PORTUGAL: Lisbon

Lisboa
Capital and largest city of Portugal and home of Christiano Ronaldo, the world's best soccer player.
Population: 550,000 (approx)

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 By the time our overnight sleeper train arrived into San Sebastian bound for Lisbon at around 10.30pm we were ready to really hit the pillows reflecting on the Pamplona festivities. Actually the little double bunks we had were quite comfortable except that when the train would stop at a station through the night it felt like you would roll off the bed as the train braked. As part of the ticket we had a complimentary breakfast, but Tony's blog would probably cover the little 'greasy' croissants and strong coffee. Not a nice start as a healthy breakfast. 

No. 28 Tram in Lisbon

Our first glimpses getting into Lisbon were the vast rice paddies, factories and old run down houses, expressways, olive groves and vineyards on the journey in. Not sure what to think but we had an open mind knowing that Portugal was in economic stress and looking for a handout from the EU. Lisbon is set on the Rio Tejo (Tagus River) and has several main tributaries flowing into it, which explains the vast number of rice paddies. And with a large Port/Marina Lisbon is known for its variety of seafood especially "Sardinahs" which are char-grilled, and Cod which is preserved and dried with sea salt and reconstituted for use in seafood dishes. The cod doesn't smell particularly nice when it is left out in the open (unrefrigerated), but Tony assures me it is quite delicious when cooked up into a Portuguese traditional dish. 



Praca do Comercio



The main transit station, the historic Santa Apolinia was supposed to be a short walk from where we were staying however we decided to catch a cab instead. That was a mistake because even though I had the "Correct" address written down, showed the driver, we seemed to be taking an extraordinarily long time for "a short walk". The cabbie tried to make out that I had it wrong - NO. So he made a couple of extra Euros for the trip - one of the tourist traps we fell into and when you don't know the language it makes it a little hard to argue the toss.

But back to the subject of food we found a local supermarket called LIDL (pronounced LIDA), strangely it had the same colours and a similar logo to ALDI (an acronym of Lida ??). It even had the same floor layout as Aldi, and again we found that here too supermarkets sell groceries and alcohol under the one roof - and cheap too. To give you an idea we bought a pack of 5 bread rolls for around .35 cents, 1 and a half litre bottles of water for .19 cents. Sangria, wait for it ... 1 and half litres for 1.19 Euros. We also found that for a main meal you could buy fish, salad, chips, (all done Portuguese style) plus wine or beer for around 6 Euros.

On the positive side, the young lady at Santa Apolinia Tourist Info Centre was really helpful in giving us all the information we needed about the integrated public transport system (Cassis), the trams, metro and YES the Hop-on Hop-off Double Decker tour bus around Lisbon. We took in all the sites and got a great orientation of the city picking out places we wanted to visit later. One of the first things you notice in the old City is the Mosaic footpaths which have been around since the beginning of the century. A description I read, and aptly describes them is "Grimy but Attractive". But for us - NOT so attractive when you have to step over and dodge doggy doo which no one seems to clean up. Just disgusting! (Someone should tell these folks about the high pressure hoses they use in Pamplona to clean the streets). 

Mosaic Footpaths

And as we saw more of ‘charming’ Lisbon we were disappointed with the fact many historical sites, buildings and facades were left neglected or abandoned, and in need of some serious cleaning/sand blasting. Even in one of the most central plazas in the city, Praca de Figueira, where tourists flock by the thousands it disappointed us to see this beautiful building with the terracotta roof caving in. The building still looked partly occupied !!

We were told about the Portuguese aristocracy of old times, but it begs the question – What went wrong? There are still signs of that nobility and certainly stores are filled with elegant clothing and jewellery, but what was more notable was the absolute poverty, homelessness and begging in the streets on a par with the poorest of countries we had travelled to so far. What surprised us even more, was when we took our usual “mystery tours” Metro train rides to the end of the line to the “burbs and a place called Amadora Este. In all our travels it was the quickest return train ride we’d had anywhere, anytime. It wasn’t until we got out of the subway and what we saw was a “shanty town” made up of scrap tin, cardboard, canvas and wood structures spread out over approx 2kms across a ridge beyond the station. We wouldn’t believe it if we hadn’t seen it for ourselves. Unbelievable!  

