This time last week, I was on day two of a short break to Lisbon. A full-on city break with my travelling buddy. We flew out 9:30am Saturday, and back 8:30pm on the Sunday.
Day One, once we'd landed, found a hotel, and some food, was a tour of the city funiculars - three of them. Quite a lot of walking, but worth it to tick off what I thought was a full set - only to find a fourth appeared a couple of years ago!
It was more than a little damp, and my trainers didn't grip well on the limestone pavements, but we explored the city, thanks to Christian, our guide, and saw a lot that we'd not have found off our own bat. If you are in the city, I'd definitely recomend this tour.
Day 2 was all about strolling around the old town. A trip to The Lisbon Story filled in a lot of the history of the place, including a flying priest.
A trip up The Rua Augusta Arch gave us a vantage point to watch some of the action on the river, as well as a large group of Portugal fans getting ready for the match later that day.
Day 3 - A three hour walking tour, including a ride on the famous route 28. The one the tourists like.
To be honest, we caught the number 12 instead, as our guide insisted on queuing up on the corrrect side of the street, where the sign is, not the narrow strip of pavement on the side where the doors open. 28 is notorioulsy difficult to get on, anyway, so this didn't help. Not to worry, the route is nearly the same, and there was space to sit, and run around the car taking photos.
The ride was fantastic. I can't believe how steep and windy the roads these trams traverse are. Well beyond the limits of conventional wheel grip to my mind, but they charge around quite happily. The drivers have to work hard though to deal with the terrain, and insane traffic conditions.
Our guide then took us on a tour of more interesting bits of the city. To be honest, he did go on a bit, and it wasn't long before me and another member of the tour started to wander a bit as we wanted to take photos of trams weaving through narrow streets. I manged more of this later in the day too - and could easily spend a whole weekend doing this!
Cake-wise, there is a bakers about every three shops, and Breakfast Pastel de nata for breakfast too!
3 comments:
Amongst my project boxes i have an old Tyco Brill tram that is destined to be the ersatz South Shields car at Beamish, though with an extra window.
Looks like you crammed a lot in 3 days. Must have been a blast!
It certainly was. I needed Tuesday off work to recover!
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