bluecheesegirl

Part One: General Info<BR><BR>Time allocated for trip: 6 days total, 3.5 business, 2.5 personal time<BR><BR>Average day temperature about 60-65 degrees F, All days there (mid March) were delightfully clear and sunny. Needed a jacket at night.<BR><BR>Hotel: Le Meridien, across the Street from the Parque Eduardo VII If you stay here, request view of the park. Note: Although the gardens are not dead, they are also not in bloom. We noted that it was still too early to see massive quantities of blooms mid-March and those particularly interested in gardens and flowers should wait longer into spring to visit.<BR><BR>General note about Taxis: They are plentiful and very reasonable in price. Although we never took a long ride in the city we averaged $4 Euros for a taxi. The most expensive Taxi was from Airport to hotel in traffic at $20 Euros.(not included in average)

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Part Two: Day One<BR><BR>Arrived in Lisbon 6am Tuesday March 18th (Tues)<BR>Checked into room, unpacked showered and met coworkers in hotel lobby for 2 hour walk around city.<BR><BR>Went to Baixa, took Elevator De Carmo up to the most high point of the platform. $1EU<BR>Walked around a bit window shopping, walked back to the hotel.<BR>Lunch in the hotel with coworkers.<BR>Worked the afternoon<BR><BR>Diner at Cervejaria Trindade restaurant (on recommendation from Fodor’s board) with coworkers took taxi, ate shrimp Trindade, monkfish stew rated highly as well. <BR><BR>Day Two:<BR>Wednesday: AM. Went running in Park Eduardo VII, it was pretty dead in terms of vegetation and I felt safe running there alone because of the high volume of commuter traffic that was walking through and around the park at 8:00am. It was too bad that the park was not more green or in bloom.<BR><BR>Stopped at a bakery on my way back to the hotel and bought 2 liters of water and a croissant for breakfast in my hotel room.<BR><BR>Worked entire rest of day. <BR><BR>

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Part Three: Days Three and Four<BR><BR>Thursday: Worked until after Business dineer, then went out for Fado at Laso's. Then after a few rounds of Fado singers we left and some of us went to a bar around the corner for beer. <BR><BR>Friday: Worked until 1:30pm<BR>Met coworkers in the lobby at 1:30 to go and enjoy the city. We took a taxi to the Baixi and then walked to the Praco Do Commercio. After some window shopping and some pushy sunglass salesmen we dedcided to take the trolley up to the castle. We had a hard time figuring out how the trolley worked and where it picked up because of all the city transport traffic in and around the Praca do Commercio. After bumping into some other people we knew, who understood the system better, we were off following the to the trolley stop.<BR><BR>We rode the trolley clear up to the top of the Graca district and witnessed a fight between the driver of the trolley and some random man who was riding it! We were so entranced we didn’t even notice that we should have hopped off at the Castelo Sao Jorge stop!<BR><BR>The trolley 28 winds beautifully through the Aflama district and provides excellent views of the water and city below. $1 EU<BR><BR>After getting off at the end of the line we walked down following the trolley tracks to the Church, Sao Vincente de Fora We went in an admired the building but were no was sure of what was wrong with the floors under the pews, they were raised above the main aisle floor level and were wood, in poor condition, almost rotting planking. After we left there we walked further down the trolley tracks and stopped at several vantage point to take a few pictures and admire the view. We passed the Museum of Decorative Arts but didn’t go in. I loved the color red of the stucco of it! We walked towards the Castle entrance and decided to stop for a beer and socialize. Since there were about 9 of us it was inevitable that we would see nothing at the right pace so we went for socialization. The beer was good, the talk light and about $30 EU later we were off to the castle. We took some pictures of the Cristo Rei and bridge and then managed to separate into 3 groups and be n our own again. My small group of 4 walked the castle walls took some more pictures of the city below and enjoyed the very moderate 65degree weather F. <BR><BR>Day four continued in next post.<BR>

