Tag: Lisbon

Lisbon / Sintra 2.3.25

3 March 2025 / admin

CP Lisbon unit 2414

Luckily having checked yesterday we do actually know where to go to find the train to Sintra. No great problem buying tickets or finding the train. The timetable implied that there is a more frequent service than is actually the case – it turns out that there are two distinct destinations in the area and one of them is not really in Sintra where we need to be. Quite why the timetable implies they both go to Sintra I struggle to comprehend.

As with the tram yesterday the loading on the train is high – we were there early so were able to claim seats but many stand for the journey which is a slight surprise. As ever the fares are unbelievably low – far below any UK fares for similar journeys. And of course it is electrified.

We cross paths with a pair of people who were also on our food tour a few days ago as they are also going to Sintra – but intend to fit in far more (being American) whilst we are simply making the journey today and seeing sights over the next two days.

Once we have arrived in Sintra we stay close to the station as lunch is booked in a restaurant so we want to get a coffee to bridge the gap. We sit outside a coffee shop but they seem to have a crisis inside and initially refuse to serve us. As we have cases we do not wish to go inside and somehow our existence appears to be completely forgotten so instead of being warmed by coffee we are actually getting colder.

The restaurant is down the hill and unlike most diners we go for the full three courses. So we actually see people pop in, eat what is almost less than a snack and depart. It seems very odd compared with normal UK Sunday behaviour which is to consume a full roast. Indeed in a few cases they order one plate and share it.

Regrettably we have to go all the way back up to the station (up a hill) to find the taxi rank to take us to our next B&B which is centrally located – but there is an awkward one way system for cars to get into the main town.

In the evening we take a wander around the town and having had a lunch we feel a pizza might be a suitably light meal and there is little choice – but the place we use is difficult to recommend so disappointing. We have a meal booked in one place for Tuesday – externally it looks less than great but we shall see it inside when we get there.

Lisbon / Sintra 1.3.25

2 March 2025 / admin

Belem Tower

We wake and find it is a much brighter morning. The breakfast room in the hotel looks out over Restauradores and it is also interesting to watch the other residents coming and going. A decent breakfast as well.

Having been displaced from yesterday this morning we head down to Praça do Comércio intending to take the tram 15 to Belem. There is a long queue and no tram 15 appears although it is supposed to be frequent. I eventually walk to the tram stop shelter (we are at the back of lengthy queue) and there is a notice which informs me that tram 15 is truncated at some point on the route and it seems it will not be serving this stop (as it is in Portuguese I am guessing at the content to a certain extent – but the names of the roads do not mean much to me and trying to find them on Google Maps does not help a lot either).

There is an adjacent taxi rank and so we take the obvious step. A very helpful and chatty taxi driver is happy to get us to our planned destination and explains how to walk between the Tower, the monument and the Jerónimos Monastery for which I am grateful.

At the Tower the wait to enter looks like it is about 30 minutes long – but it is getting warmer so we decline the opportunity to stand around in the sun and decide to walk along to the monument. We are both sure we visited this briefly on a coach trip when moored here on a cruise a few years ago but we have a little more time to take photographs today.

Jeronimos Monastery

The Jerónimos Monastery Is the other side of the main road and so we make use of the passenger underpass emerging the other side. We have a pleasant walk through some gardens and then have trouble finding the ticket booth, hidden away in a corner of the gardens behind trees. However I can see that there is a long queue into monastery which the we overhear a discussion and it is taking a couple of hours – which is even less attractive in the sun than the wait at the Tower.

We determine we will return someday perhaps – the area is struggling to cope with the number of visitors which have appeared in the sunshine and today is not the day for us to be standing around. Having closely watched the trams moving I work out where we need to be to catch a tram for most of the return journey which we then take back towards the town centre.

The station we need to use tomorrow is immediately behind the hotel and yet the entrance in an adjacent building lacks any branding or recognition that it is an entrance – it appears to be a Starbucks. When we go in we see signs directing us upstairs to the trains – but externally it is bereft. It is fair to say that we have not seen as much of Lisbon as I would have liked due to a combination of limited opening hours, non-existent trams and simply far too many people. Frustrating to be honest.

Lisbon / Sintra 28.2.25

1 March 2025 / admin

Prado menu

Originally we had planned to visit Belem today and maybe some other parts of Lisbon but the weather continues to be less than ideal and lacking waterproof clothing may be a real drawback if it continues much longer.

So we head to the terminus of the historic tram – no 28 – which covers (normally) much of Lisbon which is ideal on a damp day. Before leaving the UK I was already aware that the tram route is not currently running the entire way to the west due to road works but instead terminates in a square on the far side of the hill to the hotel. We do not particularly wish to cover the rest of the route (it has been through the really historic part of the town by the castle) and do not use the minibus onward but wait for our tram to shuffle off, reverse and then pick up passengers for the return trip to our starting point.

