Lisbon, Portugal
Tuesday, 3 September – Thursday, 5 September
We left Brisbane International Airport at 0155 after having dinner with Ben who kindly dropped us at the airport. We were both tired by the time we boarded but waited until after the meal service to get some sleep (about 4 hours for me).
We landed in Dubai at 0930 local time (1530 in Brisbane). 5 hour wait for our connecting flight to Lisbon where we arrived at 2130. That was 32 hours after we arrived at the airport.
On Wednesday we bought a Lisbon Card and then caught the bus to the Monastery of Jeronomis. Long queues so we decided to move onto the Maritime Museum. Wonderful museum with lots of the history of the golden years of Portuguese exploring. Vasco de Gama is the most famous of these explorers having been the first to discover the sea route to India.
Next stop was the Belem Tower on the Tagus River. Built to shore up the defences of Lisbon, it later served as a prison and now a popular tourist attraction – so popular we couldn’t climb the tower.
Back to the Monastery of Jeronimos to admire the cloisters and the church.
Day 2 began with 2 metro rides to the Lisbon Oceanarium (advertised as best in the world!)
After this it was back to town to visit the Lisbon Story display. An interesting presentation on the 1755 earthquake that destroyed most of Lisbon.
Next was a walk around the old parts of town using a Rick Steves Audio tour.
Our last morning in Lisbon we caught the famous 28 Tram through the narrow streets. Close calls aplenty and stopped at one point by a car parked on the track.
Next was to catch the metro to the train station for a 3 hour trip to Porto!
Portugal is on our list, too. Looking forward to hearing about the rest of this year’s European trip.