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Part 4: Day four continuued:<BR><BR>We walked down from the castle again following the trolley tracks, on the very tractionless mosaic cobblestone sidewalks, how people manage when they are wet is beyond me! We stopped a few small shops and then I found Napoleoa, the large wine and port shop. One of my companions was on a mission to bring back Some Tawny Port for her friend, and I had a request for Sherry from a girlfriend of mine for her mother. These were dutifully filled and than the shopping for us began! The store was wonderful! We sampled about 4 ports, got quite a lesson on both how it is made and how each were different. We also received excellent service from the man who was helping us, who spoke English well and was not pushy with his suggestions, he sent us on our way with all kinds of reading material about port in general and also the brand we had purchased. He also made sure we had shipping information to the States as well. I purchased a bottle of port as did my friend. Purchases in backpack our group was off again. After some stops in some linen shops and few leather shops in Baixi we ended our day with a cab ride back the hotel It was 6pm and my girlfriend from the States was due to arrive then. <BR><BR>I met My friend in the hotel lobby moments after she arrived, we got her settled in our room and then we dressed for dinner and Fado at Senhor Vinhos with the group from my company. We were 25 in total and had very nice service. The food was good, I had a vegetarian crepe which tasted a bit like an egg roll in a cream and cheese based sauce.<BR>The Bathrooms had beautiful tiling in them, well at least the ladies did, and the Fado wonderful. The quality was better than at Laso’s the evening before. I don’t know who she was, but the last singer of the group was very famous and had recently returned from a tour in California. My friend and I went back to the hotel and crashed.<BR><BR>

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Part 5: Day 5 <BR><BR>Saturday: We were up and left the hotel by 9am. We took a taxi to the Baixa district and then walked the Rua Augusta to find a bakery for a quick breakfast. We had espresso, OJ fresh squeezed, and pastries for less than $5 EU. We walked for a bit then I repeated the Friday excursion on the 28 trolley, with far greater ease and no altercation to the castle, some vantage points, the Se Cathedral, and ultimately showing her the wine store. <BR><BR>At the Se Cathedral we walked the archeological dig and restoration of the cloisters. We also went through the treasury which had many ornate religious artifacts, several vestments and a huge ornate pyx/monstronce. We continued down through the Baixi window shopping and selecting a place for lunch. We ended up at an outdoor caf&eacute; eating (her) garlic butter shrimp, (me) shrimp omelette. Light since we both had plans for afternoon snacks! Next we were off walking to the Museo de Chiado, which houses modern art. We walked up a HUGE hill to get there and after looking a bit found the street and the museum. The museum was good. It has no permanent collection so you see whatever they have at the time and it’s always changing. We saw several nice pieces, but we were fascinated by one exhibit of Video Art. “Nothing an Go Wrong” It had videos of varying length of random things, like a vulture in a studio, a man doing gymnastics while he waits at a street light, and a scrolling audition tape to name a few. We were struck by the concept.<BR><BR>From here we went to Sant’Anna, a well know and recommended tile and ceramic store in the Chiado District. It was closed. We walked through more shopping areas in the Chiado, had a drink in a small caf&eacute;, and went to a church I can’t find the name of. Then we found the Igreja do Carmo church ruins and went there and the archeological museum. Both were very nice. The museum is small but everything is labeled well, and interesting. We liked, especially, the Egyptian mummy and two South American mummies. The nave the museum is in gives idea to what the rest of the church must have looked like before the earthquake that knocked it into ruins. It is very beautiful stonework and design. We went around the corner to the Church of Sao Roque which was beautiful and we noted the tile work in the wall and floor and the ceiling. We didn’t go to the museum.<BR><BR>We continued on and found a nice candy shop around the corner and bought a few small gifts for our friends at home. Tried another tile shop hat we found closed and then headed onto the Port Wine Institute at the top of the Elevator de Gloria. It was a welcoming and nice place. We sat in the “clublike area” and soon found a threesome of Americans had selected seats. My girlfriend and I ordered total 5 glasses of port, a White, Cholheita, Tawny, Late Bottle Vintage and 40 year Vintage. We also ordered a cheese plate and crackers. For about 1.5 hours we tasted, chatted and enjoyed the experience. The only issue we had was that the light switch in the bathroom was nearly impossible to find! Our wine knowledge is OK, but we didn’t know anything about port, our server walked us through making selections and we didn’t feel out of place at all. We left there, $35 Euros less and with a decision on what port each of us preferred and headed back to the port and wine store in Baixa to buy it because it was said to be less expensive there than at the Port Wine Institute. As it turns out, they didn’t carry what my friend wanted and so we decided to go back to the PWI to get her bottle there. (this round trip meant two rides on the funicular at $1 EU a person for each ride.)<BR>