Amadora Este

Don't get us wrong, there were some really beautiful places in and around Lisbon, few and far between but they were there. One of those is the former Expo '98 area, now called Nations Park (Parque das Nações). Unlike the Brisbane Expo site, now Southbank, the area has not been abandoned or demolished but is used as a community area and waterfront markets, restaurants and the Oceanarium. The original stadium is still used as a venue for concerts and conventions and is hugely popular on weekends.

The No. 28 Tram that goes into the old city area, a bit like the steep and windy streets of San Francisco, where Fado (far-doo) guitar music is played in cafes, restaurants and the like and we had the opportunity to listen to this haunting style of music over a lunch near the Castelo de Sao Jorge with a Fado Museum nearby.

Portuguese style  Tiled houses and shops

Now that Tony has pretty much overcome his fear of heights one of the places to see in Lisbon was the Elevador de Santa Justa, a high metal structured elevator built in 1902.  Info about Elevador de Santa Justa 

He was pretty chuffed with himself, smiling about his achievement. Being so high up and being relatively close to the Tagus River there was a fair breeze blowing that particular day. His smiling stopped when rubber matting blew over to expose some severe rust underfoot and there were still people coming to the top of the tower. This almost became another of the quickest return trips we had ever made in our travels. 

   

Flooring on top of Elevador de Santa Justa

 There were other highlights too, such as:

Parque Eduardo VII

Lisbon Funicular

Jeronimos

 

Bull Fight Arena

Praca do Comercio (with its Archway leading into the old City, fountain and square on the waterfront)

Praca da Figueira (without the roofs falling in)

Castelo de Sao Jorge probably the most prominent and recognisable landmark in Lisbon

Restauadores (does not mean restaurant doors, but an area in Old Lisbon city)

Avenue da Liberdad (with its wide tree-lined promenades)

Parque Eduardo VII (where at its high point you have views over the city and river)

Belem (a quaint and historical area to the west of the city – still grimy)

Vasco de Gama Centre (huge shopping centre) and Vasco da Gama Bridge which is the longest in Europe spanning 17kms (these are relatively new – a big tick for cleanliness)

Gare du Oriente (modern train station built for the Expo – also a thumbs up)

The Aqueduto de Lisboa (historical Aquaduct – needs a clean)

Elevador de Santa Justa

Funicula de Gloria (one of 3 funicula trams to reach the high points in the city and with some decorative art work)

Jeronimos  Monastery in Belem (nice but needs a good sandblasting)

25th April Bridge (couldn’t think of name so called it the DATE it was officially opened – that original!!)

Rio Tejo (Tagus River) is a lot like the Swan in Perth, very wide and deep, with sandy reaches used for swimming and nice clear water in parts, away from the port.

Praca de Touros (Bull fight arena)

and probably the highlight of our visit to Lisboa….




Cascais, Portugal

was a day trip by train to Cascais, a beach resort and probably the closest we got to the most westerly European point into the Atlantic Ocean where Tony went for a fast swim in the calm bay, but cold water. 

Another positive we found was that the service we received at cafes, bars and eateries were excellent and in some way shows that with all the difficulties the country is going through, the locals go out of their way to be friendly and accommodating. This was particularly so in a little café we found close to where we stayed. The barman/manager couldn’t speak a word of English but he made sure our orders we just what we wanted. And for some reason he would laugh, wave his hands and would say something, probably making a joke about our accents, but it was all good.

Even with the poverty we found that the Lisbonites were creative and enterprising in the way they were trying to earn some money, no matter how little it was. On our travels we are often just happy to sit back and people watch.On one occasion we observed this guy waving cars into spare car spaces in the street (holding a bottle of beer behind his back, with cigarette in the waving hand). He directed the drivers whilst they manoeuvred their vehicles into the tightest of car parks.For his efforts they would give him a tip of a few centimes or euros for the favour.He would also watch their cars until they went to the Ticket machine and returned to their car. Or if it was a Courier for example, this guy would watch their trucks while they made their deliveries. It was kinda cool watching this bloke because he knew we were watching him so he would give us the occasional smile. But in all honesty I think it was because we had made ourselves comfortable on "HIS" park bench. As we made our way further down the avenue, we saw that earning money as a “car park waver” was quite common in the central city district.The guy in this area had obviously not done his job, or it was retaliation for the driver for not giving a tip in return for his car park waving.

