Lisbon and Beyond

The whole beach to ourselves!

Our drive up to Lisbon was relatively uneventful.  We opted to drive along the smaller coastal highways instead of taking the interior toll road.  It ended up being the right decision.  The roads weren't too congested, they were in pretty good shape, and we found the most beautiful beach of our entire vacation.

It was around ten in the morning and we were looking for somewhere to let our little dog run (remember she spent the night in the car).  We had walked her bright and early, but being on a leash just isn't the same as getting in a good run.  We turned off the highway following signs to praia Amador.  The beach was gorgeous and nearly completely deserted so early in the morning.  Just a few stray surfers testing the chilly waters.

Bela tries some fresh shellfish in the tidepools...

We spent about an hour running up and down the beach and exploring the tidepools--it was by far the highlight of our day.

Angelines and Bela looking for lunch in Sines

Our lunch break was in Sines.  The waiter at our first restaurant meal, even brought Bela a little dog food snack!  It seemed that the Portuguese really like dogs.  Many people in Spain shy away from even my silly, obviously inoffensive, labrador; whereas in Portugal old women were calling her to them and we never got a dirty look if she accidentally brushed a passerby with her nose or tail.  We briefly explored the city--it was too hot in the middle of the day for much wandering, besides we had a deadline to meet in Lisbon--and then headed north towards the capital.

Lisbon is an impressive city from a distance.  Coming from the south, the masive Tejo river spans before you and the Portuguese capital rises up from the shores on hills not unlike San Francisco.  But for as beautiful as it looked from afar, the city was terribly uncared for.  Ornately tiled facades were falling apart in most places.  Beautiful, historic buildings were dirty, vacant, and missing half their windows.  Derelict apartment buildings stood unabashedly on nearly every corner; and while they looked for all the world as though they'd been deserted decades ago, people with shopping bags or baby carriages were going in and out throughout the day.

I have travelled quite a lot, and not always to the richest of countries; but I was wholly unprepared for the blatant poverty, dishevelment, and apparent lack of pride I found in Lisbon.  I guess I had always (mistakenly) assumed that Portugal would be more like an extension of Spain; something more akin to another State as opposed to another country.  I was shocked to find that everything looked and felt so completely foreign
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We crossed over Ponte Vasco da Gama and after touching base with my parents at their hotel, we headed towards Estaciao Santa Apolonia  where we'd agreed to meet our host for the evening.  I made the night's reservations on Housetrip.com, a website where you can list your property (or rooms in your house) for rent to vacationers.  Our reservations for the night were in a flat in the Alfama neighborhood of Lisbon.

Alfama is the oldest neighborhood in the city.  The rest of Lisbon was destroyed in 1755 after an eathquake and consequent tsunami.  The Alfama is build on a rocky outcropping which made it both more stable during the earthquake and kept it above the water level when the Atlantic swept through the streets in the aftermath.  What Housetrip.com neglected to say was that our flat was on the fourth floor of a very old building (no elevator) with very steep and narrow wooden steps.  The street itself had some 130 steps to get up to the building's front door which meant that in total we had to go up 183 steps to make it to our bed for the evening.

Our building is the last one on the right.

Looking back down the street: through the archway you can see the stairs dropping off toward the main street.

Steep steps?  Four flights of these...and they just got more and more narrow!

Lisbon was in the midst of a heat wave during our visit.  It was around 37 degrees as we followed our host up the narrow stone steps of the Alfama.  The steep wooden steps of our building weren't so bad for us, but poor Bela was slipping and panting like crazy to make it to the top.  That evening and when we left in the morning, I decided it was best to carry her down the stairs.  I am sure she would have tumbled all the way down with just a slight pause on the landings!

Too many stairs!

After all the stairs and the difficulty of finding parking etc.; after the heat of the afternoon and after a full day of driving, Angelines decided not to go out at all that evening.  I explored a little bit after carting my 22 kilo puppy down four flights of stairs.  We wandered through the narrow streets up to the National Pantheon--a beautiful church that was surprisingly enough undergoing some restoration.  I admired the beautiful tiled facades and quaint (though grungy), narrow streets.

The view of our street from one of the tiny windows in the apartment.

 Although we'd barely arrived, neither A or I could wait to get out of the city.  Our small studio apartment, while clean and comfortable was unavoidably noisy.  The neighbors across the street weren't more than a meter and a half away.  The sounds from below seemed to be caught in a kind of echo chamber that ricocheted their way up the walls and into our open windows.  Of course closing the windows wasn't an option because when you're staying on the fourth floor of an un-airconditioned building, even the outside temp of 37º feels cool.  All that said, I do feel as though Angelines and I got an unfair impression of the city.  Seeing my parents' pictures makes me wish that we'd had more time to explore... perhaps unincumbered by the dog.

The following day we didn't get a chance to see any more of the city.  We picked up my mom at the hotel around ten and headed out to find beach access where we could let Bela play.  The beach was nothing exceptional, but we did find a nice, big park where we ate our mid-day sandwiches and killed time waiting for my dad to finish up his Rotary obligations.  By two o'clock we had picked him up, squeezed ourselves into our "big" car, and were on our way via toll roads (faster) to Port.

...To be continued. ;)