A Trip to Portugal (page 2 of 11)
Day One – NYC to Lisbon
Or, more accurately, day zero and day one. We left New York on a 9:50 PM flight on the Thursday March13th, and arrived in Lisbon (via Frankfurt) at 3:15 PM on the 14th. Ugh. In the future, I will be less stingy with airline reservations and insist on direct flights if they’re available. That said, Lufthansa is a very pleasant way to fly.
The trip was mostly uneventful. At times it seemed too uneventful. We went through passport control in Frankfurt. The non-EU line was very long, and was being held up for some poeple whose nationality I didn’t ascertain. This, and a few extremely impatient Americans, caused a friendly guard to announce that Americans could use the empty line for EU citizens. Edie and I went through it with less than five seconds scrutiny each, and no stamps on our passports.
I didn’t think this was too odd. I figured that we’d get the real customs deal in Lisbon since we were just connecting in Frankfort. When we got to Lisbon, we got picked up our bags and got some cash for the trip to the hotel. When leaving the baggage claim, there were two hallways. One was marked “Nothing to declare”, and the other was marked (I don’t remember exactly, but something like) “Stuff to declare”. We walked through the former, which took us by what looked like a security desk and immediately deposited us into the main terminal area. No one looked at us, our bags, or our passports. And no entry stamp. Bummer.
The first thing we did when we got to the terminal was head to the turismo kiosk. Turismos are one of the coolest things about visiting Portugal. Every town has one, and the big towns (like Lisbon) have many. A turismo is a booth staffed by friendly people who, in our experience, always speak English and will answer any touristy-type questions you might have. We got a free map of the city and asked for a taxi voucher to our hotel. (Lonely Planet warned that taxi drivers in Lisbon will try to rip you off, but they will honor taxi vouchers given to you by the turismo.) We were told that we didn’t need a taxi; the #91 bus (currently waiting outside of the airport) would take us a few blocks from the hotel. Thanks, turismo! We boarded the bus, paid the driver, and were off to downtown Lisbon.
Our hotel in Lisbon wasn’t actually a hotel. In Portugal there are distinctions between hotels and other places to stay, and I get the impression that the distinctions are much more strict than the hotel/motel/inn distinction in the US. That being said, I’ll refer generally to any place we stayed as “our hotel” for the sake of convenience. The place we stayed in Lisbon was officially a residencial, Residencial Florescente. Residencials are smaller than hotels, and only serve breakfast. This one was located centrally in the Baixa district on a pedestrian street with lots of restaurants and touristy shops.
There were still a few hours of daylight left after we dropped our bags and got our bearings, so we decided to head out and explore. We
walked down one of the pedestrian streets in the Baixa towards the waterfront. The Baixa is a very modern, chic part of Lisbon. The wide streets are lined with restaurants, clothing stores, and tourist kitsch shops. It’s pretty, but not of much interest if you’re not in the mood for shopping. We walked directly towards (and then through) the arch at the end of the street. Unfortunately, that section of the Lisbon waterfront is not awe inspiring. There was lots of graffiti, and not much going on. We walked along the water to the east, but realized things weren’t getting much better. We decided to turn north and head up into the Alfama neighborhood.
The Alfama is how I thought Lisbon would be. Lisbon is a city built on a set of hills, and the Alfama is a neighborhood comprised of one of those
hills. Starting at the water, we were at the bottom of the hill. The streets of the Alfama are extremely narrow streets, wide enough for (maybe) one car and sidewalks wide enough for (maybe) one pedestrian on each side. The streets twist and turn their way up the hill making for a very rewarding walk. Each turn reveals new sights, and as we climbed up the hill the views of the city just got better. The sun was setting, and it felt old and magical in a way that no place can in the states. I got the feeling that most tourists took some kind of transportation to the top of the hill to see the castelo that overlooks the city; as we walked up the streets were mostly occupied by stray dogs and playing children. Many were deserted. We did see the occasional old woman poking her head out of her window to see what we were up to. This was a common sight every place we went, and I’m sorry to say I was too shy to ask any of them for permission to take a picture.
As it got darker, the unfamiliar, narrow streets started to feel more menacing than magical, so we started back down the hill towards our hotel. One of the things that struck me about Lisbon at night was the neon. Lisbon is a city that has been able to integrate the old and the new in a way that is more seamless than any other city I’ve been too. The neon mixes with the centuries-old tradition of azulejos (the colored tiles that decorate buildings throughout Portugal), and it all seems to just fit. It’s an absolutely beautiful city.
The Portugese eat much later than Edie and I are accustomed to, and we were very tired that first night so we ate a little early. Restaurants don’t open for dinner until 7, and we ate pretty shortly thereafter. We went to a restaurant on our street recommended by Fodor’s. We had the mixed grilled fish for two. It was the most expensive and least satisfying meal we had during our entire stay. It was horrible. Stay away. Exhausted, we went back to our hotel and hit the hay.