Tyre Clamps

After 6 days in Lisbon we were ready to move along, and in all the 6 days of roaming around the city and surrounds Christiano Ronaldo was nowhere to be seen. The closest we got was to a picture of him in a Rolex advert in the window of one of those shops still selling goods for the aristocrats and to the No 7 Ronaldo jerseys in the souvenir shops. Think we’ll pass on those.

Off again on a RENFE overnight sleeper TrenHotel bound for Madrid giving us plenty of time (about 5 hours) to (a) transfer between Charmartin and Atocha Estacions (b) a revisit to Parque de la Retiro - this time seeing the rest of it in daylight and (3 - probably the most important) a quick visit for lunch at the Museo de Jamon on Paseo del Prado for some of their tasty little fresh hams rolls and coffee/cervezia (for the pricely sum of 1 Euro). Just to pass the time away of course! After that we are bound for Granada, the Andalician area of Spain, to spend a few days discovering the area and to hit the Tapas, Sangrias and Cervezas. From there we spend a night in Malaga before flying over to Morocco for 2 weeks. Wow!

Until the next post of our travels. Cheers.

Liz and Tony

What time did you say the train leaves??





Aqueduto de Lisboa
(translated - duct water
and needs a clean)



Vasco de Gama Centre near the Expo site






SPAIN: San Sebastian

SAN SEBASTIAN

Location:  Bay of Biscay, Northern Spain
Language: Basque/Spanish
Population:  (2011) approx 186,500 

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San Sebastian would have to be one of the most picturesque places we’ve visited so far and many of the streets in the old part of the city are pedestrian malls giving way to the narrow streets, cafes,  bakeries, tapas bars and of course the souvenir shops.  We were to find out over the next few days that it offered so much more than that but will only pass on the boring info for  a little while before getting into the “Real” description of San Sebastian.

Alameda Boulevard, Donastia

Taking around 5 hours on the RENFE train we arrived at Estacion del Norte station where the first thing you notice is the impressive metal roof which had been designed by Gustave Eiffel, one and the same designer of the Eiffel Tower.  It was in stark contrast to the buildings that surrounded it which were a different style to that again in the southern part of Spain. Another thing that stood out for us and we were left to wonder, was that the language was so different to what we were getting so used to hearing in Spain.  Even on the slow approach into the station the signs showed “Donastia” but that wasn’t on our train tickets, and the train was going no further – it was the end of the line.  We were left wondering if we had missed something, ie napped for too long or where we on the right train ??? 

Donastia Station

From somewhere in the back of our minds we recalled something about the Basque Separatist group (ETA) and their quest for independence from Spain and still lingering in the very heart of the population in this part of Spain, Navarre.   New York Times Article: Basque Separatists Halt Campaign of Violence

We had arrived in the heart of the Basque region and Tony was still wearing his Spain hat in celebration of their win in the Euro 2012 Soccer cup final.  Everything written around us was in this alien language and it was a little daunting to say the least.  We were to find out over the coming days that Spanish is also spoken in the north region – and well ……"accepted".  I will say no more about this, but just the looks that Tony was getting when he was wearing that hat made him pack it away very quickly into the depths of his luggage – not to be seen AGAIN.   It left him wondering if the Peru hat was OK to wear though!!   

Maria Christina Bridge, Donastia

But one thing that we did recognise and in language we could understand was Hotel Terminus and it was right beside the train station. It also happened to be painted in the same colour as the train station, a rusty red with cream trims. We were thinking about the trains roaring through in the middle of the night but for us the thought of not having to struggle with baggage far outweighed the train sounds during the night. And it was only 50 mtrs from the station, a short walk to the Centro of San Sebastian, short walk to the 2 beautiful beaches of Playa de la Concha and Playa de la Zurriola, and to Parte Vieja, the old City.  We didn’t realise at the time the "Parte" must have been misspelt many many years ago and should be written as PARTY. 

Playa de la Concha

We were told that Donastia had been at the heart of many wars and conflicts throughout the centuries which resulted in 11 different fires.  Also because of these fires there is no longer any recorded history about the Basque language which is thought to have Medieval origins.  These fires ripped through the city which destroyed much of its history and buildings and in some way accounts for why the buildings are so different ...and beautiful. 

