Our June 2018 Portuguese visit, finished here in Lisbon, with us popping in to see Sintra on the drive to Lisbon from Obidos, more on Sintra later.
Let’s start with Lisbon, and there were aspects to Lisbon that delighted us, but others that made us glad to be leaving!
Lisbon – Alfama
Through our AirBNB search, we found a great apartment in the Lisbon district called Alfama. All our research pointed to this location, old, cobbled winding streets, history back to the Moors, what more could one ask for?
Alfama certainly lives up to its billing. We had some trepidation about finding our apartment in its maze of winding streets, so we had dropped our rental car at Lisbon Airport, and our AirBNB host arranged a driver to collect and deliver us to our Alfama apartment. It worked well and we also engaged the same driver to pick us up at 5am, four days later to return us to Lisbon Airport.
That worked very well too, great service.
Exploring Alfama and Lisbon – enjoy but beware the pickpockets
Lisbon is a big city, capital of Portugal and sits proudly on the Tagus River. We had been blown away by Oporto, and maybe that’s our mistake, as Lisbon seemed a let down after our experience of our other stops in Portugal and the people we had met along the way.
On our first full day in Lisbon we wandered up the passageways of Alfama arriving on a main road and a stand of Tuk Tuk taxis. After a little negotiation with an electric Tuk Tuk driver who spoke excellent English, and off we went on a two hour tour.
Our Tuk Tuk driver was at pains to warn us of the dangers of pickpockets in Lisbon. He explained that they often worked in pairs. One person will hold a map in front of them, come up behind a tourist with a rucksack on their back. Concealed by the map, the pickpocket will open the rucsac, extract items, pass to the accomplice, and the tourist will be none the wiser!
Our Tuk Tuk Tour cost about 70 Euros, and was great value for money. The driver was superb, so much information , excellent English and a great way to get around the tight windy streets. He showed us the sights, Cathedrals, views over rooftops, we enjoyed the Pastis de Nata, custard tarts – excellent. But in seeing Lisbon for the first time, we noticed how run down and dirty the city was, and how little effort was being made to remedy that.
Lisbon and the Soccer World Cup
We took the tram down from Alfama to the Praça do Comércio, where Portugal were playing someone else in the 2018 World Cup. The big screen meant we could watch the game and also that the Police could watch the game.
Earlier in the day we had had a “ pickpocket experience”, the “ map man” had bumped into the back of me, I had swung suddenly around surprising him, and he was off. We were lucky, but a little nervous following this experience.
At the Soccer game, we watched two men walking around the crowd, clearly up to no good. We saw other people watching them, transferring bags from one shoulder to another. The Police enjoyed the soccer, and the pickpockets seemed unsuccessful, so that was a bonus. Portugal won the soccer.
Lisbon – Belém
Belém is one of Lisbon’s must visit districts. On the banks of the Tagus, there is much to see. Rather than joining the relentless queues for the main buildings shown below, we chose to wander and view their exteriors. We used the trams to get around and they worked well, both the modern and old fashioned ones.
Having watched Rick Steins weekend in Lisbon TV Cooking Programme, we knew to give the TimeOut Food Market a go for supper on the way back from Belém. So many food options, great atmosphere, and super food.
Sintra
Our Portuguese trip research had highlighted Sintra as a place to visit, wonderful architecture, lots of history and crowds of tourists! Arriving by car, finding a secure car park was an issue, and then getting to Sintra itself, also an issue.
The Sintra Railway Station, is also the Bus Station and has extensive car parking across the dual carriageway . We parked there, it was free the day we visited, and caught a bus up to Sintra itself.
Sintra is potentially very interesting, the quirky buildings are novel but when we visited it was a very hot day and very busy, so not ideal conditions.
Travels with My Wife 