Lisbon, Portugal - Summer 2016

We needed to fly back through Lisbon, so decided to delay our return flight from there to give us a chance to see a little of the city.

We were booked into a hotel near the bullring, which took about 30 minutes on the underground Metro, but it also involved a lot of lugging luggage up stairs as not all the stations had lifts!


Restauradoros

We finally got to our room about midnight to find it was a ‘smoking room’ (something we didn’t realise still existed, the hotel in Horta was totally no smoking)! We weren’t happy, but it was midnight and we were tired, so we flopped into bed and didn’t awaken until about 8:30 the next morning, so it was obviously comfortable enough!

We checked out and headed off to follow an itinerary from one of Mandy’s colleague's husbands who is from Lisbon.

We quickly looked at the bullring, an impressive building, but we didn’t bother going in, even if it was possible - It seems to be actively used as one still - and hopped back on the Metro for a few stops and a change to go to Restauradoros.

This is a large square with fountains and statues and the railway station is nearby, an impressive looking building in its own right.

We had a brief snack and a coffee (on my part) and milk shake (on Mandy’s) before heading down the square towards Praça do Comércio on the waterfront.


Arco Augusta


'Golden Gate' Bridge


Praça do Comércio

Lisbon is actually on a wide river mouth, the Tajo, and we admired the very Golden Gate Bridge like structure across it from the square before finding ourselves a tuk tuk for a quick spin around the old city.

It was a quick spin and I forget all the points we saw, but it was a good way to get a quick overview (all we had time for) of the old city and see some of the views from the higher points, which would have required a lot of walking otherwise (and many hours).


The old castle


Zipping along in the old town on the Tuck-Tuck tour


Old church in the old town.

Once that was over, we headed back down the Rua Augusta, under the impressive arch, bought an ice cream (it was hot, OK!!?!?) and then I hopped in the lift and headed up the Arco Augusta, to admire the view back down the street and over the square (Mandy decided she’d done enough walking at this point, but most of the trip up is in a lift, so don’t let a few steps put you off - The view is worth it!).

We headed back up the street after a lovely lunch of grilled sardines in one of the cafes down the middle (hint head off into a back street to spend less, but 23 Euros for the two of us didn’t seem excessive for 4 sardines shared and a beer each) with the intention of getting on a Metro fairly soon, but we had quite a lot of time, so we just carried on walking, past the station and on up towards Praça Marquês de Pombal, passing lots of stalls selling bric a brac. It was quite pleasant and mostly shady.


View from the Arco Augusta


Statue and bell atop the Arco Augusta

We reached the Praça Marquês de Pombal and then went over into the park beyond as Mandy believed there was ‘cold glasshouse’ to visit, but we never found it.

Mandy realised at this stage that we weren’t far from the hotel, so we walked onto that and took a cab (under 10 euros) to the airport to save the struggle with our luggage (the best 10 euros spent on the holiday I thought!).

Our flight back was comfortable enough, two of us in three seats as on the way out to Lisbon, and we got home about 11PM at night.

We had enjoyed ourselves throughout and would certainly visit the Azores again if time permitted, but, as always, there are so many places to go, so little time to see them!

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