Lisbon

With a few days off for the weekend, I was looking for an opportunity to escape the cold weather in Central Europe for somewhere warmer. Plenty of cities had the Carnival going on, but I ultimately decided to head to the Portuguese capital for an extended, four-night weekend stay away from home.

Thursday

I was off to Lisbon, leaving Zurich on an evening flight with TAP Air Portugal, but at one point it looked like we wouldn’t get very far. The flight pushed back, had an engine problem at start-up, so we got pulled back to a another gate. SR Technics line maintenance crews were called in to fix engine #1 on the spot, all while everyone were still on board.

With over an hour of delay, we finally took off.

I had booked a private room in an Airbnb apartment, which had a listed check-in time until 10PM. My flight’s original arrival time was 8, which would have left plenty of time to get something to eat at the airport. With our delay, dinner became take-away sandwiches eaten on the Lisbon metro.

Honestly, the sandwiches were a better solution than it looks. I was quite happy.

A bit tricky to find, I got to my Airbnb shortly before 10. I call the host on the phone, per agreement because the doorbell doesn’t work. The host walks out onto the 3rd floor balcony, says “I’ll drop you the key”, which leaves me a bit surprised. It turned out he had a cushioned satchel to do this, so I finally had the key in my hand and got into the apartment. My nice host gave me a ton of tips for stuff to do in Lisbon.

Friday

Breakfast wasn’t included in my Airbnb stay. I went off to a nearby bakery shop for a breakfast that was more sugary than what I’m used to.

On the right are two “pasteles de nata”, a special Portuguese pastry.

Friday I was exploring most of downtown Lisbon, particularly the central Baixa neighborhood.

Praça do Comercio, Lisbon’s central riverfront square. As the river was behind me, the portal arch really served as the gateway to the city, just like several hundreds of years ago.

I took a bus out to the National Museum of Azulejos. Azulejos are decorative tiles that were an integral part of Portuguese architecture in the Middle Ages. Several buildings still use them today. The bus system was confusing, stations listed on Google Maps were not announced as such, and one bus that I needed to get on, simply drove past me at its bus stop. Getting back into the downtown wasn’t much easier.

One example of artwork created with azulejos, which are the tiles you see on the picture.

I had a Portuguese speciality for lunch, bacalhau (codfish). The restaurant was inside of a mansion with tons of decorations from when the Moors ruled Lisbon. I couldn’t decide if the food or the interior were better.

 

Codfish mixed with onions and an egg, almost like an omelette.

In the late afternoon I took a bus out to western Lisbon, particularly Belém, for a chance to check out a pair of UNESCO heritage sites in the fortress Torre de Belém, and the Jeronimos Monastery.

The Belém Tower, which used to serve as a fortress guarded the entrance to the port of Lisbon.

The Jeronimos Monastery. Vasco da Gama, the Portuguese explorer, has his tomb here, among others.

I went to the Bairro Alto neighborhood for a delicious dinner at a Portuguese steakhouse, specializing in dishes from the Alentejo region of central Portugal.

Upon returning to the Airbnb apartment, I found the apartment to be very cold. The apartment had multiple bedrooms rented out through Airbnb, and I wasn’t the only staying there. Someone had left windows open in the kitchen and the bathroom, which per se isn’t that bad, however, the building had no central heating whatsoever. Being on the 3rd floor it was exposed to the cold breeze from outside, and thus remained that cold. The floor tiles in the bathroom were frigid cold to walk across. Of course, I could’ve just put on my shoes, but I was a guest in someone else’s home, and do you ever walk with shoes on all over someone’s home? Definitely not. My bedroom had a little radiator though, so at night it wasn’t too cold.

Saturday

Saturday morning I tried to get on the iconic Tram 28, which runs a scenic route through the Alfama neighborhood and much of central Lisbon. Due to construction it didn’t operate the full route, and the timetable was a bit confusing. It was sort-of replaced by a different tram that also stopped near my Airbnb, but this new routing wasn’t listed anywhere. Since I anyway lived near the old neighborhood of Alfama, I just went there by foot. I started uphill to get to a few good viewpoints.

This meant that most of the remaining parts were downhill, except the Castelo de São Jorge, which is on a hill of its own.

The Castelo de São Jorge.

