter.
We’d unfortunately run out of time on our Lisbon day so had to fit in the monastery as we left Lisbon. Nothing too amazing about the monastery but it did have the tomb of da Gama – one of Portugal’s amazing explorers (pretty sure he was the first to go around the Cape of Good Hope.)
(tomb of Vasco da Gama)
By the river near the monastery was another famous landmark called the tower of Belem. A fortress to protect the town from invasion from the direction of the river it was built just before a major earthquake. When the earthquake hit the river was diverted so it’s now lapping up against the edge of the tower, rather than being a bit of distance from it. It was also a public holiday so we were able to enter the tower for free.
(Tower of Belem)
One of the final recommendations we’d received from our Lisbon experts was to try some Portuguese tarts at one of the oldest patisseries in this part of the world. The custard tarts were amazing and well worth lining up for. We drove down the coast to what we thought was the most western point of Europe but got mixed up and should have gone to one near Sintra a couple of days before. Still amazing coastline to look at.
After arriving at the hotel (where it felt like we were the only guests) we ventured out into the pretty dead town – need to come back here to experience during Summer. Not much to see at night and we left early since we desperately needed to get to Seville (where we had an apartment again) and do some washing. Was getting very low on the clean clothes front…
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