Lisbon, Portugal

We woke up today refreshed and ready to take on Lisbon. We were hoping to head back up to that look out that the man who gave me directions yesterday suggested. From there, we wanted to hit up a few spots: Bairro Alto, Chiado, St. George's Castle, Pasteis de Belem, the royal Palace and anywhere else that seemed interesting. We headed out, and were completely unaware of how hilly Lisbon was! It was more hilly than San Francisco! The streets were bumpy cobblestone, and extremely steep. How these little old ladies and men navigated was beyond me!

The view from our apartment

  We hiked up to Irmandade Nossa Senhora de Monte e Sao Gens and to the Miradouro da Senhora do Monte. The views were worth it! This is one of the highest points in Lisbon, and  you can see for miles!

 At the lookout, there is an old church. We got a little obsessed with all of textures and juxtaposition of old and new, that we went on a little bit of a photo rampage.

Next, we continued walking toward the water. Being one of the oldest cities in the world, and having strong Moorish influences, walking anywhere was no easy feat. The pedestrian walkways move in all directions including up and down. You move through one neighbourhood and into the next through courtyards and staircases, alleyways and winding roads. We were very grateful for Google Maps!

Navigating down a stair-ramp

Getting closer to the water!

One of the many courtyards

Steep!

The tram in the background goes up and down the hills. Again, very much like San Francisco. There are also buses that run through the main wide streets. We continued down into the Chiado district, and stumbled into Luis de Camoes Square. There were little markets on one side of the street and a huge open square complete with giant statue.

All the sausage you could ever want!

This is where a lot of shopping takes place. We weren't really in the mood to shop, so we wandered around a bit.

Sardines are big here, and apparently a hot commodity?

We walked along the waterfront, looking for interesting sites. A van filled with police officers stopped in front of us. In true SWAT style about 7 officers with batons jumped out and ran in different directions up and through the alleyways, while the van drove off. It seemed as though they were looking for someone. We continued to walk back in the other direction, looking for somewhere to stop for lunch. There were more police stopped. They were herding this group of men, with dreadlocks carrying cups of beer down the street. They would let them walk, then stop them again further down the street. We walked through Baixa/Chiado for a bit, then decided to head over to eat in Bairro Alto, as we read that the food was good there. We were looking for a Thai or Indian restaurant that I had reviewed, keeping to not eating Portuguese food. Everything, everywhere was boarded up and closed. Nothing was open for lunch if opened at all. We walked around for an hour when we finally found a little patio that was serving lunch. We sat down outside, swallowing the "patio fee" that they get away with charging in Europe, and ordered a chicken curry and a brie/apple salad. They were out of pretty much everything else. The food was decent. We were frustrated with the lack of things open. It doesn't seem as though very many people work in Lisbon.

We continued to walk down Avenue 24 de Julio, saw the red Golden Gate-like bridge called Ponte 25 de Abril, and sat down in a park debating what to do next. We had seen a lot, walked a lot, we weren't interested in anymore churches or museums and were kind of hankering for the beach again. We weighed the pros and cons. Leslie had told us to go get pastries at this famous shop, that we learned was called Pasteis de Belem, and really is famous, so it was between getting on the train/bus to Belem, or going back to the apartment, getting the car, and navigating our way to the beach. AS soon as we lay it all out, it was obvious that we would be heading towards Belem.

We crossed the street and hopped on the tram. I feel that this is a scam for tourists. They charge a lot per person, over 2 euros each, and you have to have exact change and pay the automated ticket machine. Some nice man broke a 5 for me. We hopped on the bus on the way back. It went the exact same way and only charged 1.70.

They have this pastry making thing down to a science. The place looks small from the street, but is huge inside, with tonnes of seating, and a glassed in kitchen where you can watch the famous pastries being made. We ordered four. You pay at the cashier, then pick up further down the counter. They come in a Mc Donald's apple pie style box, and they give you packages of icing sugar and cinnamon for sprinkling.

Waiting in line...it moves very fast

Bringing in new pastries from the kitchen

 Of course there is a Mc Donald's across the street to cash in on the event! We went to take advantage of their 1 euro drink menu. You can get alcohol at Mc Donald's in Lisbon! Shay got the smallest coffee ever, and we sat at picnic tables and enjoyed our pastries. They were good. I mean they're no sour cream glazed, but good all the same.