Wandering around the Alfama neighborhood, which was built by the Islamic Moors when they reigned Lisbon during the Middle Ages. It’s a maze of narrow alleyways, quite easy to get lost here. But that’s all the more fun, right?

I also set aside some time to visit a museum housed inside a building formerly used as a prison for the secret police during Portugal’s period as a dictatorship from the late 1920s to the early 1970s. Inside were offices, storage for plenty of surveillance documents, rooms used for torture and tiny cells. The cells, nicknamed “pens”, measured 3×1 meters (~9×3 feet), were only lit during mealtimes and housed some political prisoners for up to 6 months.

A collection of mug shots of victims of persecution by the dictatorship’s secret police.

Near this former prison building was a different museum, a comparatively much more cheerful exhibition of the music genre fado, which originated out of working class neighborhoods in Lisbon. One of the central pieces of this music genre is the classic Portuguese guitar.

By coincidence, I didn’t entirely miss out on the experience of riding Tram line 28. My last stop for Saturday’s sightseeing was the Basilica Estrela, and Tram 28 just happened to be the most convenient option for getting there, along those parts of the line that still are in operation.

Wooden panels! The trams in Lisbon are ancient, but hey, they still function! I loved the fact the operator had to get out, and manually move the electric hook from the tram car from one power line to another by using a long pole, when he reaches the end of the line.

Inside the Basilica Estrela.

For my Saturday dinner, I went into a well-known restaurant, As Velhas, in a side-street off one of Lisbon’s main thoroughfares, Avenida da Liberdade. At the table next to me sat a middle-aged man originally from north-eastern Portugal, living in Brazil. He spoke German near fluently and we chatted for a bit. Prior to our conversation we had both unknowingly ordered the same main course, a dish with pork, potatoes, chestnuts and veggies cooked together in hot oil, served in a pot. The dish reminded him of home, as it originates from north-eastern Portugal. He loved it, and let’s just say I wasn’t complaining either.

Sunday

Got up much later than I wanted to after a slightly late night. After coming back from dinner Saturday night, I bumped into some of my “flatmates”, so to speak. They were a pair of university students from England, that were moving to Lisbon for a semester as part of their language studies. They were meeting other classmates at a bar and I was invited to come along.

Usually, I make a point out of getting up early for day-trips to beat the crowds. Having not achieved this, I had little choice but to take tourist-filled train to Sintra later in the morning. At 9:35 the next departure listed at all, for the entire train station, was at 10:01 to Sintra. The train was parked 100m away, well in sight of the ticket office. Some people sprinted through the turnstiles to make it onto a train….that didn’t leave for another 25 minutes. More people, in true “follow the leader”-style, started sprinting after them as well. Let’s just say there are reasons I travel alone and not in large groups.

Additionally, there were buskers on the train playing harmonica and singing….and people clapped and gave them money. It’s a tourist trap that is continuously taking hold in Europe, and let me just side-step for a moment to give my opinion on the issue. I really don’t like beggars and buskers. Don’t forget that there are locals that have to deal with beggars and buskers on their daily commute, and in their neighborhoods. As long as tourists give them money, they’ll keep coming. They are an eye-sore, and that’s true for anywhere.

Now, before you accuse me of being an a**hole that doesn’t give money to those in need, I’d like you to consider why people are begging. I saw plenty of beggars in Lisbon with cellphones, and cups from airlines, meaning they can afford air travel. Some even with shopping bags that had the expensive brand clearly written on them! Plenty of these beggars are part of organized groups, that travel from poor countries, to make more money begging than they could working a job at home. Some of these beggars, even kids, are forced to make these trips by someone else, against their will. In fact, the money you give might not end up with the puppy-eyed kid on the street you give it to, instead being collected by someone who manages these begging rings.

But what about the local homeless people, you ask? I saw a guy slumped over on the stairs leading up to a building in central Lisbon, eating a full wheel of cheese with his eyes half-way rolled back in his skull. In other words, a person that was high off his mind on drugs. I read an article a few weeks ago about a former professional athlete in the US who ended up on the street due to drug addiction. In his own words, the worst thing you could ever give a homeless person would be money. If he/she is a drug addict, your couple of dollars is simply helping them acquire their next round of drugs, continuing the bad spiral that is so hard to get out of.

If you really want to help homeless people, buy some food or something to drink for them. Don’t get me wrong, there are honest homeless people and beggars that are simply down on their luck and going through a rough time, and if you feel like giving them some pocket change, then please do so. Just be aware that giving money to people on the street isn’t always a positive thing to do.

