Lisbon, Sintra and Porto

We found our way to the old part of Lisbon where we had an apartment booked.  We think we may have actually been the first guests as our host was anxious that we liked it (and there were a few minor teething problems like the TV not being tuned to the cable but that was soon fixed).  I bought the wrong pods for the coffee machine and Agnes kindly gave me an entire box of her own supply for our use.

The famous Santa Justa lift.  The queue for a ride went around the block so we skipped it!

We were becoming accustomed to suspicious looking characters approaching Matt and offering to sell him hashish (I TOLD him the beard made him look like a dodgy character) but this was the first time we'd been offered coke - and I don't mean of the soft drink variety!  Even without the Colombian Marching Powder we did a fair amount of walking.  Unusually we didn't like the food markets in Lisbon, it was too obviously a tourist set up and the restaurant stands were selling less traditional food and more fusion and modern interpretations.

One of our few failures was missing out on getting into Belem Tower. Still beautiful from the outside we had the perfect excuse to sit and look at the ocean while enjoying a freshly squeezed pineapple juice.  Although the tourist guidebooks recommend trying the pastis de nata from Belem patisserie our inside information was to skip the queue and just buy anywhere, they're all good when fresh and warm! 



We also took a bus right round the city quite unintentionally - still, we found our way to the local flea markets which were enormous.  Every kind of junk you never knew you needed.  And if you lost your mobile yesterday you could probably buy it back there tomorrow.

We couldn't leave town without taking the time to visit another world heritage area.  Sintra is easily visited by public transport although the train does not run as frequently as our Lonely Planet guide said that it would.  Another fascinating spot to visit and we took advantage of the bus that did a loop around the major sites.

The walk around the Castle of the Moors offers some amazing views of the other buildings in Sintra and is worth the exertion.  Just another mountain to walk up and down before dinner time.

Porto was only a short train ride away up the coast from Lisbon.  For parts of it we could have been traveling through Australia as the landscape is dry, there are plenty of sheep, and gum trees predominate!  We had selected our hotel on the basis of its price and the promise of a bar fridge.  The decor was a bit of a surprise.

At least it had a bar-fridge!

Matt tried to convince them he was
the natural heir to the port empire.

We had thought Lisbon was hilly but those of Porto were even bigger.  So we decided to take the easy way of getting around multiple sites and bought tickets for the hop on/hop off bus which also included a river cruise and a port tasting.

Failing to get hold of the keys to the cellar
he found a micro-brewery!

view from the river

view of our lunch being cooked.  Real street food!

Sadly, our time in Europe was drawing to an end and we carefully packed our bags for our late evening flight to Bristol.  Easy Jet was an easy flight but getting through immigration into the UK really was as dreadful, intrusive, and chaotic as every horror story I've ever heard about it.  Next up, we visit some castles