It looks like I'll be arriving in Lisbon July 17 and departing July 21. I haven't planned anything yet, maybe a day trip somewhere. It would be great to get together with the Lisbon Dining Club for dinner, drinks, music, whatever, with or without my travel companions. I'd really like to know about interesting places to hear live music.

Isabel, are you out there? Are you interested in getting together?

Well Nikki, you've twisted my arm, another L.D.C it is then! Let's see what isabel is planning. But for now Lily is coming with us tomorrow night for Stº Antonio for sure, then the next big one is Gravatas on 2nd July for sure. (Sarasara (5) and HenryandCasper (2?) + the four of us)

Namaka - drop me an email and I'll send you back my tel number but I think Joãos idea of coffee when you arrive is good.

If you hadn't already guessed I'm no good at keeping a diary of plans. So if I'm forgetting anybody please remind me, or there's always Lobo to keep me in line!

Matt

Jen, sorry I meant to say that we're glad you got back okay and that you had a wonderful trip. From speaking to you on our last night together it seemed your itinerary really worked well and that you did well with the hire car. Look foward to reading about it in the report.

Don't be strangers.

Matt

Matt, I don't know your email address, but here is mine; [email protected]

And yes, coffee sounds fine!

Well, we are almost packed and ready to go! ladylyn, thank you for the great trip report. We will be following your footsteps (to some degree) and it's great to be able to learn from your experience...food "poisoning" aside! :)

Matt and Lobo, John and I are looking forward to seeing you tomorrow. I did not realize (though should have known since my husband is such a tech-head) that we have a phone that works internationally. I'll send you the number via email.

Cheers!

Namaka, thanks for the reminder, perhaps I should put my contact details at the top of each new thread.

Anyway, email is [email protected] - anyone is free to contact me.

Matt

Lily, looking forward to meeting you both. Lisbon is nice and hot now so hopefully tommorrow evening will be just fine. Get ready for beers and wine, sardines on the grill, fado dancing laughter and thousands of revellers - especially if Portugal win their game in the World Cup tonight :-)

If for wahtever reason we cannot speak before we'll see you under the arch at the arranged time.

Safe flight

Matt

LET'S GO PORTUGAL!!! ;-)

1-0 halftime, not the greatest game :-(

Came across this website a moment ago for a hotel up in the Douro Valley:

http://www.casa-azenha.com/eng/index.html

It certainly looks tempting and with reasonable prices. Could be an option for anyone staying in that area but I have no connection with them...

Portugal 1 - Angola
Next game with Iran

You forgot to say how many goals Angola didn't score...

Portugal 1 - Angola 0
Next game with Iran
Bailey, only strangers need to thank, family and friends don't.
Matt, lets watch one game with your country fellows? My youngest would love it.

To join the England supporters club he needs to be able to drink 10 beers, fight with a policeman (preferably not me, remember I'm retired ;-)) and name the entire 1966 World Cup squad, not just the 11 from the final itself. Then I'll think about it :-)

Matt

Matt, the goals Angola didn't score are not going to count anymore..the only goal Portugal did..maybe could take them to the next round. That's football ! But not a good match at all, I hope Portugal will get better during the tournament or they will be in trouble soon.

Kenderina, you are right. The result was good, not the performance. When is Spain's game? I saw today Alonso wining the F1 England's GP with great authority. I believe he has a lot to offer to F1.
Matt, can we divide the tasks? I was thinking about letting him study the 66 squad and drinking the beers myself :-)

Yep, of course you are right Kendrina, England had a very poor performance too, but it is the 3 points in the end that count. One presumes that Portugal will beat Iran and England Trinidade to see both teams most likely through to the knockout stages. But one must also wonder what would have happened to both countries had they played stronger opposition.

