May 6, 2018

05 May 2018 – Arrive Lisbon Portugal

The flights over to Lisbon were very much as scheduled, with all flights taking off on time and even arriving a tad early. We eventually got to Lisbon at around 12:30 but spent the next couple of hours collecting baggage, exiting customs and lining up to pick up a SIM card for Jose’s Pocket WiFi unit.

The weather in Lisbon was perfect on arrival, blue skies, pleasant 20 degrees, light breeze – ask for better. After eventually getting to our accommodation, Hotel Londres, in the so-called Barrio Alto neighborhood of Lisboa, we dropped our baggage off and headed out to explore. 

Lisbon is known as the city of the seven hills and we now understand why, it really is very hilly, to the extent that they have elevators dotted around the place to take people up and down the various levels of the city.

We headed down to the river Tagus, – Tejo in Portuguese, on which has been built a lovely river front environment, surrounded by parks, cafes, walking paths and marinas. First point of interest was the Monument to the Explorers, a memorial to famous Portuguese explorers from yesteryear, which included the likes of Vasco De Gama, Amérigo Vespucci, Magellan and many others, who were responsible for opening up much of what is today known as the new world, and also valuable shipping routes.

Secondly we visited the Tower Of Belem, an ornate white stone fortress  built with the purpose of protecting the city of Lisbon from unwanted guests and invaders. 

Next we sampled some of the egg custard tarts that Lisbon / Portugal is famous for – most delicious.

Last on the list for the day was the Monastery of the Jerónimos, a beautiful church and monastery complex built in the late 1700s. 

A quick but tasty dinner at a local restaurant and it’s time to call it a day; we’re all pretty strung out from the long flights and the hectic pace of touring.