- A month before we return home to Sydney, so with time running out we headed off for a week in Lisbon, Portugal. We stopped for lunch in Faro on the Algarve – we must have gone in the tradesman’s entrance – all a bit run down, but we found a nice restaurant in the harbour and headed out via a far more attractive part of town.
- We expected Lisbon to be old, a little tired, and somewhat sleepy compared with some of the bigger European cities – how wrong could we be – Lisbon is pumping!! We discussed this with a taxi driver, (most speak good English), because we saw many places from the outside, but the queues to get into the main attractions were just way too long for us. He told us that the explosion in tourism really only started a few years ago and many are still hesitant to employ more people – sadly this meant that we left many euros unspent, including restaurants we actually left because the service is so slow.
- The first two days were showery so we took two day passes on the tourist buses and saw a lot of Lisbon – it is a beautiful city full of magnificent boulevards, gardens, fountains and buildings – but has odd areas of urban decay and rampant graffiti – add this to often chaotic parking and you have a city that is not quite aligned in it’s self image, but is definitely on the up and worth a visit.
- So we didn’t get into some places, but that gave Adrienne more time to trawl through the endless shoe and leather handbag shops ….
- Portugal is cheaper than Spain in many ways – we had some lovely lunches with a couple of glasses of very nice wine each for about 45 euro all up.
- We found a number of supermarket wines for 5 euros that are really very good – their Syrah pushed Portugal into second place in my European wine order of merit list. (No one will pass Puglia Primitivo …)
- Thursday we headed for the Fado museum. Fado is a distinctly Portuguese style of music originating in the late 1800’s in shady lanes and houses of ill repute. It is now very mainstream but has had a very interesting evolution. Adrienne now has a “best of” CD so be warned – if I was to suggest “sounds a bit like” Edith Piaf you will get the drift.
- We then headed for Castelo de S. Jorge, (11th-century, hilltop Moorish castle and royal residence with palace ruins and archaeological museum), but who would have thought – an entry queue stretching down the hill for about a hundred metres!! Did we need to queue for another castle – afraid not – we headed back to the square, did lunch, and went shoe shopping.
I’m sure it is a nice castle but after Ghent and the Italian castles we don’t feel the need to queue for more 
Odd brand name if you are Australian …. but nice leather shoes made in Portugal for 35 euros 
Portuguese food is very heavily slanted to seafood and there are shops dedicated to canned fish – there are cans of sardines going back to 1916! It is a real “thing” to have artistic cans. - Friday was set aside for a trip to Sintra – one of the premier tourist destinations with spectacular castle and palaces. We headed for the train station, (don’t drive to Sintra, no parking), and OMG – the queue for tickets just to get there stretched around the station and out the door – the quick decision was “stuff this” so we headed for the Oceanário de Lisboa.
- This is the largest aquarium in the world with ocean habitats for sharks, rays, penguins and tropical fish and is well worth a visit. These folks are utterly devoted to preserving the seas and sea life and the aquarium is a testament to their work and research. Their enthusiasm is palpable and make it a wonderful experience.
- So we did not get into a number of premier historical sites due to long queues and the lack of staff in some places was irksome, but Portugal must be on any bucket list – it is being discovered so again – get there soon before the queues get even longer! The food and wine are brilliant value, and the leather goods are soooo cheap – what’s not to like!!
Hi Grant, we plan to go to Portugal next September, all these places that you couldn’t get into because of the queues, can you pre buy tickets for ?
Adrienne must have bought about 30 pairs of shoes by you reckoning, have you actually been sending stuff home along the way ? . I’m still waiting on a Postcard, and I’m not joking come on . 4 Tolls Ave, Mentone 3194. Love Jenny
Hi G & A, Guess there are still long queues at the Post Offices like Italy.
Hola Bruce, I am dreading having our bags weighed when we get to the airport – no let up in the purchase of shoes, handbags and now even a leather jacket. cheers
G&A
Hi G & A, just checked the long range forecast for our Italian dinner night at Cucina Casareccia is planned to be a cool night and as we are possibly outside a new leather jacket is perfect!, I might suggest you should invest in one as well as you have missed the end of season sales down under.
B & G
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