Friday 26th June 2009: A day trip to Sintra

Sintra is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Lord Byron described it as a "glorious eden", so we thought it might be worth a day trip...We caught the train out to Sintra and then hopped on a bus to the "old town" where we stopped off for a cappuccino and pastelaria de nata in the little cafe down the alley on the right in this photo.



Suitably fortified, we began our climb up to the Moorish Castle overlooking the town.



It was a long hard slog up the back streets, following the signs to "Castelo dos Mouros" until we took a turn off the roads and on to a woodland footpath that zig-zagged it's way up the hill to the castle. We stopped off to "enjoy the view" at regular intervals to get our breath back due to the heat. The climb was worth it. The castle occupies the hill top overlooking the town and you can see for miles around.

Walking the walls, we enjoyed views down to the town of Sintra and the various Palaces of the former Kings of Portugal.




From the top of the highest tower, you could see one of the Pena Palace and look back to Lisbon and the Ponte 25 De Abril over the Rio Tejo.



Having walked the walls of the castle, we headed back down the hill into the narrow winding streets of the old town, stopping off for sandwiches and cold drinks in a small corner cafe (up this street and turn right).



We stopped off in the post office on our way to the bus stop to send the traditional post cards home and to people at work. Our bus back to the railway station took us some very steep roads and at one point the driver had to manage a three point turn on a hairpin bend. He looked calm and at ease as he probably did it every trip but a lot of the passengers were nervous. One of the stops on our trip was a back gate into the castle which would have saved us half the climb if only we had known. Oh how we laughed...

Once back into Sintra "new town" by the railway station, we took a stroll down to the Modern Art Museum but it was closed for a change of exhibition. So I had to make do with taking pictures of the couple of bits of sculpture in the forecourt.



Having been thwarted by the closed museum, we sat down in the shade outside a cafe in the 30C heat and introduced the waiter to the concept of the coke float. We have also done this in Croatia & Greece and often struggled to get the idea over. It provides us with a treat and the waiters with something to laugh at (crazy Brits put a lump of ice cream in a tall glass of coke that then foams up and they eat it with a spoon until it turns into a creamy fizzy slop that they then drink through a straw!)

We made it back to the railways station just as the train was about to leave and were soon back in Lisbon. We stopped off at the Swiss cafe on Rossio Square for our tea. Sonia enjoyed her roast chicken and I my platter of mixed meats and pickles (including pickled carrot). These were washed down with glasses of wine and then the traditional pot of tea before we headed back to the hotel for a well earned rest.

Thursday 25th June 2009: Cultural chilling

Our second day as tourists started with a stroll over to El Corte Ingles shopping centre. While wandering round the store looking for the section where I could buy the European edition of the Guardian, I spotted a "man bag" that I thought would be a good idea after yesterday's attempted pickpocketing and we bought a couple of Lisboa Guide Books (in English).

We then walked the short distance to the Gulbenkian Museum and adjacent Modern Art Museum. Spent all morning wandering the exhibitions in both museums. I especially loved the Lalique items in the Gulbenkian.



We settled in the Gulbenkian Museum's cafe for lunch. I had a very enjoyable large glass of red wine with mine and we then headed out into the grounds. We comandeered one of the giant bean bags set out by the duck pond under bright yellow canopies that had Portuguese poetry printed on them, and settled down for a snooze.



Having thoroughly chilled out and watched the ducks watching us, we decided to head back to El Corte Ingles to buy the "man bag". To describe it as a department store is to understate El Corte Ingles. The lower ground floor is a supermarket, the upper floors include the usual department store stuff like clothes etc but there are also a couple of cafes, a restaurant and a multi-screen cinema. We went up to the restaurant on the top floor for a quiet drink, a Galao for me (milky coffee) and a hot chocolate for Sonia that turned out to be pure melted chocolate in a cup! We decided to "stay local" for our evening's entertainment so we bought tickets for the Tom Hank's film Angels and Demons on our way back to the hotel.

