o.k. lobo_mau. I cave in.

Actually, I did have a question about the houses inside the Castelo walls. I found a very nice looking apartment on a street that is inside the walls.
It says you have to walk through the arch and take a three minute walk to the house.
Is that all up hill? Is it difficult to get a taxi in that area.
We did not go into the Alfama area, nor did we see the Castelo on our last trip. I have no idea from the discription what I would be getting into.

Thank you Sher!!
I wrote this and waited for a regular to be the #300!

namaka: Thanks for the offer. There are only 2 of us so a hotel is really all we need. I did look at some of the links of other apartments for the fun of it and they look great but having a car is the problem. Guess we will continue to look for hotels with parking. We will be there June 1,2,3. Also for only 3 nights a hotel is probably fine.

Marianna: thanks for the confidence builder. My son lives outside Boston and you are right - if we can drive there we can drive anywhere!

lobo mau: food, wine, hotels and now even language. You are an endless wealth of information. I could only get it to work for a minute however and then I could only get to the company web page. Did I miss something?

barb,
I know you sound set on hotel but let me just add that the apartment that I am getting has a "free" underground parking garage. Just another big draw to this place for me. Just a thought!

Sher, I'm glad you did it. Who will be the #400?
Matt! With so many people coming, I'd suggest you to organize an agenda to know who's in town.
Barb65, I had different experiences with the TTS engine. Sometimes it stays, and in other situations it changes to the company page. I don't really know what is the criteria.
Sarasara, I'd recommend Ocenario in former Expo96 area. http://www.oceanario.pt
The same area is nice for kids, you may rent bycicles in a car free area. It's easy to spend a full day or even a afternoon there.
In Colombo mall, there is an indoor fun center http://www.funcenter.pt/
Films are always in original soundtrack, except children's films. In this situation you should ask in the ticket office which sessions are spoken in original language and which are spoken in Portuguese.
If they enjoy bowling, they can do that both in former Expo98 and in Colombo mall.
The moorish castle of Sintra may trigger their imagination. I'm sure they will love a ride in horse pulled cars in Sintra.
The train in the coastal line between Lisbon-Cais do Sodre and Cascais is interesting for all ages.
This is what comes to my mind. If I recall something else I'll let you know.

Sher my congratulations, now when I go on holiday if it isn't lobo then you can be the "Chief"!

Hi Sarasara, welcome, glad to know you. So then for the kids - if they like sports you could go over to Benfica stadium and have a look in the museum and go into the stands. We forgot the Zoo - now bearing in mind my recent Serengeti experiences the zoo is not my cup of tea but for younger ones it'll be good, esp the chair lift which takes you up and over the lion enclosure.
The old tourist tram they will like, and the beaches in Costa da Caparica (I think the narrow gauge beach train will be running by then, especially weekends which is a 5 odd mile trip through the sand dunes.) Take them up Elevador St Justa and see how brave they are, (Or you are) on the final climb to the top - don't look down between the rungs of the ladder!

Bit limited for time this moment so I'll come up with more ideas.

Now Lobo what you said - for those coming across would you be interested in meeting up as a group and going out for a big dinner at a recommended restaurant of my/lobo's choosing - it would be a fun night out. Let me know and I'll start compiling a list of who is coming when etc etc.

Matt

former expo98 site http://www.parquedasnacoes.pt/en/not...lta&ID=112

Lobo mau, thanks for the info. The whole family loves to bowl and bike ride. You just can't get this kind of great info in a guide book! On our itinerary I forgot to say that we were stopping in Fatima then would drive to Sintra, spend the night there then go onto Lisbon. The train ride sounds great and I keep hearing about tours of sintra. Do you think it would be better to go from Fatima to Lisbon, return the car and take the train to Sintra for a day trip? again thanks to you all for this great info.

Matt, thanks also for the extra info for kids. I think I will be safely on the ground during the elevador ride. I am scared to death of heights so that will be my husbands duty.

Touristic trams are good, but the regular tram #28 is very funny. It's like a huge urban roller coaster (because of the hills). It goes through the nice spots of old Lisbon. I think that if you have the 1 or 3 days carris/metro pass, you don't have to pay nothing more to ride it as many times as you wish. The same for funiculars/elevator.
An additional comment to elevador Santa Justa comment. Since 1993, it led to nowhere. The only possible activity was to go up, sightseen and go down. Very recently, the passage over rua do carmo was reopened, making the elevador a very good way from Baixa/Rossio area to carmo square, carmo convent ruins, cervejaria trindade, bairro alto and chiado.

Matt, if you are available to start Lisbon's Dining Club activities tomorrow or the day after, please let me know. Should Benfica wins today agains Liverpool, we may celebrate their victory. Otherwise we may celebrate their defeat :-) There is alwaus a good reason to celebrate :-)

Lobo that is so wierd, I was thinking of this Friday. So yes, dinner it is what is the plan?

Matt

Well Lobo old chap, with a 2-0 advantage so far I guess Friday will really be a celebration! Actually I have another suggestion for the Diner's club, it is a small place opposite Gulbenkian which serves well and quality for good prices - I went there after various EURO 2004 games, (Inc the 1/4 finals and final) and more lately the UEFA Cup final last year in which Sporting lost - hell, free tickets what are you going to do? Refuse?

Can't see Liverpool scoring 3 in the 2nd half but they did last year in the final vs Milan so let's see.

