Lisbon, Portugal

Day 1

Arriving early in Lisbon, after a very long travel day, did not start well. I started to feel like I was losing my game.  Everything seemed to be taking too long, and I felt my valuable, short time in Lisbon melting away. I can't take the blame for waiting 40 minutes to get through customs –which was hardly more than just our flight's worth of people.  I chose to use Aerobus to get to the hotel –and that took an hour for no good reason. After that I tried to get on the "Yellow Bus" for a tour of the city. Let me state for the record that most of the buses in Lisbon are yellow, and I had been given 4 pieces of conflicting info about how to catch the bus. After an hour of waiting, I took a gamble, and minutes later found myself relaxing on the top row of a double-decker bus. Whew!  But I no longer had time to make any of the stops.  I have finally succumbed to being a drive-by photographer. I will survive.

The Belen Tower – Lisbon's most famous landmark.   (A sample of my drive-by photography

What happened next was the highlight of my day… Mom met up with me and joined me on a tour I had scheduled! We went to Peña Palace in Sintra, and Cabo da Roca – once the end of the world, now the most western spot on the European continent. It was a great tour offered through Yellow Bus.

Meeting up with mom in Lisbon's Praca do Comercio

The entrance to Peña Palace in Sintra



I am pretty proud of how well I am able to adapt here!  For example, I actually don't mind drinking a Guinness warm. I made it through a day without any caffeine.  And rather than just offer up my English, I am good for Spanish too –unfortunately neither one work real well here –but English is acceptable by most.

I need to have my game on tomorrow – I presume Morocco will throw some fast balls. My first priority is to get a full night's sleep in an actual bed (which means I am cutting this short). Next I will need to get a start with a good fix of caffeine!

 

Random tidbits

I cannot figure out this language -Portuguese. I hear lots of Spanish words, yet they don't speak Spanish. Instead it has left me speechless.

Lisbon looks a lot like San Francisco – with its cable cars, "Golden Gate " bridge (25 de Abril), bay (the Tagus "River"), and hills.

As the #1 exporters of cork, they can make anything out of it.

Don't travel without the app Greg found: Word Lens. It converts a written language without using data.  It saved me from a near catastrophe… I almost bought a beer with NO ALCOHOL in it!!

It was supposed to rain all day, but didn't rain at all, so a little overcast or foggy skies did not dampen our spirits!

The waves we saw here are huge and strong -20 feet tall!  Our guide told me they can successfully surf 30 meter waves!  (I can't believe it but it's true - google it!)