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Part 6: Day 5 continuued<BR><BR>My friend bought her port, and we hailed a cab because it was now 8:30pm and we’d been sightseeing for nearly 12 hours. After the Concierge made us reservations at a restaurant by the new bridge that looks like the Golden Gate Bridge we went to our room and emerged refreshed and ready for dinner.<BR><BR>Dinner was at Doce Peixe, a fish restaurant on the water by the bridge. We had been made aware of the olive/butter/cheese/bread concept so we passed on eating these items because the concierge told us they had astronomical prices associated with them. Dinner was as shrimp appetizer to share, and we ate (her) grilled grouper (me) more shrimp in a butter, chili, olive oil sauce. Very tasty. We also selected a bottle of green wine that was $17 EU and very nice. The best part of dinner was frankly the hazelnut mousse! Amazing!<BR><BR>We walked for a while after dinner on the water overlook and then headed for a drink further down the strip. It turned out the dink place also had gelato so we had a drink and another shared dessert! (yum!) Exhausted we hailed a cab at midnight. We probably saved a few Euros on the cab ride due to he driver being life threatenly fast and preferring to educate us in poor broken English about “Columbo the Sailorman, who life in Portugal before he navgor” than watch the road.<BR>

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Part 7: Day 6<BR><BR>Sunday: arrived too soon and we had planned a full day. We walked to two museums the Gulbenkian and the Centro de Arte Moderna next to it. Both were free on Sunday and we ate in the museum caf&eacute; which was very reasonable. 2OJ, 3 pastries, 1 coffee about $7 EU.<BR><BR>The great thing about these 2 museums was that they were the right size. They had very nice varied collections and no one collection was so big you got bored of it. I appreciated the Asian Ceramics, French Furniture and Lalique crystal amid a few rooms of European landscapes and seascapes. The other museum with its modern art was interesting, although I didn’t care for the art very much, but the right size to enjoy and then move on. The grounds between these two museums were not to be missed. Very lush and if you have kids with you a must place to feed the ducks!<BR><BR>When we left these two museums we knew we had a hike in front of us. We planned to walk to the Tile Museum near the Docks. It took us a long time. Both because the walk is long but also because we popped into a few shops and discovered that the Cemetary is wonderful place to visit that had not been highlighted in our guidebook! It reminded me of New Orleans with the above ground tombs but far more ornate and beautiful in the glasswork and stone carvings. We wandered through there taking pictures for some time. After continuing our walk we finally arrived at the tile museum. My advice in retrospect would be to take a taxi or bus, if you are time constrained, otherwise it is a nice, fairly level walk to be enjoyed. Once we got close to the tile museum the neighborhood declined and we felt very out of place as tourists those last 8 blocks. <BR><BR> The tile museum was wonderful, well worth the out of the way status to the center of Lisbon. We enjoyed learning about how tile is made and how tile color and manufacturing progressed through the years in Lisbon. There were examples of many different kinds of tile, colors and periods of tile making. It explained the differences you notice as you walk from one district to another in the city. The church associated with the museum, which is built in the old cloister is a strange over the top combination of tile work, gold facing on wood, and many formal paintings in a big grid on the walls and ceilings. They don’t go together at all, but fun to take in. We did some small shopping in the gift shop and then were off!<BR>

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Part 8: Day 6 continuued:<BR><BR>Across from the tile museum on the Henrique Avenue we picked up the 28 bus and paid our Euro each and rode it all the way along the water to Belem and the Monestary. It is key to note here that we picked up a very detailed CARRIS (public transportation) map and spent a portion of time planning this bus ride out the evening before. We arrived just before the last entrance time at the Monestary and paid to see the cloisters and went up to the choir. After wandering through that area we went on the main floor of the church. Aside from the masses of tour groups we enjoyed that a lot marveling at the detailed columns and sheer size of the church. We were both pretty wore out and hungry and rather than go to the Archeological museum that is adjacent to the Monestary we decided to eat a very late lunch/early dinner at about 5pm at a caf&eacute; by the Monestary. This naturally included 2 more glasses of amazing orange juice and a bacon, egg, and cheese baguette we shared. The bacon was underdone by American standards, and the egg was hard boiled and sliced. They also put lettuce, corn, and tomatoes on it. I’m pretty picky about meat and ended up picking most of the bacon off my half. We decided that since the hotel was so pricey for breakfast and the airport would be potentially hit or miss for breakfast we would get a few pastries to save for the next morning before the flights. We stopped into the Pastries of Belem store and although they had many great looking items we were called to buy anything and kept going. We moved on to another shop and found some tasty filled croissants and purchased those for take away as well as a small gelato each, well they did have it right there…<BR><BR>We walked around and bought some postcards, toured the Praca do Imperio, the Monument to the Discoveries, visited the Cultural Center and my friend found a very nice wedding present there for a friend of ours. Then we decided to be thrifty and save some money for the airport taxi ride and instead of a taxi home take the bus. The number 27 bus arrived and took us aboard all the way back to the Eduardo Park for a short uphill walk to the hotel.<BR><BR>We didn’t see as much of Belem as we hoped to because the walk to the tile museum coupled with the bus ride was a bit longer than we anticipated. However, we really felt we got an excellent flavor for the city and saw so many parts of it was worth the long days of walking. We had an aggressive list of things to do and see and we accomplished nearly all of them plus a few things we hadn’t planned to see in advance! It was a wonderful trip and although I had heard from colleagues in the UK that Lisbon was not an attractive place to visit or vacation I disagree, we found it charming, welcoming, and although I have plans to visit other cities before I return to Lisbon I have a list already started of the things I missed this trip!<BR><BR><BR><BR>

