Portugal/Lisbon

Our good friends Willy and Leo from Holland

March 2017

Every year we do something very different from the way we travel to Europe to the places we will visit.  In general we stay in the very south of Portugal in the Algarve near a town called Carvoeiro west of Albufeira.  That is our base for travel throughout Portugal and Spain which we do with a rental car.  Driving in Portugal is extremely easy as Europe drives on the same side as we do.  The only hiccup is the round-a-bouts which admittedly are different, but very easy to use.

This year we flew from Toronto to Lisbon and rented our car at the airport.  We had a bit of an adventure leaving the airport as I had not checked all of the cars functions.  When we left the underground parking and on to the busy street there was a torrential downpour and I couldn't find the windshield wiper switch.  With Mary's help we navigated the boulevard and soon found the switch.  The airport isn't far from the bridge across the Tagus Estuary and we soon found ourselves barreling across the 17 km long bridge on our way to the Algarve which is about 150 miles (225 km) and 3 hours of driving.

We have been visiting Portugal most years for several weeks and although we have been to Lisbon twice before we decided to spend another week there after five weeks in the Algarve.  During our second visit we stayed in the Chiado/Bario Alto area just around the corner from the Praca de Comes Square.  This time we stayed across from the airport and used the subway to access the old area of Lisbon.  It was just another way of looking at the city.

Lisbon (Lisboa) is a very hilly city, particularly near the bay in the older aras such as the Alfama, Chiado and Barrio Alto.  The original old downtown is very flat but rises on both sides abruptly with the Alfama and St. George Castle on the east side and the Barrio Alto/Chiado on the south west side.

This makes for hard walking when the knees are worn out so it is probably the last time we will do Lisbon until my knees are replaced, but Portugal has hundreds of places yet to discover.