While in Belem, we thought we would check out Jeronimos Monastery. It was pretty big! There was a planetarium next door and we were debating going in. We walked over to it, and I realized how very tired I was. We headed over to the Jardim da Praca do Imperio. We sat and rested a bit, and watched another police van pull over a car. They kept this guy there forever, and the car that they were in front of, could not get out. Madness! We sat in the park that faced the water and could see the Monument. We were too lazy to walk over to it.

Hommage to Vasco de Gamo

We took the bus back, and walked up the many hills to our apartment. We bought some groceries on the way home to eat for breakfast and to snack on on the plane. We wanted to try the chicken place for dinner that Tania and Luis recommended. It was very close to the apartment.

We stumbled upon a Cathedral on our way back home!

The grilled chicken was amazing! They also made their own potato chips and olives so we ordered some of those as well, and ate an epic feast back at the apartment, watching Hannibal. Our hosts had several DVD's to choose from!

Shay was still hungry, and decided to go back to the pizza place around the corner for a pre-midnight snack. He brought it home while I packed a little. We would not be able to eat like this once we got home!

 We woke up early the next morning. We drove our car to the airport and returned it to Europcar. This was an extremely disorganized system. People were pulling in their cars, but there was no booth. There were random Europcar workers coming around and doing assessments. Everyone was rushed and trying to catch a plane. It was ridiculous. It was finally our turn. We had no trouble, and made our way to departures.

Lisbon airport is stupid. We had to walk a long way from the car drop off, to the departure section, but there were no labels telling you what floor you needed to be on. And you had to walk around before you could even find windows. One section had 14 windows, (by windows I mean flight counters), and another that had 100. It was stupid. We walked around in circles until finally seeing the Air Transat counter. We lined up, got through,  then had to walk through another maze to get to the gates. Once we did that we wanted to look around a little and get some coffee. We found a Mc D's (we're not huge fans of Mc Donald's, we just knew what to expect of their coffee). They had one person taking orders, and one person making food and a line of 20 people waiting. Stupid.

We made our way to our gate, which was another huge waste of time. There seemed to be a lot of misdirection, and a lot of wasted space. We checked in, then went through the gate only to be in another line down an escalator to catch a bus that would take us 10 minutes to the plane. We waited another 30 minutes for the bus, got to the plane, and the plane was still loading the previous bus load. Stupid.

The plane was gigantic. Three rows of people, over 50 rows of seats. Three or four bathroom locations. It was nuts. It did not leave on time. We were seated in the very last row. Our seats were fine, roomy enough, no screaming babies, and private television screens. Much nicer than the ride there. Food service was slow and obnoxious being at the back. They often ran out of meal choices, but were nice enough to offer seconds of the Pizza snack to the people at the back of the plane who had to wait for everything.

No end in sight

The landing was terrible, and probably because we were in the tail, but we felt the huge drops each time, and it felt as though we were bouncing around. Even the pilot seemed frazzeled as he announced our arrival. Needless to say, Shay and I were holding on to more than our carry-ons. We got through, but being at the back, meant we would be the last off the plane, and we couldn't get out fast enough.

It was nice to be back in Toronto, at Pearson, a well organized and well labelled airport, with self check in. We even got to go through automated customs, where we scanned our own passports and walked right through! Very easy. We did have to wait a long time for our luggage.

We had an amazing time in Europe. We will definitely be back soon! We were happy to be home after such a long journey. I couldn't wait to get back to Dexter. I missed his fuzzy little face.

Onwards to Ontario camping!

The Algarve to Lisbon, Portugal

We woke up, packed up and made our way upstairs to the room for breakfast. We had to wait for a table as it was full, so we checked out the views from the patio.

Breakfast views of Albufeira

Breakfast was continental, so cereals, yogurt, pastries, granola and toast. It wasn't terrible. We got our fill, then headed out on our hunt for the perfect beach. We knew that the Algarve was known for their beaches. It was going to be pretty tough to top Maria Luisa Beach!

On the road again...

I had made a list of beaches that were recommended. Apparently, so did everyone else. The first beach on the list was Sao Rafeal. From afar it looked beautiful. Cliffside, greenish waters.

Sao Rafael beach. Don't waste your time.