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Part 9: Commentary on Airline:<BR><BR>Comments on Airline: I flew TAP Air Portugal. I was traveling for business so I flew Executive class. I can honestly tell you that I would not be surprised of Air Portugal buys older planes off other airlines and flies them regularly. We experienced no mechanical problems at all, just that these planes were the least amenitied I have seen in several years of traveling Business class to Europe. The service was good, the food decent, just the plane not very “up to date” in terms of personal video screens not being on board and few movies to watch at he mercy of when they show them. Also, the seats reclined and had footrests, but were not nearly as adjustable as some United and US Airways planes I have flown on in the last year o so. If you go to Portugal note that TAP Air Portugal, and Continental have direct flights out of Newark. While I was on TAP, my girlfriend flew the same basic flights on Continental and got her ticket for about $580.

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Part 10: 20/20 hindsight:<BR><BR>What I would have done differently on this trip: <BR> <BR>1. Packed less long sleeve shirts, I packed off the weather report but it was warmer than expected. I had several unworn shirts and too few light tops. Had to do impromptu laundry and haul home a few unworn items.<BR>2. Done a bit more research pre-trip. I was going for work primarily and added two days after the meeting ended for personal time. I had been pressed for time and had not planned as thoroughly as I normally do for trips and I felt a bit harried because of that. Especially on the language front. <BR>3. Packed my jacket in my backpack for the whole day. I was always chilly in the shade, or by the water.<BR>4. Remember that some shops close at 1pm on Saturday and don’t reopen until Monday AM. We missed out on a few stores we were interested in because they had more limited hours Saturday than most shops, which reopen after a Siesta Saturday.<BR>5. Flown Continental rather than TAP <BR><BR>Things I did just right! (And am bit pleased about!)<BR>1. I wore a good pair of Mary Jane shoes. They had a solid, flat, sole, no heel. They felt secure walking down steep hills and the heel couldn’t get caught in the cobblestone sidewalks.<BR>2. Planned the day to have mini snack breaks to give us a chance to rest between hiking or museums. Our feet took a major beating, we estimate we easily walked 10 plus miles over 2 days and having tiny mini breaks to have a drink or pastry saved us.<BR>3. We made a nice balance of different forms of transportation; taxi, trolley, bus, and elevator. It made our trip very enjoyable and helped us mange our expenses well.<BR>4. Go to the Port Wine Institute BEFORE you buy Port. Even if you sample some in the Port store, the Institute has man more varieties and years to try and it made a big difference.<BR>5. Go with the Picture based guidebook (Eyewitness). I like the more text driven books like Lonely Planet for the detail they provide, but when you only have few days the pictures make it easier to locate sights and attractions based on visual recognition.<BR>

aj

Bluecheesegirl,<BR><BR>Great report! We will be in Lisbon May 12th and 13th. Did you feel unsafe at all walking around the streets. My husband and I like to wonder on our own but I have read a few posts saying they saw muggings, etc. on the trams and lifts. We always try to be aware and safe but Lisbon is a bit of a worry to me. Can you report back regarding this?

bluecheesegirl

I saw or experienced nothing unsafe. I have to tell you though, my girlfriend and I were very careful and often took taxis in areas that seemed &quot;off&quot; in the evening. <BR><BR>