Chlorinate pools on the beach

The city and beaches are separated by the Urumea River, a crystal clear tidal river that has 7 bridges crossing at various points and each time we crossed any of those bridges we were amazed to see huge schools of fish, probably some sort of mullet about 30-50 cms each in size - just waiting to be caught.  The beaches draw crowds larger than Surfers Paradise.  And they allow topless and nude sun bathing, yes, can you believe it – in the city centre !!  When you have closed your mouth you might also be interested to know that one of the beaches is a well known surfing beach in this part of Spain.  We had to laugh though – there were fresh water/chlorinated pools actually on the beachside –perhaps for those fussy folks who don’t like sand and salt water.  Perhaps they should just stay at home and take a bath instead!!!

San Sebastian put on the weather for us so TJ decided to go for a swim in Bay of Biscay.  My only description was that he put on a brave face because just looking across the water the swimmers didn’t stay in for too long and as for the surfers, well they had wet suits on.  So the message was loud and clear that the water was just above “FREEZING”.

Escultura Peine del Viento (Wind Combs)

Breather Holes near the
Wind Combs

We took our usual double decker bus rides to see the sites and in addition hired a couple of bicycles back to the places we thought were of real interest such as the Escultura Peine del Viento (Wind Comb sculptures) at the base of Mount Igeldo, the beaches of course, and we crossed bridges such as the Puento Maria Christina, Puento Santa Catalina and Puento del Zurriola. Then followed the river as far as we could.  What was interesting about the Wind Comb was that during high seas, blow holes would send water and wind rushing through holes like geisers, and even though the seas were fairly calm it didn't stop curious folks from getting the feel of the gushing wind through the blowholes (and around their blow holes). 

In our travels by chance we also found the "Petit" Casino Kursaal when looking for the famous cafes, bars and restaurants which serve Pintxos (tapas).  The Donastia casino must be the loneliest we've ever encountered because there are only 2 roulette tables, about 4 blackjack tables and around 30 poker machines.  The place was empty and nothing seemed to be happening until Tony and I walked in and only then did the ball start rolling.  But before that, when we entered the upstairs foyer our Passport details were recorded for good measure.  Must have come as a shock to them when we changed over only $40 and walked out half an hour later none the wiser or richer.  They must have thought we were a couple of high rollers because we were all dressed up for the occasion.

Maria Christina Bridge

YES  !!! Live State of Origin

We’d wandered around over the few days we were in San Sebastian knowing that the State of Origin finals were to be played on Wednesday 4^th July and we were keen to find a venue with a Live telecast starting at 11am (Brisbane time).  We’d spotted an Irish Pub we were certain would be showing the game.  WRONG !! What a huge disappointment - when we got around there that they didn’t even have SKY channel.  So our next best shot was to race over the river... to the Old City... a good 15 minute sprint... and find if one of the many little Pintxos Bars had SKY and was showing the game. 

Sure enough – there it was – and only about 15 minutes of the game left.  But with the score very close it was the best part of the action. 

The next big disappointment was there were so many Australians in that little bar that you couldn’t even throw a football in. 

True Blues supporters - they even
have Blue luggage

I just stood back and watched while Tony and some of his new found friends – mainly Blues supporters, peered through the glass window front giving me  and some other girls running commentary of who scored, who got a kick and score updates.  And with only a short time left in the game, the beer  was passed from inside the bar by those who were lucky enough to be able to watch the TV inside that little Pintxo Bar.  Result:  QLD - 21,  NSW - 20.  Field goal kicked by Cooper Kronk to win the game for QLD. 

On our last day in San Sebastian we woke up to rain.  The beach crowds had disappeared but the surfers were out enjoying the waves, this time without having to dodge the swimmers. 

 

We made the most of our last hours here enjoying a nice coffee and croissant at one of the little cafes at the edge of the river.   

Old City streets

We both agreed that we know why this once fortress city of Donastia, only 40 kms from the border of France, is reknown as the place for a European summer vacation.  It's a beautiful city, the people are friendly and welcoming (as long as you don't wear a "Spain" cap), the Pintxos are a gastronomical treat, the Sangrias and beer and food is cheap.  And if you want a holiday outside of Australia, love your food and want to be surrounded by other Aussies, particularly in June/July, this is the place for you....

With Pamplona already covered in earlier blogs, the next episode of Tony and Liz's Travel Adventures will be about Lisbon, Portugal.

Byeeeee...

Liz and Tony

Night life in Donastia