Lisbon

I went to Lisbon from Thu 08.May to Mon 12.May.

I arrived late Thursday evening, grabbing a taxi to get to my hotel, which was some distance from the touristic center of Lisbon, but right next to the metro, so the distance was not a problem during the stay.

Friday morning I started off by walking around in Baixa.
At first I was surprised at the number of people selling fake sunglasses, jewelry and drugs on he street. There were people running around all the main squares, hassling tourists and trying to sell stuff.



I took the sightseeing-bus around town to identify the main sights. After spending a couple of hours on the sightseeing bus, I started walking the hill up towards Castelo de San Jorge. I had lunch at the Miradouro de Santa Luzia. Summed up, it had a good view, and crap food. i kept on walking further up to
Miradouro da Graca, getting a nice view of the castle. I walked down to the castle afterwards. It had a good view of the city, otherwise not too interesting. It was full of people selling stuff, and they charged for entry.

I spent the evening shopping at El Korte Ingles.

Saturday I wanted to go out to Belem.
I took the local bus to Belem, and looked at the outside of Mosteiro de Jeronimos. Unfortunately there was already a long line to get in to the monastery, as every guidebook on Lisbon lists this as a must-see. I decided to go check out the naval museum instead. Unfortunately, it was quite boring. I found it had too little about the age of discovery and too much of more recent stuff.


Next I visited the Belem tower and walked along the river to the monument to the explorers. I kept on walking to the restaurant area under the bridge. I had lunch at a Brazilian steak house a colleague recommended to me. Good food, but I felt a bit ripped off that the charged so much for the bread and olives that came with the table (probably 10 Euros off my bill or something)

I spent the afternoon shopping at the "Amoreiras" shopping center.
Now I was having a problem with my shoes. They had some seams near the front making them too narrow and squeezing my toes. I was really feeling all the hills in Lisbon at this point.


Sunday I couldn't really think of what to do in downtown Lisbon, so I took the train to Sintra, a small touristy town about an hour by train from Lisbon. I visited the Portuguese Royal Castle (Palacio de Pena). It had very nice architecture - lots of different styles.

I took the train back and went shopping at malls around the roundabout close to the hotel I was staying at.

Monday I just spent walking around downtown, killing time before taking the local bus back to the airport.

Overall I felt like Lisbon was a pretty city, but there wasn't all that much to do there.

Pictures are here