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Friday, March 30’th
This is not my
first trip, so the flight is not as interesting as used to be.
But anyway –
you are really on your way, when your first flight-meal is served. This one is a
disappointment. Something weird from Wasa on the KLM-plane from Billund to
Amsterdam. But it get’s better on the plane from Amsterdam to Lisbon, and when
the chocolate-bars are going round just before landing it’s close to fantastic.
It’s 11 pm
local time in Lisbon
as we land. And it takes 3 quarters before the baggage arrives. Then I get a
taxi – and goes to
Residencial Florescente for a check-in to room 307. It’s 1 am before I can
go to bed. |
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Saturday, March
31’st
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Florescente is
a nice little hotel in the city-center. Good room with the necessary things, and
an ok breakfast.
After breakfast
it’s time for the first look at this town. I take the tourist-tram no. 28, and
the plan is to go to Largo da Graca, and the 2 neighbourhoods of Graca and
Alfama, and the old castle
Castelo de San Jorge.
But something
turns out wrong. Suddenly I’m in the wrong part of town, at a place called
Estrela. I better jump off this tram. I do so – check out a local church and a
local park – and take the tram back towards my starting-point. |
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On the way back
I get off at the right place. Close to the Castelo. It’s a nice place so I spend
some time here. The views of Lisbon are great as well. I walk to Graca, a nice
and almost tourist-free neighbourhood. Lot’s of houses with the well-known
portugues tiles on the walls. I also pass the church of Igreja de São Vicente de
Fora. It’s very nice. And the Thieves Market – I don’t steal anything.
Then on to the
more famous Alfama. It’s being renovated – done “nice” – and that means boring.
But a few nice alleys are still left to walk around, and via these small streets
I end up at Largo das Algacarias, from where there’s a good walk back to the
hotel. I’m back at the hotel at 4.30 – so this has been 7 hours of sightseeing
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Second
trip of the day is shorter. To Elevador de Santa Justa – and up to
Bairro Alto. This area has to wait to be explored till later. So I walk
down again – through the streets of Lisbon Center – called Baixa –
throught the shopping-streets down to Praca do Comercio – a fine square
dating back from the colonial-days of Lisbon.
It’s
nice to be walking Lisbon. It’s not to huge a place. Well – there are
tourist – but not to many. So there seems to be room for everyone. And
people are nice as well – being polite and things like that.
I’m
back at the hotel at 8 – with a sandwich from a local shop.
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Sunday, April
1’st
Daytrip to
Sintra today.
Sintra is a very old town, 30 km. northeast of Lisbon. It takes about an hour on
public transport to get there.
From the
trainstation in Sintra bus 434 takes you uphill to Palacio Nacional de Pena,
about 5 km from Sintra city. It’s a very nice castle. There are plenty of
colours and a great view in the nice park. The castle has been built through
various periods. Mostly though in the 16’th century when Ferdinand of Sachsen
owned the place. You can also see the castle within, with nice furnitures etc. |
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After a
few hours here, I start the descend though the woods. When you do that,
you pass the impressive Castelo dos Mouros. That’s a ruin now, but built
as a fortress by the arabs in the 8’th century. It fell to the
Portuguese King Alfonso Henriques in 1147, and was in use until the
15’th century. Now you can walk on most of the ruins walls. The guards
must have had a nice view of the surroundings, and it has not been an
easy task to take it in. |
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Further down
the hill through a small path in the woods to Sintra City. A quick lunch before
the last sight in Sintra. That’s Palacio Nacional de Sintra – right in the
city-centre. The history of this place is uncertain, but it did get it’s form
that is has now in the 15’th and 1’th century during King Manuel I. There are
two weird towers on the palace, that turns out not to be towers but chimneys
instead. They connect directly from the huge kitchen of the palace. On a rainy
day the soup would get very thin. Usually I’m most impressed by these buildings
from the outside, but this place is most interesting from the inside, with
plenty of tiles and impressive ceilings.
From here I
return to the train-station and the train back to Lisbon. |
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Monday, April
2’nd
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It’s cloudy
this morning. So I set for indoor-activities. I take the metro to Oriente and
the area Parque das Nacões, which was built for Expo 98, and now is a moderns
area with apartments, offices, shopping- and entertainmentcenters. I’m here to
see Lisbons Oceanarium, a
very nice aquarium full of sharks, stingrays, sunfish, birds etc.
From the Oceanarium
Some bird
going crazy
Plans were to
take a local chairlift to a tower with a great view. But it’s raining to much,
so there’s no fun in that. Instead I head for a local Pizza-hut, where I get a
pizza while it’s stille raining. |
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Back to the
hotel for siesta before the 2’nd trip of the day. That’s for Bairro Alto close
to the Lisbon city-center. I start this trip on a metro to Cais do Sodre and
then a short walk to Elevador da Bica. That’s one of Lisbon’s 3 funiculars, but
the only one working at the moment. The two others are closed for repair. It’s a
funny thing, going through the narrow streets uphill to Bairro Alto. A very
charming ride.
Then it’s time
for walking around in Bairro Alto. A great neighbourhood – a good place for
walking up one street – walking down the next one etc. There are nice
restaurants, sleazy café’s, fancy galleries, local craftsmen, punks, youngsters
playing football, nice houses and others houses with broken glass and full of
graffiti. All in the same neighbourhood. A great place to walk around. |
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To Porto
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