Lisbon tram

I had thought about taking the Santa Justa lift to the higher level and visiting the former convent which contains various artworks. However there is a lengthy queue for the lift and there is a limit to patience and ability to stand around waiting. Watching the queue for a little while it did not seem to be moving at all – so no idea how long the wait would be.

In the evening we walk down through the main area to the Se Cathedral. However this closes an hour earlier in winter than in summer – so has just closed as we arrive. This is unfortunate as we now have an hour of time to waste before we can go the restaurant we have booked. Not one of my better moments.

Restaurant Prado (due to a recommendation by Edible Reading) was the destination this evening. It is an excellent meal. The place is also fairly busy and this is an excellent place to eat and I have put the menu above as given the weather this was the highlight of the day!

Lisbon / Sintra 27.2.25

28 February 2025 / admin

Hanging Hams

This morning the weather does not look bright but I get down to Rossio which is adjacent to the hotel to find that the battery in my big camera is flat. I have time so return to the room and pick up my portable charger and start recharging it in my pocket. By the time I return to Jackie it is starting to spit and the rain then continues the rest of the time we are out of the hotel.

Our guide – of Chilean origin and a lawyer who decided to change his life post covid and has resettled in Lisbon – gives us a little history of Portugal and Lisbon before taking us around some local outlets to show us the food.

Up first is a pork sandwich and so far the rain is not too bad. Tasty pork – which has to be taken with the famous piri piri sauce – Jackie feels I am adding too much – but the drops are very small and only about half the recommended eight drops – so just enough for a taste rather than drowning the pork. The pork is accompanied by some white wine – so the morning is off to a good start, well it is five o’clock somewhere after all.

We keep passing the Bastardo fish restaurant – but it is not one we visit – I have to hope it has a different meaning in Portuguese. Our next stop is another glass of wine to accompany the cod fish balls which are cod and potato. The rain continues to fall.

Lisbon alcohol

A stop for some port is only to be expected in Portugal and whilst this is before lunch it proves acceptable – although we stand outside we are just about undercover – sadly the rain keeps on raining down.

Now time for something a little more substantial as we need to soak up some of the alcohol and therefore lunch.

Around the corner it is time for Ginjinha – which is not gin but is in fact a sweet cherry liqueur from a bar with that name which is just across the way from our hotel. A lot of people appear to stop off for a quick one on their way past. This time we shelter in the miniscule space in front of the bar – that rain is still falling.

We have one further stop – which is some distance away and requires the use of a lift. Without realising it the rain is worse and it is now penetrating my light jacket to the point that when I arrive at the final stop for cheese and meat boards I am completely soaked. I remove my coat and as we are there some time I have time to dry out a little. Until we return to the hotel and am soaked through again. That coat has lost all water-proofing and is little use in the rain in future.

I hang up my shirt to dry out as well.

Lisbon / Sintra 26.2.25

27 February 2025 / admin

Heathrow T5

This morning we head off to Heathrow and once again we are using the pod parking, for the first time in daylight and because it is pretty full this morning we park close to the B station. Car parked we trundle along the podway to Terminal 5, this is just such a simple way of accessing the airport. Bag drop is relatively quick but security less so. Then an interminable wait until we are told we are departing from B gates, so take the underground transit out to the B gates.

A nearly full flight but we load well and are ready to back off the stand seven minutes ahead of expected departure time, not that we do although we are soon away. A good flight down to Lisbon where we are terminated on a stand away from the main building so it is a bus into the terminal.

Bags collected we head outside to the metro terminus and descend to the departure platform of the metro which provides a good service into the City Centre. We travel to the end of the red line at Sao Sebastien and then change to the blue line for Restauradores. The lifts are a bit of a pain when we change (as we have cases) and it is worse at Restauradores – both the upward escalator and the lift are out of action. Even worse there are no lifts from the underground ticket hall to street level so we have to slowly ascend the stairs. It was obvious in Turin that at the main station (and there is a main station just around the corner which we shall use later in the week) that there were lifts from the metro to street level – their absence is surprising.

Bonjardim

Our hotel is immediately adjacent to the exit rom the station which is welcome and we are soon in an excellent room in the Avenida Palace Hotel. It is now late afternoon so some unpacking and then we have planned to go to a very local restaurant – Bonjardim – which has been serving spit roast chicken since the early fifties if I remember correctly. Potentially the original peri peri chicken came from here and they certainly provide a peri peri sauce to add to the chicken. We arrive and almost immediately a significant queue forms up behind us so very lucky timing. Many of the later arrivals are accommodated indoors whereas given the warmth we are able to sit outside and enjoy the entertainment provided by a dancer who appears and does a couple of dances and then goes round making a small collection to which we add funds.

An excellent meal and an interesting discussion with the tables either side – Americans who have moved to Portugal in one case and a Canadian on his travels around Europe.