Matt

Spain plays Wednesday at 2PM (Portugal time) :) Let's go suffer a bit, if we don't ..I'm not going to believe they are Spaniards at all :P
Yes, Alonso did it again, this boy is getting boring to watch...he always win :) Also Rafa Nadal won Roland Garros in Paris...good day to see sports on tv :))

Matt and Nikki - We'll be there from July 15 to the 21st so I'd definitly love to get together. We have no specific plans for any day so when ever is good for you. Since we leave on the 21st, probably the night before would not be the best as we'll have to get up early but any other night would be great. Matt, the LDC sounds like a great thing, I know my husband will love to meet some people who live in Lisbon, he's been teaching himself Portugese for two months now, driving the whole family crazy. And Nikki you can give me some pointers on Copenhagen, and we can compare notes on Rue Chapon.

Isabel, it's a date, I'm looking forward to meeting you as we apparently continue to follow each other around Europe.

I'm looking into hotels in Lisbon now. Have you planned where to stay yet?

Matt, it looks like July 18 or 19 would be a good night for our gathering.

In addition to our dinner with the LDC, I am interested in learning about places to go to hear live music for other evenings in town. I saw references to some in these multitudinous pages but am hoping to get some ideas from those of you who are in Lisbon.

just got back from crazy week at the inlaws...will post tomorrow and start up with LDC planning. So far, the 2nd looks great (2-me and the hubby) to dine with everyone. There is a slight chance that we may now be heading to the Sesimbra that night but i doubt it, I'll know more tomorrow...

Nikki - we are staying at the Residencial Florescente(www.residencialflorescente.com/).It got good reviews on Trip Advisor and I like it's location, price seems to be about average for Lisbon (70€ for a double). Looking forward to meeting you too.

Matt, unless forgot something, the LDC agenda has the following entries:
- 12 June - Festa Santo Antonio with LilyE and DH (meeting Archway Rua Augusta)
- xxx June - Fado in tram 28 with yyy
- 20 or 21 June - coffee in A Brazileira with Namaka (we wait her contact)
- 24 June - LDC with Namaka, DH and children - Gravatas ???
- 2 July - LDC with Henry&Casper (?) + Sarasara, DH and children - Gravatas ???
- 20 July - LDC with Nikki +? and Isabel +?
- 21 Sept - LDC with dwdnyder +?

Matt, in my opinion this schedule is feasible. My availability is 2 LDCs per month, and this is met by the above plan. The number of informal get togethers for coffees or drinks is virtually unlimited :-)

If we had larger groups (>15), we could organize better evenings like we did in Pateo.

Kenderina, LDC is waiting for you. Come on, we are just neighbours. Take the plane and show up...

lobo - is it possible to do the 18th or 19th instead of July 20. Since we fly out on the 21st, the evening of the 20th we'd probably not want to be out too late. We'll do the 20th if that's the only time that works for the rest of you, but the 18th or 19th would be better.

Your wishes are my commands :-) but either date is choosen, 18, 19 or 20 July, the next day is a working day, and I don't want to extend LDC too late. Let's say that mid night is my limit.
Anyway my proposal is the following: Since it's more than 1 month in advance, let's keep 18 or 19th opened to see if other fodorites step ahead and join us. If you feel that for some reason we need to set up a defined day or if the first week of July arrives with no further candidates, then we'll define a date

Not to worry. I am interested to see how I do in a country where "not too late" means midnight.

You will do fine.

good morning all. As I sit here and drink my morning gelao, I am getting more and more excited as I am leaving tomorrow.Yeah!

Won't be long and I will have a fartuda sp? to go with my gelao. Hey, how come no one mentions those? They are my favorite!

Lobo,I'm waiting for a friend who is coming with me (his first time in Lisbon !) to put the exact dates, but we will be there on the second fortnight of September for 4 or 5 days :) You will be the first to know when I'm done with the dates..I will begin to ask questions, LOL
We have a very limited budget this time (he is going to Paris in July and I went to Scotland in May) so we will need help on cheap places to eat as good as possible (good sandwiches, hahaha). I was looking at a hotel called Olissippo Marques de Sa, three stars, looks brand new..at 69 euros/night looks like a good deal for us, what do you think ?

kenderina, I don't know the Olissipo, but add Ibis Saldanha to your list: http://www.accorhotels.com/accorhote...he_hotel.shtml
It looks great, it's quite new, it's well located (not in the city centre, but close to public transports, metro and bus). In the next block there is a shooping centre with live (free) piano music all afternoons (6 to 7 pm, I think, to be confirmed) and the usual suspects of fast food (sandwiches, pita shoarma, soups, etc...).
If you have open dates, try to come close to 21st September because there are other fodorites in town.

