That Wasn't There Last Time We Looked!
⬆intro next ➡Day 1 ~ 15 May ~ London to Lisbon
Hello sunny Portugal!
Err, hello huge immigration queue. Thanks again, Brexit, the gift that just keeps on giving.
Lisbon's main international airport is not out in the middle of nowhere, it's right in the northern part of the city, and we're staying at the Moxy Lisboa Oriente, only about a mile and a half away. We could get a taxi, but it's not a long or arduous walk and it's nice to stretch our legs for a bit.
The Moxy chain has become very much our go-to for inexpensive hotel stays. They are a bit silly for serious people, but fortunately we're not very serious people.
I mean, what's not to love about a pink gorilla welcoming you to the lifts with a cocktail?
The rooms are basic but clean, comfortable and functional. Think Premier Inn, which is of course our other preferred chain. We don't need or want five-star frills as a general rule.
Ok, the view of the bus and train stations may not be the most picturesque sight Lisbon has to offer, but we've had a lot worse.
So, unpacked, it's time to do some proper touristing and visit the castle. We haven't yet worked out the public transport system, but it's easy to just get an Uber. Lisbon's traffic doesn't seem too bad compared to some, so it's about twenty minutes for about 9km according to my GPS track.
While you stand in the queue to buy castle entrance tickets, you are tempted by the most amazing Piña Colada in the universe, and the young lady responsible for the tempting proclaims it with great gusto. By coincidence, two of my work colleagues have both been to this very spot recently and did indeed succumb to the temptation, but we are made of sterner stuff. I, as I'm sure you all know, am completely immune to the blandishments of young ladies, and in any case we both prefer less sweet drinks these days.
And here we are inside, up above the town.
Pay attention to the hat Amanda is wearing. There is a story to it which will be revealed shortly.
Oh yes, here's how it looks without us in the way.
We're in the outer ward, looking up at the inner walls.
And if we look the other way, we see peacocks! They are all over the castle grounds, though it's not entirely obvious why.
Babies, too.
It has to be said, though, that the castle itself is not all that exciting. It's more about what you can see from it than in it.
This, for example, is what I presume to be the Portuguese version of an Ordnance Survey trig point. The plaque reads "Instituto Geográfico e Cadastral LISBOA Serviços Geodésicos".
Now when I put "instituto geografico e cadastral" into Google Translate, it came back with "geographic and cadastral institute", which I thought at first to mean it didn't have a translation for 'cadastral' and so just left it as it was. But no! It's a proper English word too, being the adjective derived from 'cadastre'. But that probably doesn't help, as you probably don't know what a cadastre is either. I certainly didn't until five minutes ago. Thanks to Wikipedia, though, I can now tell you that a cadastre is a comprehensive recording of the real estate of a country, so I guess what would be dealt with by the Land Registry here in the UK. Ah, reading further...
In Scotland there is a Cadastral Map [...]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadastre for more.
In England, Wales and Northern Ireland there is a system of land registration with similar functions, but the word "cadastre" is not used.
So this is more interesting than I thought it was, but it's still just a concrete pillar: not much to look at.
This is the sort of thing you can see looking out.
Let's leave the castle and investigate further...
Street art. I'm sure it is very deep and meaningful but I have no idea what it means.
More street art. This we can understand.
"The Cork Store".
While I was standing in the queue, not being tempted by Piña Coladas, Amanda had a little wander and found this shop where just about everything is made from cork, including the hat she was wearing in the picture earlier. She now takes me to see the shop myself, and most interesting it is too. Cork fabric is a new thing to us, but a little research shows that it's been around in Portugal for decades, but only recently started to become popular elsewhere, as a leather alternative that ticks all the eco boxes. It's much softer and more flexible than we'd ever have guessed beforehand.
It's a dog park! It seems to be closed right now, but there's a sign explaining that it's reserved for dogs that are vaccinated, free from parasites, licenced and identified. Or maybe there just aren't any dogs in Lisbon that meet all those criteria?
Lisbon is one of the few cities that still has an original tram network; we'll have to check that out later.
Decorating the streets for an upcoming festival. We're not sure quite what it is, but I'm sure we'll find out at some point, because it's happening pretty much everywhere.
Trompe l'oeil designs are popular for buildings. Side-on you can see it's flat, but it really does look convincing to the casual glance.
Like this.
A bit more looking around town, then an Uber back.
Pizza, salad and wine at the Moxy.
They don't do a huge range of food, but we've always found their pizzas good. Indeed, our first experience with Moxy, at Edinburgh Airport, introduced us to the hitherto unknown concept of haggis pizza!
(Surprisingly good, actually. Haggis is really a kind of sausage in many ways, so it's less alien than you might first think.)
And so to bed.
⬆intro next ➡