Lisboa, Portugal 🇵🇹 2019

Date: 26th August 2019

Travelled: 55 kms by bus from Ericeira to Lisbon in the Province of Lisboa

Visited: Lisbon

Stayed: Ericeira Intermarché aire, free with services. N38.96691, W09.40879

Budget: 78 days @ €75 per day

Other than the late comers once again jockeying for a non-existence parking spot it was another quiet evening in this Intermarché aire.

We do actually get up a little early this morning. We plan on a bus to Lisbon, once again to avoid the city traffic and parking in some dodgy car-park overnight. There is an express bus from Ericeira to Lisbon at 8.45 so we walk down the hill again to the bus depot. We purchase return tickets (€11.40 pp) and our bus departs on time, arriving in Lisbon’s Campo Grande terminal 50 minutes later.

Lisbon or Lisboa is Portugal’s capital, it’s a huge sprawling city of some 5.5 million people. There are no signs to Lisbon, it’s Lisboa and that’s how the Portuguese pronounce it.

We decide to focus our visit on the Castelo and Alfama districts of the city, as we really only plan on one day in the city.

Lisbon, Área Metropolitana de Lisboa, Portugal

Map of Lisbon, the icon on the Alfama.

We walk upstairs from the bus depot to the Metro station, purchasing a day ticket €6.80 pp. Whilst the Metro is easy to use and the staff helpful, the station is filthy, graffiti rules and the toilets disgusting.

After a line swap at Marqués de Pombal we walk out onto Plaça do Comércio. It is glorious in the morning sun.

Don José looks particularly magnificent.

From the Plaça we walk up the hill a few blocks to find the No28. Our guide book describes this classic old tram line as the best way to get to know Lisbon and save your legs walking up the hill to the Castelo district. It’s included in our transport day pass so we ride the tram both ways.

Squeezing your way onto a No 28 isn’t necessarily easy but we manage.

From the tram we continue up toward the Castelo de São Jorge that looks down on the Alfama

We discover the Castelo district requires lots of steps and steep walking.

Eventually we arrive at the Castelo gates. It’s very busy as you can see.

We decide not to go inside the Castelo (€8.50) as we have seen several already through Portugal and secondly the line is 50m long and don’t have an hour to waste.

But we do tuck into one of these baked cod and cheese croquettes, washed down with with a glass of Vinho do Porto. A white wine, port blend that was a perfect accompaniment.

I took this photo looking up a laneway as we walked down from the Castelo.

Lisbon Cathedral or Sé de Lisboa comes into view. We thought it was some old Castelo until we saw the sign.

The Sé cloisters are one of the top things to see in Lisbon, but they are currently closed. Still looks like a Castelo ?

We continue down the hill into the Alfama district. Our guide book highlights ‘Pátio 13’ where BBQ sardines are on offer.

After lunch we spend the next couple of hours wandering the Alfama taking in the moorish architecture and the imperfections that are Lisbon.

More through luck that good planning we find our way our of the labyrinth of laneways that are the Alfama into this beautiful space only 200 metres from the Plaça do Comércio where we alighted from the Metro earlier today.

We return to our bus, via Campo Grande and make our way back to Ericeira. Thankfully we noticed a bus stop nearer the Intermarché and our Hymer, hence saving our sore feet walking up the hill from the depot. So that was our day in Lisbon…

Michael and Pam

Leave a comment Cancel reply

One thought on “Lisboa, Portugal 🇵🇹 2019”