Lisbon

Our final day in Europe.

We didn't have many plans for the day in Lisbon, just hit a few of the tourist things and take our time. We left the hotel a little before noon, and tried to find an ATM. We found one, but when we tried to get money out, we kept getting error messages saying the ATM couldn't communicate with the network. One after another gave us the same message. We finally just walked into a bank and was able to make a charge onto our debit card and they gave us the money. With that minor emergency out of the way, we stopped for lunch at McDonalds.

Now, there is really nothing that I hate more than going on vacation and eating at a chain. On the other hand, it's interesting when overseas to go into a chain, like McDonalds, and just check it out and see what's on the menu. So, we did that, and got it out of the way.

We left McDonalds and headed for Plaç a Martin Moniz to get on the 28 tram, which goes on a windy route up and down the hills of Lisbon and around the Castle of St. George. The tram is an old and rickety one-man operation, scooting through the narrow streets of the Alfama district of Lisbon. It really was a wonder to sit and watch this tram work its way up the hills and through the streets, narrowly missing parked cars or waiting for stopped cars to get out of the way. Anyway, we got off at the Castle stop. The stop is halfway up the hill, with the castle at the top, and has several lookout points that face out toward the ocean where the River Tagus empties out into the Atlantic Ocean. It also allows a great vantage point to see the neighborhood and the houses pushed together; it almost appears that being pushed together is the only way to keep them from sliding off the hill entirely. After several pictures, we begin to trek up the last part of the hill to reach the castle.

I don't really know what I was expecting with the castle. In any event, we weren't necessarily prepared to pay to walk around the castle, but for whatever reason, admission was free on this particular day. With free admission, we walked right on up and around the complex. The castle, since it's on top of a hill, provided a 360 degree view of Lisbon. The first part of the walk puts us on a walk along the outside walls of the castle, which has several prominent views of the city and the river. We walk around, taking in the views and the good fortune of it being dry- windy, but dry. We make our way to the castle, which has a very small moat and a bridge to cross into the main section of the castle. The castle is pretty sparse, not much left inside the grounds, other than a guy playing his guitar for change, so, we climb some steps and walk around the castle walls, pretending we are looking for some invasion or preparing to defend the castle from raiders. It was all very interesting.

We decide that the weather may not be holding up for us very much longer, so we take our leave of the castle and walk back down the hill to the tram stop. The tram comes along and we decide to ride it to where it ends, which is at a cemetery. In between that, however, was more up and down the hills, around tight corners and through narrow streets. We pass through various neighborhoods, pass the Parliament building, pass various churches and store fronts, and, most excitingly, get cased by two pickpockets. The tram hits it final stop, and we all get out, the pickpockets being the last two off. Since we need to get back, we just get back in line and wait for the next 28 tram to come by and take us back toward our hotel. And, of course, the pickpockets wait in line with us. At one point I was looking at my map, and put it back in my back pocket, after a second, I feel my shirt get lifted up and immediately reach for my map again- I don't know why, especially since my wallet wasn't back there, but I knew something was going on. We get on, choose our seats and the two pickpockets sit in different parts of the tram- I don't think I was supposed realize they were working together, but it wasn't that difficult. Anyway, the tram gets a move on back toward the city center, and the pickpockets, perhaps deciding that this particular tram was not going to suit them, got off a few stops later. We ride the tram back towards the city center and get off at the stop for the Barrio Alto to walk around.

The Barrio Alto, as the name suggests, is a neighborhood on a hill. This is also one of the main cultural neighborhoods- in other words, stuff happens here. Unfortunately for us, that stuff mainly happens at night apparently. So, we just walk around the neighborhood, more narrow streets, more tiled walls, more people hanging out in darkened doorways....wait, what? Yes, people just hanging out in darkened doorways. . .as we walk along one of the streets I look 2 blocks up and see 7 people just forming a line across the street, so, reaching the block before them, we turn left. After waiting out two pickpockets on a tram, I'm not really up for dealing with shadowy youths. The street we turned on eventually leads out to a park that looks out over the city and back towards the castle- allowing us to see Lisbon from two sides. We hang out, again taking in the city and the views and just listening to the sounds, at which point, it begins to rain. Luckily, right next to the park is one of the funiculars which goes up and down the sides of the hills, and this particular funicular goes down the hill and stops just on the other side of the park where our hotel is located.

So, we hop on the funicular and ride down the hill. Again, very interesting, the route the funicular takes is also used for cars as we saw trucks and driveways along the route. The funicular, not surprisingly, is also a rickety relic of the past, but, like the tram we took earlier, I simply cannot imagine it being replaced with a newer model- it would just lose its charm. It drops us off at the bottom of the hill and we hustle across the street and park and then back to our hotel, just in time for it to start pouring. . .again. We hit our hotel, take a little rest, hope the rain stops (it doesn't), and decide what to do with the rest of the evening. Actually, that last part was pretty easy- eat and pack.

For dinner we do another thing that I don't like doing on vacation- eating at the same place two nights in a row. Nevertheless, the food is still good. . .the host still is missing a thumb on his left hand, the waiter from the night before is still there and looking surly, but we get a waiter that doesn't want to deal with us, so we end up dealing with a runner all night. I like this restaurant. The waiters wear white admiral jackets. . .it's all very interesting. But not two nights in a row. But, like I said, the food was still good. And, like the night before, we walk over to the Hard Rock Cafe for a Sagres, just to enjoy one more beer before we leave. And with that we head back to our room and try to figure out the packing.

Packing was the final step, and the realization that we were at an end to our trip. We had 3 boxes that could fit 6 bottles of wine in each, leaving us with 6 more bottles that needed to be packed, so those would take up room. We had a large pottery purchase, which would take up a lot more room, so we had to deal with that. We had other gifts that needed to be packed, which would take up room. Finally, we had our clothes that needed to be packed, which would take up the most room. So, we emptied all of our suitcases and bags, and repacked everything. And, surprisingly, everything fit, and without any bag being egregiously heavy. All that was left was to deal with the boxes of wine. . .and, well, I think we all know how that worked out.

With that, the next morning we got up at 4 AM, I went to get the car out of the garage, we loaded up the car with our bags, and headed out for the airport, which wasn't all that far from the hotel. We waited like 20 minutes for a Hertz guy to finally show up and check-in our car, pushed our baggage-laden carts to the British Airways check-in desk, dropped off our wine boxes at oversize luggage, went through security and customs and then waited at the gate for departure.

And that was that. . .our vacation was at end, and all that was left of it was to head home.


I hope you enjoyed these postings- I do wish that I had kept up with them whilst over there, since my recollections are obviously colored by my remembrances and are re-told here with a slight wistfulness, instead of what I was thinking and feeling at the time. I can only do my best to recapture some of those feelings and thoughts as they happened, but I am bound by my own memory.