Sher - you are my distant friend in my thoughts... and I love the Village and Thompkins Square Pk - many amusing stories surrounding Charlie Parkers house, Alan Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac and Vietnam Vets in the park playing chess.

Matt

hi everyone!

i made it to lisbon this morning! the airport was swift and efficient (not like heathrow where i had to transfer through!) and after settling in and a little nap, my husband and i headed out.

okay, don't laugh but after finding the metro at the jardim zoologico, it took us a little bit of time to get down to baixa/chiado due to some misunderstanding. btw, thanks lobo for advising me to not walk around here at night by myself, i understood what you meant by the looks of the metro station.

we meandered through the streets, marveled at how all these people managed the hills and came upon the museu arqueologico by accident. i was drawn in by a bright pink building near the largo do carmo! my husband must have took 10 pictures of the church. we saw the passage way next to the church and were so impressed by the beautiful view by the Santa Justa! after taking a near panoramic view of the city, we somehow found our way down to the praca dom pedro IV and stopped for a beer and some snacks while we watched people. we then walked off the snacks by walking up avenida liberdade admiring the walkway, turned around and walked down rue augusta down to praca do comercio, walked up rue aurea and finally stopped for dinner. (i didn't come prepared with my list of restaurants recommended by the posts but i will be armed with them tomorrow night!) i'm back at the hotel now and can't wait for tomorrow. i'm planning on going back down to the praca do comercio to catch the tourist tram as matt suggested in his very first post.

thanks everyone for the helpful advice, i have thoroughly enjoyed my first day here!

hjboston: great to have an up to the minute report. Feels like we are all there with you. Hope you get to join the Lisbon dining club

namaka: I even thought of changing my schedule to be in Lisbon when that apartment was available but that would not work out. I think our parking problem will be the biggest factor in where we end up.

Matt and lobo_mau: One of our favorite trip memories is the time we watched the World Soccer finals on tv with the locals in a little pub on Mallorca. I am not a big sports fan but we all had a good time!
Can the dining club do fado?

In Anfield Road/England today Liverpool 0, Benfica 2 :-)
Ninguém pára o Benfica, Oleeee Ohhh (Nobody can stop Benfica).
You'll never walk alone :-)
Matt, your suggestion is fully accepted. I hope they have disgusting food :-)) That's very convenient for me. Just mail the address or the name of the place and the hour.
I trust you the writing of meeting minutes of the Lisbon's dining club. Sounds ok?
hjboston, do you join the diner's club Friday night? If you accept invitation send me a mail with your name, the hotel where you are or a contact telephone and I'll pick you up [email protected]). If you made reservations for anything else, don't worry. We'll meet you next time.
Barb, sure the dining club do fado!!!
Matt and Sher, my experience about NY is more limited. I arrived to Penn Central station, walked around 5th avenue, asked a hot-dog with everything, jump to the top of empire state and bought a fake Cartier watch to an African-American. The only thing I missed in my to-do list was to stop a cab and ask the driver: "follow that car", but in fact I didn't see any reason to do that :-) (In Hollywood movies there is always somebody doing that).

Well it wasn't champagne but I've just had a glass or two of red because of the Benfica win - at what a nice 2nd goal it was.

Can't recall the name of the damn place lobo, the only way I know how to get there is by driving en route to Praca d'espagne.

So I suggest friday is dining at your suggestion, and bearing in mind hjboston is here and hopefully will meet us let's do Trindade in Bairo Alto - then instead of picking them up they can catch a cab there for 8 pm or so. WOrth booking a table in advance, what do you think?

Hjboston, likewise, email me and I'll ping you back my home telephone number and you can call and say hello and sort friday.

Re dining and fado, do you mean can Lobo and I sing fado or just go to a fado house???

Cheira bem, cheira Lisboa.

Matt

Matt, it's ok. I'll try to be there by 7:30 pm. I'll ask for a table upon arrival.
HJ, tell us about your plans.

dear hj, I believe you pick up the wrong metro station. That's why you had difficulties getting into there. If you leave the hotel front door and walk to the right, you have the Praça de Espanha station on the blue line. If take the opposite direction, and walk around the wall of Santa Maria hospital, you have Cidade Universitaria station in yellow line. In either option be prepared to walk 10 minutes + or -, but much less than you have to walk to Jardim Zoologico.

Okay a couple more items of interest to you lucky people visiting Lisbon:

Tourist information tel: 808 781 212 (Linha Verde, toll free)

The Lisbon Card gives free access to public transport, 27 museums, monuments and various discounts round the city. available in 24/48/72 hour versions (www.askmelisboa.com)

The card can be purchased at the ASK ME counters and probably the easiest way of getting it is from the counter in the arrivals hall at the airport. If not it can be purchased at various locales, such as Baixa (Rua Augusta), Belem (Monasterio Jeronimos) Lisboa Welcome Center (Praça do Commercio, Loja 1 r/c - 1º), Restauradores (Palacio Foz) or Sta Apolonio Station.

Although I never used it should be worth it if you really plan to see all Lisbon in a mad rush...

Lobo, perhaps it is just us for dinner tomorrow: if so I'll you at the door between 7.30 and 8 - I'll just come shouting "Lobo Lobo come out come out wherever you are!"

Matt

I'm sure I'll be the only lobo in Chiado area :-)
I heard in the neres that former president Bush is in town, but it's not clear if he and Barbara are joining us :-)