Blog Nine – Lisbon, Portugal

Published by Alastair Reid on October 15, 2019October 15, 2019

Lisbon, Portugal [7th – 9th October 2019]

Lisbon was another city, like Sevilla last year, which Fiona and I had both visited separately in the past, but never together. In her case, it was on a school cruise when she was 11, so her recollections were understandably hazy. I’d been in Lisbon ten years ago, for a day’s sightseeing, and another day to see Benfica in the new Stadium of Light, whilst I was attending a conference just down the coast in Estoril.

Back in 2009, on the train into Lisbon to see Benfica, I had passed through the district of Belem, which had looked very appealing, but which I hadn’t had time to visit on that occasion. It had stuck in my mind, however, as had my next door neighbour in Sylvan Place telling me, when I was a little boy, about CF Os Belenenses coming to play Hibs at Easter Road – Beleneses hail from Belem.

For those disparate and slightly illogical reasons, we made Belem our first port of call, after we had disembarked from the MSC Preziosa. The ship had been due to dock in Lisbon at 7am but, due to a medical emergency on board, it had speeded up and arrived in Lisbon around midnight. Although it was no silver lining for the unfortunate casualty, this did allow us to view our arrival in the city, as we had enjoyed doing in Malaga and Casablanca.

Passing under the famous bridge over the Tagus, and looking over the balcony rail towards Lisbon, with its floodlit monuments, we were careful not to look down onto the quayside, to see whether it was an ambulance or a hearse which arrived. Hopefully the former, and hopefully the casualty has made a full recovery.

Our Airbnb apartment was in a newly developed apartment block, which had formerly been Lisbon’s grand General Post Office, in the Cais do Sodre district of the city. Airbnb is so huge in Lisbon that the local government has apparently now banned new licences in large parts of the city. After getting a few Airbnbs under our belt, a certain type does begin to emerge and repeat – beautifully designed and carefully furnished and decorated; very good on the eye and with an instant impact, especially in photos; lacking the advantage of anyone ever having actually lived in them, and so infuriatingly impractical in parts – in this case, a vast flat with a tiny kitchen area, which was not only almost impossible to even make toast and coffee in, but actually downright dangerous.

A great deal of walking in the hot sun then transpired, as we visited the wedding cake-like Jeronimos Monastery in Belem, then stopped for some delicious Pastel de Nata in the oldest pastelaria in the district, Pasteis de Belem. We then headed back down to the beautiful Padrao dos Descobrimento monument, to Portugal’s explorers through the ages, on the banks of the River Tagus. Still further out was the slightly gothic and haunting Tower of Belem, jutting out over the Tagus, from where we watched our (former) cruise boat depart Lisbon without us.

On our only full day, we decided that Lisbon was so large and spread out that we’d take the red bus city tour, to visit other areas we’d not seen before. The first circuit took us up on the famous No. 28 tram route (without the crushing, and the pickpockets – bussed in from Eastern Europe, allegedly) past the Pantheon to the castle. The idea was to get off at a couple of places, but the driver was obviously behind time, and so he hared along the narrow streets, narrowly missing pedestrians, didn’t announce stops, and waited only a few seconds at each before moving off. We therefore had to wait till he completed the circuit, changed driver, and then we could get off the bus to enjoy the views and take some photos, second time around.

This palaver, plus lunch in a poncy semi-vegan cafe (I know – big mistake) who tried to short-change us, used up so much of the afternoon that we ended up doing the next part of the tour on the final bus of the day. At least it meant we were cool for the first time in around 4 weeks, as the breeze whistled through the open top deck, and darkness fell. However, we did see the castle district and the 20th and 21st Century areas, which wouldn’t have been possible otherwise.

Fi had carefully chosen our accommodation so that it was a few steps from the huge Time Out Market – a massive hanger, now housing a large number of excellent food and drink stalls. Prices were reasonable, the fare was excellent, and the atmosphere was good, so we ate there both nights of our stay. These markets, invented by employees of Time Out magazine, are popping up in a range of cities – well worth a visit if they are as good as Lisbon’s.

Lisbon is a beautiful city which deserves more time than we had. It is booming financially, with a massive tourist trade, but still has very poor, edgy districts cheek by jowl with rapidly developing ones. Definitely a great destination for a weekend break, perhaps off-season, if such a time still exists there.

My dozen favourite images from our couple of days in Lisbon are included in the gallery below. Click on a thumbnail to see a bigger image.

Image Gallery