19 October 2022 - Lisbon

Miles driven today = 0

Total Miles to date = 2,443

The heavy rain which was forecast for today duly arrived in the early hours.  We had our customary mug of tea while we listened to the drumming on the roof and then a second brew before our consciences got the better of us and we crawled out of bed sometime after 9:30.

We made our way into central Lisbon via a combination of bus and train.  Lisa has been here before, albeit best part of 30 years ago, and her abiding memory was the old fashioned trams, which still provide an important transportation link in the city to this day due to the narrowness and steepness of the streets and the sharp corners they are able to negotiate.  

The No.28 tram route effectively does a grand tour of the city and we therefore had a wet weather plan to catch this and see the sights in relative comfort.  The only problem was, hundreds of other tourists had the same plan and the queue for the No.28 stretched around the Praca Martim Moniz.

We had no plan B so we headed up the escalator towards the Castelo de San Jorge.

Very few areas of Lisbon survived the devastating earthquake of 1755 so we had a walk around a few of the buildings which date back to before that time.

Then the rain came down again so we sheltered under a tree before heading towards the Cathedral.  

Further uphill we reached the Largo Portas do Sol with its statue of San Vicente, patron saint of Lisbon.

From the view point here we could see across the rooftops to a couple of cruise ships moored up.  No doubt most of their passengers were still queueing for the No.28 tram!

We could also see the dome of the 17th Century Panteao Nacional high on an adjacent hilltop.

Both of us were getting a tad grumpy by this stage so we plonked ourselves down in a nearby tapas bar for lunch and a glass of beer/wine and that made everything considerably better.

When we emerged we spotted a No.28 with relatively few people on board so we jumped on.  It was great.  Almost like an old fashioned ghost train ride in the way we got swung around the corners and up and down the steep gradients.  One slight problem, we were going the opposite direction to the way we thought we were and very soon found ourselves back where we started in Praca Martim Moniz, where the queues for the outwards trams were longer than ever.

Not to worry.  We jumped on a considerably less heavily subscribed No.12 instead, which did a quick lap of the castle hill.  We listened to the American tourists asking where the steering wheel was and after that our tram appetite was fully sated so we decided to wander westward towards the Bairro Alto area.  

In Rua Aurea Lisa popped into H&M for a little clothes shopping but I'll spare you the details.  

Round the corner from there was the Elevador da Santa Justa which, as far as I could work out, is basically just a big lift, but still had people queuing down the street for a ride to the top.

By the time we got to the Praca Luis de Camoes we were ready for coffee and pastel de nata (the little Portuguese custard tarts we have been eating far too many of since we got here).

And that's pretty much as far as we got.  We tried to get the 714 bus home as it would have dropped us directly to the campsite gate, but that had been re-routed and we couldn't for the lives of us work out where to catch it from.  So we ended up catching a combination of 2 other buses which took an hour and a half to travel less than 4 miles as the crow flies, with a drenching in between into the bargain.

I know that I have barely scratched the surface of Lisbon today and, given the soggy conditions, I haven't seen the city in its best light, but I have to say I have felt no immediate love for the place.  It's big, it's busy and on the whole it is very, very grubby.  I am glad to have ticked it off the list but I can't see myself rushing back in a hurry.

After 3 nights in one place I'm looking forward to getting back behind the wheel tomorrow.  Sorry Lisbon, we're outta here!

20 October 2022 - The half way point