All,

I just posted the first portion of my trip report with some photos. I will continue to add onto it...

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...amp;dirtyBit=1

Please let me know if you have any questions - I love reliving the trip!

Jen

I get the feeling this will be a summer of trip reports: hurray!

Matt

And tonight's L.D.C with Lily and her husband John was most excellent - what a welcome to Lisbon they had with the madness that is Festa Stº Antonio. About a million people partying in the Alfama, took many photos so I'll have to spend some time editing them all down and writing the report sometime in the next few days.

Bed is calling me now, Matthew Matthew...

Kenderina,

If you're looking for cheap hotels try www.travelocation.com. I travelled all through Europe for 6 months, and booked all my hotels through them. They by far had the best prices. Look for their save rate hotels for the best deals.

Have fun in Lisbon, that was one of my favorite places

-John

Matt, Mrs G asked me to ask you to have a look at your email before posting the photos...

Hi all

Well we returned last night and now it is time to relive the trip in my reports and others. WOW! So much has been added in our time away from the computer.

Matt's report on our LDC evening says it all. What wonderful people and good times, can not say enough how gracious Matt, Liz, Lobo, Gertrude all are. Thank you so much - the concert, the dining and the company were all perfect.

I will work on a report and post it seperately. This may take a few days (between loads of wash!). Unfortunately Jim is the photographer and with over 1500 photos to go through and continued business trips that may take awhile. They are the basic places that can be seen on other reports any way but if there is one specific, different, special photo, I will try to include it.

Barb

Barb, glad you got home safely and of course Lizzy and I are delighted that you enjoyed Alfama, dinner and Dulce Pontes - it was a wonderful evening.

I have Jim's email address so now I know you are home I'll send over the images zipped.

Hope to speak soon and I look foward to reading of your adventures,

Best regards to you both,

Matt

Matt, Lobo, et al:

Traveling and only checking email sporadically. Just confirming - either Sept 20 or 21st is great for us - David and Susan.

Plans are still evolving. Thinking about staying in Santa Comba Dao but can only find reservations for single night (but what a place !).

Talked with person from AutoEurope. Got a reasonable rate for a car - and I can waive the CDW.

David

If kenderina and friend confirm 20 or 21th September and if there are more fodorites willing to join us we could organize some entertainment in Pateo da Memoria in line with what we did on 27th May.

To keep the costs low (approx 27.5 euros), in an evening with fado performance we must count with 12 ppl minimum. The expected time to return home is midnight.

The expected cost for a diner in Gravatas is 20 euros (no entertainment, just food). If we join at 7:30 pm, by 9:30 pm the diner should be finished.

List of activities as per 14th June:

- xxx June - Fado in tram 28 with yyy
- 15 or 16 June - coffee in A Brazileira with Lily and John (we wait their contact)
- 20 or 21 June - coffee in A Brazileira with Namaka (we wait her contact)
- 24 June - LDC with Namaka, DH and children - Gravatas (?)
- 2 July - LDC with Henry&Casper (?) + Sarasara, DH and children - Gravatas (?)
- 18 or 19 July - LDC with Nikki +? and Isabel +? - Gravatas(?)
- 25 August - LDC with Lobo + Gert + Matt(?) + Lizzy(?)
- 20 or 21 Sept - LDC with David (dwdnyder) + Susan + Kenderina (?) + friend (?) - Páteo da Memória (?)

Lobo, I will have three travel companions, a friend of mine and her two children (17 and 21). We haven't decided whether we would all be coming to the get-together, or just me, or just me and my friend. But if it were to become a question of putting together a group to have dinner and hear fado, they would probably be happy to be counted in.