A nice early morning start to the day with a 7:30am arrival in Lisbon. Good oh in the land of OZ, but nothing happens here till after 10am! Well at least the cafe at the station was open so I had my first ( of many I hope ) Portuguese custard tart. They are every where. The pedometer would love it as there are pastry shops all over the place! First job was to get a Portuguese SIM, as even though Vodafone are in Spain and Portugal they only roam with each other. Mobile phone roaming is one thing the EU has yet to sort out! A very helpful young Indian in the PayShop outlet had me up and running in no time - take my advice and stay away from the phone companies - use the re-sellers. This fellow had a sister in Melbourne who had just bought land in Aurora - just north of Epping - he even had a photo!
With an extra hour up my sleeve it was still before 9am, and I couldn't check in till after 2pm, so I parked the bags and headed UP, yes UP.
Lisbon has a castillo and and a citadel - heaven! The Alfama district is right behind the station. It is like a moorish town built on the side of the steepest hill you would ever think of building on. The hill on which the castillo is located is so steep they have a lift to go up it, not a funicular! The castillo itself is nothing special compared to Turkey, but it was UP. The moors used to use tiles to embellish their buildings and the traditon has continued - Lisbon seems to just love their tiles - so many buildings are faced in tiles.
Lisbon is fantastic! It is like Naples on steroids - attitude, grunge, gaffiti but so enthralling!
Currently there are 3 cruise ships docked, so I look pretty spritely compared to many in the groups being shuffled around town.
Having done the circuit up the hill ( no lift for me! ) and then back down, you enter an area layed out in a grid like Melbourne - rebuilt after an earthquake apparently ( quite some time back ). Well 2pm finally arrived and a short metro ride had me at the spot in what apparently used to be a red light area but is now being overrun by by trendies - oh well!
After 36 hours in the same clothes even I was happy to see a shower in what has turned out to be a great little apartment. I crashed due to a lack of sleep overnight! Dinner was at a little restaurant near bye, from Lonely Planet, and they got it right - the food was great and the wine followed by port was even better ( I figure after a night on the train I was due a good feed! )
I have started booking places to stay on the way to Porto, and nine days isn't enough!
Oh, and did I say it was WARM here today, 25 degrees and no rain?
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