The Witty Traveller Blog: portugal

I wasn't sure how we would take to Lisbon as our first impressions after getting off the train were of a dirty and poor city, due mostly to the homeless man urinating in front of us. I'll just put it down to a tourist experience.

We have enjoyed our two weeks here in Lisbon and have managed to do plenty of relaxing as well as sightseeing. We were lucky enough to get tickets to a 3-day Rock Festival near Sesimbra in Portugal that showcased a number of International acts such as Prince, Stereophonics, Vampire Weekend and Julian Casablancas (of The Strokes) just to name a few. Of course one of our favourite acts was Prince. It was truly another amazing experience.

Prince at Super Bock, Super Rock Festival

As for sightseeing, we took a day trip out to Belem; it is referred to as the historical heart of Portugal. The entire area of Belem is closely associated with the Portuguese Age of Discovery. The natural harbour made it an ideal launching point for the exploratory voyages which turned Portugal into a major economic force. In 1755, Lisbon and the surrounding region including the Belem area, suffered through a devastating earthquake. As fate would have it, much of Belem was spared.

We visited the Tower of Belem which was not for the claustrophobic. The narrow staircases up and down only wide enough for people going up or down, not both ways and the dungeons below where you had to crouch as the ceiling was not high enough to stand. Overall, even though it was a fort, it did look magical and fairytale like when you climbed up to the very top of the tower and could see views of Lisbon and the castle.

Tower of Belem

The Oceanarium was also a great day out. I think we have seen a lot of fish on our journey through Europe, however, this Aquarium would have to be one of the better ones. The Oceanarium is primarily a giant tank that you walk around on 2 floors with many smaller tanks on the sides. There are then open areas that have different climates within - of note is an area where the penguins swim around. We also got to see a weird Ocean Sunfish (that I've never seen before), some Puffins and an Otter. After, this we exited and went for a ride on yet (another) cable car - this one was pretty boring - we got to see the site from Expo '98 - which was mainly just ugly eyesores and views of the River Tagus and the Vasco Da Gama Bridge.

Ocean Sunfish at Oceanarium

In the evening we ventured out to the streets in Bairro Alto as that's what the culture is like here. You basically find a bar, which is easy as hell, order a drink - which is usually a Mojito (a very potent one at best) and then consume it out on the street. After about 4 of these and feeling a little bit intoxicated, we moved onto a reggae bar where we met a few locals - Marco, Christian and Rodriguez and continued to learn about Lisbon's culture whilst drinking Lisbon's beer of choice Super Bock. It tastes much like VB I'm afraid to say. We woke with strong headaches the next afternoon.

After wasting another day with a hangover, we decided to make it up by eating and visiting the Santa Justa Elevator. We all know what a huge fan David is of Portuguese chicken, so lucky for us, we scoped out apparently the best and most juiciest chicken in Lisbon (we beg to differ, Petersham chicken shops in Sydney give them a run for their money). After the feast at the Bonjardim restaurant we headed home to have an early night so we could appreciate the next day.

Santa Justa Elevator Shaft

After having a quiet night in and being able to sleep in (again, seems to be a recurring theme, these days) we set off on another day trip to Cacilhas and Costa da Caparica. We took a ferry to Cacilhas which lasted about 15 minutes and then took a 35 minute bus ride to the coast of Costa da Caparica. This beach reminded us a bit of places in Queensland. Although there was not much there, there seemed to be a lot of people on the beach and in the water. Nice enough beach but I much preferred Cascais.

Costa da Caparica

Following on from this, the next day we spent sightseeing Sintra, Pena Palace, Cape Roca and Cascais.

Cascais

If you're wheelchair bound or on crutches in Portugal you've got it tough. Between the slippery cobblestones, treacherous steps, and massive hills with narrow pathways barely wide enough for one person this seems like a city designed to weed out the mobility challenged amongst it's population. I don't think I've seen a single wheelchair ramp or wheelchair accessible train station so it looks like the only option would be to latch on to the back of one of the recklessly fast taxi's that hoon about the streets. I'm pretty sure most of the cab drivers base their fare structure on how scared their passengers are by the end of the ride, and their tips on how many near death experiences that they graced various pedestrians with.

It's no wonder that the inhabitants of Bairro Alto all seem to be so fit, there are some hills so steep in this suburb that there are special trams that run up and down some of the hills. A few of these are specially modified so that the wheels are at a 30° angle to the main body of the tram. I'm wishing that our tourist map had altitudes as well as just streets as it seems to take us much longer to walk anywhere with Sancha taking quick rest breaks between each section of steps.

On the bright side the large hills means a spectacular view of the city from the Castelo de São Jorge that we visited. The castle even has a camera obscura with a periscope which is used to give 360° views of the city from the top room of one of the castles towers. One of the more impressive sights is the 25th of April Bridge (which looks quite similar to the Golden Gate bridge) and the massive Christ the King monument standing nearby (which was inspired by, and looks quite similar to, the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro). The castle, like most other places in Portugal, also comes fully equipped with a bunch of old guys playing cards.

We also took the opportunity to go and get some authentic Portuguese style roast chicken. It was so good we went back another night for dinner and had even more awesome Portuguese cuisine, including some fantastic whole grilled sardines.