We got excited and took a bunch of pics and got ready to take the stairs down. Parking was hard to find, we had to park on the street. Upon closer investigation of this beach, we learned that it would not be the place for us! For starters it was packed. There were children everywhere, one peeing beside me on the board walk. The sand was rocky, and the water had very few areas for safe swimming (avoiding rocks and algae), and there was no shade. We put our bags down on a canopy bed and immediately someone came up to us demanding 15 euros each. Forget it! We left quickly en route to find the perfect beach.

We decided to use googlemaps, on satellite mode, and search for the beautiful green beachy areas. We drove down a dirt road, that led us to a sketchy area to park a car, and a narrow dirt path to follow. Across from the car and dirt path was an old broken down house, complete with broken cars strewn across the front lawn, along with old appliances, wood and garbage. This was off of an unnamed dirt road near Vila Lara, so we were feeling pretty confident about our decisions today.

We quickly followed the path and came down to an opening by the beach (B). There were a couple other people here who appeared to be diving or snorkeling. They had wet suits. The water was rocky and not swimmable here. Shay looked at our map and said the beach was up the steep cliff. This should have been a warning sign, but we pressed onwards. We climbed up the narrow path, using our towels to shield our legs from the prickly bushes and ground cover. We passed another couple heading down, which was promising. We got to the top and the views were unbelievable!

Shay insisted that the most wonderful, perfect beach was just up ahead. I was having difficulty believing that we would be able to get to the beach from up here. We were sadly both right. The most beautiful beach was up ahead, but we could not get to it! It was a boat in only beach! Beautiful none the less.

We decided to head back the way we came, get in the car and try again. This time when I did the satellite map, I made sure to zoom in and look for a road leading to the beach, and some sort of footpath. We finally found one! This beach was small and tucked away, very close to the Suites Alba Resort and SPA. It may have been called praia de Albandeira.

It did not disappoint! It had very few people, even fewer children who tended to keep to the right of the jagged rock. The cliff over hung, and provided shade. There were no washrooms or restaurants, just a snack bar. I think there regularly are washrooms here, but they weren't working today?

Nearly private beach

Paradise at last!

This beach was absolutely stunning. The sand was light and powder soft, the water was clear and turquoise, the people were few, and there was free shade! We didn't want to leave. The tide on the other hand, had it's own plans, and by 4 o'clock or so, was washing away the sunny parts of the beach, pushing everyone up under the rock overhang. We had to pack it in anyway, as we were out of food and needed to drive to Lisbon! We changed in the car, and headed on our way. Goodbye beautiful beach. I hope we meet again soon!

We got on the road and drove up the A2, stopping at some disappointing rest stops along the way. This one sold watermelons!

 And oranges. But no hot food.

Passing the Cristo Rei monument

Look it's Jesus!

We had a bit of a frantic arrival. I had texted our hosts Tanya and Luis, and knew they were expecting us. We had directions on google maps, and a dying cell phone battery. We stopped at a rest stop to charge the phone, but could only wait so long before needing to get back on the road again. After a coffee and a disappointing orange, we were back on the road approaching Lisbon. The streets in Lisbon are ridiculous and move in every which direction against all logic. The one way we had to get to the flat, was blocked by the road being torn up. Our battery died just as we pulled away from the construction, with no way of knowing how to get to the apartment. I hopped out of the car and stopped some teenagers who had phones on the street. I was hoping they would look up a new route for me or give us directions, but they had no idea and suggested I go into the shop. The shop owner, didn't have wifi, but he knew where the apartment was located, and gave us perfect directions in English, and told us other places to visit along the way. Thank you random Portuguese man!

We got to the flat as the sun was setting, and Luis and Tanya so graciously greeted us, provided us with maps, and "to do" lists of places to visit in town, and helped us park our car in the underground garage. We unpacked, and showered, and headed out to get something to eat. We tried to look for their recommendations, but it was 10pm, and almost everything was closed. One restaurant was open, but had no seats available. The only thing open around was a 200 pound lady cooking churros out of a food truck. We decided to google "pizza" and found a restaurant down the block that was still open. We ate all we could of the delicious wood oven pizzas, opted for dessert, which was a semi-defrosted orange flan-like cake, then leisurely strolled back to bed.

Content after a lovely meal of pizza!

When asked "would like to try the orange cake?" always reply "No thank you!"