Visited: February 2013
Written: January 4th 2015
I visited Portugal Back in February 2013 during a half term break while teaching in Bradford, England, paying for the somewhat expensive (by european standards) flights with my credit card travel Miles. Though it was almost two years ago I remember the trip well.
Those who know me, know I’ve long hated on Portugal and Portuguese football, somewhat without reason. Well here I decided to give the country which infuriatingly ruins Spain’s symmetry a chance to prove me wrong.
Landing in Lisbon I was reluctantly impressed. It’s a very beautiful city, if a little too hilly for my tastes. I took a bus from the airport into town and then grabbed a taxi to take me to The Independente Hostel and Suites, one of many hostels with 95% plus ratings on the various hostel booking websites. Lisbon seemed full of them and it made me question the validity of such a high score, but at least in this case it was accurate. The Independente is a lovely hostel in a converted old mansion, up on a hill overlooking central Lisbon, but still very much in the city.
The sun already setting I settled into the hostel, made a few friends and then went to sleep in the surprisingly comfortable and sturdy 3 tier bunk beds in the 9 bed dorm. The next morning after a hearty breakfast I set off into the heart of this huge southern riverside city, and had my first bad experience with a Portuguese person. Okay bad might be exaggerating it.
I climbed one of the old style streetcars that rattle through the city and in broken Portuguese asked the driver to tell me when I needed to get off to see the castle. He understood and promised he would, so I sat down and enjoyed the ride through the colourful and seemingly quintessential southern European city.
Having been swamped with teaching duties of 300+ British teenagers I admittedly hadn’t done enough research for the trip and so didn’t bat an eye at the almost hour long ride. Still, I was surprised when the driver suddenly called out last stop and I was climbing off the streetcar nowhere near the castle. I asked him and he only shrugged. Oh well. As often happens the unplanned detour proved fascinating as I had to wait an hour for the next streetcar heading back into town, so I decided to explore.
Wandering through some vast gates I found myself in a sprawling Portuguese cemetery overlooking the heart of Lisbon. Instead of graves the Portuguese bodies here are kept in crypts some incredibly lavish and well maintained, others looking ancient and abandoned. Wandering through the intricate maze of death and encountering countless cats very full of life made the hour fly by and was a fascinating time in Lisbon.
On the way back in to town I managed to figure out where to get off on my own and wandered up narrow cobble town streets of the old town until I found the castle and explored it’s grounds quite throughly. The views of the city were fantastic and with the bridges spanning the river, it made me think of San Fransisco for some reason.
I wandered into a few random churches before heading back towards the hostel and stopping for some all you can eat Sushi. Like all endless sushi, it’s not really that good, but you get a lot of it so it feels like a win. Hmmm.. now I want Sushi.
My next day in Lisbon I decide to head down to the riverfront and catch and other more modern style overground metro car out towards the Tower of Belem on the outskirts of the major river port city. The tower was built to commemorate the journey of Vasco de Gama and stands in the shallow waters of the ever widening river as it approaches the Atlantic Ocean.
It’s ancient and beautiful and I spent a good half day sitting outside in it’s shadow finishing a novel, before deciding to hoof it back to the hostel.
The walk took me several hours but also took me past monasteries, museums, and countless beautiful parks. I even stumbled upon a gift from Thailand to Portugal which made me eager all over again to see Asia, and further confirmed my plans to go travelling long term once my year long contract in Bradford was over.
Exhausted but glad I chose to walk I end up taking a seat at Praza Luis de Camoes just a few minutes walk from my hostel, and settle into some people watching. It’s something I love to do, watching local people come and go, watching how they walk, and interact with each other, and often imagining full stories for them. It sounds a little creepy but it’s just the actor and writer in me.
On my way back to the hostel I find a lovely little hole in wall serving up one of Portugal’s famous dishes Arroz de Mariscos. The fresh seafood mixed with wet rice and various veggies is unbelievably tasty and I’m sad I have to leave Lisbon the next morning, but as with most trips out of bradford, this one is short. 8 days in all. Next up is Sintra, a royal retreat just a little over an hour from Lisbon.