After freshening up (and downloading the 90+ photos taken in and around the museums), we headed back to El Corte Ingles for some food in one of the cafes. The movie was an interesting experience as it was mainly in English but with Portuguese subtitles. This was fine until you get to the bits where characters speak French, German or Italian and the subtitles are, of course, Portuguese. The cinema seats were very comfortable and there were only three or four couples in for our screening.

We finished the evening in the hotel bar chatting to Manuel the barman and having a nightcap before stumbling up to our room.

Wednesday 24th June 2009: Our first day wandering round Lisbon

Our first day proper as tourists in Lisboa. The nearest metro station, Sao Sebastiao, was closed for redevelopment so we decided to walk down in to the city centre as a means of getting our bearings and enjoying the morning sunshine.

Our first stop off was in the area to the north of the Parque Eduardo VII. We found a poolside cafe (closed) in the Jardim Amalia Rodrigues where I took some photos.



We then came across a statue, Maternidade by Fernando Botero (1999) overlooking the road across the top of Parque Eduardo VII.



After this it was a short stroll to the giant flag pole at the top of the Parque with a picture postcard view down to the city centre and the river.



After taking photos of the earthquake memorial, we headed down the hill though the park. We stopped off for iced tea and custard tarts at Cafe Nicola in Praca Dom Pedro IV and picked up a copy of the European edition of the Guardian on our way down to the river. We bought travel cards at Rossio Station that gave us access to the metro, trams, and elevadores of the week. The grid of streets in the Baixa was amazing but we were disappointed to find that the Praca Comercio was boarded off for retiling.



From Baixa, we caught the 28 tram up to Santa Luzia and its Miradouro (viewpoint). A man attempted to pick my pocket but the buttons on my pocket stopped him. From the viewpoint we headed up the hill towards the castle where we had lunch surrounded by peacocks and peahens.



After lunch we walked the castle walls and visited the museum.



Having had our daily dose of archaeology, we left the castle. It was so hot we stopped for an ice cream in a small cafe which served delicious creme brulee flavoured cornettos - why can't they sell them in the UK?

Feeling the effects of the heat and the walking, we caught the 28 tram back to Baixa and then the metro back to Saldanha. We strolled back to the hotel and attempted to have a nap. In the early evening we headed back to the Saldanha metro, heading down to the Baixa-Chaido area to wander the streets looking for Bernard's english book shop to buy a replacement Rough Guide as one of us lost our copy at some point during the afternoon. Having bought an old version in English, we then wandered down into Baixa for dinner. We found a street cafe on Rua dos Coreciros near the junction with Rua de Santa Justa. I had a beautiful salmon steak and Sonia loved her salad Nicosea. We followed our meal with a walk up to Largo Sao Domingo where we each had a cherry brandy from Aginginha - a small "hole in the wall" shop counter selling small cups that warmed you up. Having refreshed ourselves, we gently staggered to the Restauradores metro and headed up to Praca de Espanha. From there we eventually worked out where the Gulbenkian Museum was and walked around the perimeter back to our hotel.

I finished the evening sat on our balcony looking at the Guardian Cryptic Crossword and planning the next day's excursion.

Tuesday 23rd June 2009: Getting there

As with most holidays, you first have to get there...

We headed down the M1 to Luton Airport, and dropped the car off with a parking company who then took us to the terminal in a bus. A longish wait in the terminal but I passed the time with the Guardian crossword while Sonia read her book.

The EasyJet flight wasn't bad. Had an interesting conversation with the lady in the next seat who was going to visit her grandchildren.

Picked up from the airport by our driver, who loaded us into his very swish Mercedes. Unfortunately he decided to drop us at Hotel Principe Real (near the botanical gardens) instead of Hotel Principe Lisboa. The hotel receptionist was very helpful and tried to ring the company but they had closed for the evening, so he then rang us a cab to take us to our hotel. A not so new Mercedes this time but at least he knew where we were going. Only cost us E10 (can't find the Euro symbol on this keyboard).

We checked in and then headed off down the street to a cafe for a snack. Local soup and a can of cola before a night cap drink at the hotel bar and off to bed, swiping a local tourist map to plan the first proper holiday day.