With some reluctance, we set off from Porto on the drive to Lisbon. Arriving in the afternoon rush hour was probably not a brilliant idea and Lisbon traffic is a bit chaotic at the best of times. TomTom also suggested we turn the wrong way into a couple of one-way streets, which didn’t help. Finally negotiating the narrow winding, and steep streets in the centre, we arrived at our latest AirBNB apartment, in Rua Trindade, in the middle of the Chiado district. And it turned out to be a great apartment, close to everything, and on the top floor – see our view below.
We recovered from the trip with some tapas, wine and beer in the Mercado da Ribeira (Time Out Market food hall), finishing up, as usual, very close to midnight.
The next day, we got our bearings via the hop-on, hop-off tourist bus which drove all over town. I am trying to get my head around Lisbon, and it probably takes more than a couple of days to fully appreciate. At first glance, it appears a bit down in the mouth, needing a lot of attention in many areas, a bit grubby here and there – many little things like weeds growing out of footpaths and overgrown public spaces. The state of Portugal’s economy is obviously having an impact at street level.
However, none of this takes away from the magnificence of scores of major buildings, or the bridges, or the many huge public plazas and hundreds of statues celebrating kings, and noblemen, military heroes, and explorers. Or from the friendliness and spirit of the people.
There is a huge amount of history in Lisbon, and Portugal. I won’t attempt to bore you with my lack of knowledge, but this was one of the World’s great sea powers, and colonizers, the source of famous explorers like Vasco da Gama and a country that formed a long alliance with England dating from the 14th century. Lisbon was almost totally destroyed by an earthquake in 1755. And finally, Portugal, since 1974, has celebrated 25th April as Freedom Day, to celebrate a coup which gave them independence and more freedoms.
On our last day we started at the Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea which had a great collection of Portuguese art from the mid-1800’s to the present.
We then caught a tram to São Jorge Castle, a moorish castle overlooking the Centre of Lisbon – to get Sally’s tower climbing out of the way for the day.
After catching up with Brad and Marg, we settled into a fantastic restaurant a few doors from our apartment and enjoyed some wonderful grilled octopus. For the wine buffs, the recommended white was a Portuguese green wine – a Casa da Senra (made from loureiro grapes), and a fantastic red from the Douro, a 2015 Galhardo (made from tinta roviz, touriga franca and touriga nacional).
Overall, Sally and I enjoyed Lisbon; for Brad and Marg it probably wasn’t their favourite. I think it needs time to come to terms with. We may well return.
Next stop, Seville.