Through traveling to a place and spending my money in local hotels, restaurants and businesses, I feel I am doing more than plenty to help the local economy anyway. I much prefer to help the Portuguese economy and the local Portuguese working for a hard-earned living. Rather that than encouraging people from foreign countries to sit on the streets and beg, ruining an otherwise beautiful city for the locals who live there and have to see them everyday.

Now, back to my travels, as I arrived into Sintra for my day-trip, the weather was beginning to get foggy. It wasn’t terrible in the town itself where the National Palace of Sintra is located.

The outside façade of the National Palace of Sintra. I happened to take the picture in the exact moment that a few birds are flapping their wings and flying away.

Inside of the palace.

However, after an uphill hike, the fog got worse at the Moorish Castle, and was most dense at the Pena Palace.

The Moorish Castle, or well, what remains of it. These defenses must have been quite strong, as the majority of the structure still stands today, having been built in the 10th century.

The Pena Palace, where the architect was quite experimental with the colors. The design and every little detail of the palace looks like something out of a Disney movie.

Inside of the Pena Palace.

The Pena Palace was on the cover of my Lonely Planet guide. So, the above picture is what it looks like on a clear day. The picture below is the view I had, taken from the exact same spot. I do have to say that this was also the worst of the fog.

I wanted to take a bus out to the Montserrat Palace as well, thinking it would be open until 6, but I got on the bus at 4:55 and the driver informed me it closes at 5. Oh well. Walked back down to the train station and got on the train to Lisbon’s Rossio station.

When I got to Lisbon I quickly stopped by the Airbnb apartment, then I went out to one of the many hilltop lookouts in town. There was also some sort of carnival celebration, as it was the carnival weekend in Lisbon.

The air however was so full of weed, I had to leave after a few minutes. Just a couple of blocks away was one of Lisbon’s most renowned Mexican restaurants, actually a relatively simple taqueria. La comidá mexicana es muy rico, so I had to try it, and it didn’t disappoint. I got a seat at the bar, and the bartenders asked what my name was. They remembered, and kept calling me by name throughout. Great service.

I was off to bed relatively early, as I needed to get to the airport the following morning, for my 9AM flight back to Zurich.

Monday

Whenever I travel with just hand-luggage within the Schengen zone, I plan to be at the airport about one hour prior departure. It always suffices. Monday was actually a work day for me, with an evening shift starting at 3PM. I found TAP’s Lisbon-Zurich flight arriving at 12:45PM to be just fine. I live close to the airport, and although the radar facility where I work isn’t at the airport, it’s about 35 minutes by public transport from either the airport or my apartment. Worst case, I’d just go straight to work from the airport, and if necessary a taxi would get me there in 15 minutes.

My flight was scheduled at 8:55, and at about 7:50, I was still on the metro, with 5-6 stops to go until the airport. I double-checked my mobile boarding pass, and realized it said “Boarding closes: 8:15.” Interesting…

Getting to the airport just after 8, per usual routine I tried to print a physical boarding pass from the check-in kiosks. I had already checked-in online, but I always print an actual boarding pass as a back-up. This was denied by the check-in machine. After getting through the airport terminal to the security check, it was 8:10, so theoretically I had 5 minutes to go, but I didn’t panic. I’m used to airlines listing outrageously early boarding times/closures in an effort to make passengers show up on time.

This time was no different. I was through security slightly past 8:20, at which point the airport screens said no more than “go to gate”. They did start final calls as I walked through the gate 10 minutes later, but I was far from the last passenger through. I almost missed the turnoff towards the area where our gate was, because the signage in the airport was terrible. I’m sure others had difficulties as well. The aircraft was parked at a remote stand, so two busses were waiting below the gate. After all that hassle, we were still sitting on the bus next to the terminal at 8:45, half-an-hour after “boarding closing” time according the boarding pass. Come on.

I had to skip getting breakfast at the airport, but fortunately there were simple ham-and-cheese sandwiches served onboard. Even better, the woman sitting next to me was vegan, and offered me her sandwich (she had brought some food of her own anyway).

Despite our late departure out of Lisbon, we arrived punctually in Zurich. I had plenty of time to get lunch at the airport, and swing by home to drop off my trolley, before I was off to work.