Day #34 - Lisbon, Portugal

Tourist street in Lisbon

Great walking paths in city

Round-about outside Hard Rock Cafe

Central Point of Lisbon

Saturday, April 17th

I arrived this morning about 12 noon in Lisbon via train from Porto, Portugal. I grabbed some lunch at the train station and booked a hotel for a couple nights using the Wi-Fi at the station. A couple things I noticed right away different about Portugal than Spain. First, people tended to speak English fluently. All the information people at the train station, the security guards, and those people at the restaurant - all spoke English. I was very surprised. I found more people speaking English in a couple hour time period than I found during my entire time in Spain. Maybe it was just by chance, but I liked it. Secondly, the Wi-Fi at the station was easily accessible and free. To this day, I still haven't figured out the Spain Wi-Fi at the train stations. I've been doing my computer work from hotels primarily.

Lisbon has a nice subway system. Pretty simple. 4 different metro trains - 4 different colors. I took the red train to my hotel exit point. I checked in and got settled. I went out and walked the city late afternoon into early evening. Nice city, not as visually impressive as Madrid - but, I knew this coming in. Right down from my hotel was the central point of the city. There was a huge statue on this round-about (see picture). Impressive. The streets were very nice, lined with trees. The walking paths were wide, offering a relaxing viewing point. (see picture).

I do feel the streets may be on the shaddy side. I was approached multiple times. Once, I was asked if I wanted 'coke' or 'marijuana'. The others I did not understand, but I never broke stride when they walked over to me. I stayed in the major areas - it just appeared there were alot of younger groups sitting together on corners (that's never a good thing).

I had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. I treated myself to something I knew and had a steak. It was a great dinner. Afterward, I walked down to the ocean. (I'm a huge fan of the ocean - especially at sunset). I realized I had found where many of the people and tourists were located. Earlier, I didn't think there was much acitivity for a larger city. It wasn't San Sebastian sunset - but nice nonetheless.

Lisbon is certainly a nice city to visit. The next couple days I'll get into the specific sites - today was just an overview. I do find myself trying to compare all these things - it's not fair. You have to know where you're going and set expectations to that level. If Lisbon was as visably impressive or fantastic as Madrid, it would be voted the 6th most visited city rather than the 20th most visited. New places - focus on new things. Lisbon was great because people were more approachable, more fluent in English, and getting around is very easy and compact.

I might take a day trip or so to a couple places outside Lisbon before heading to southern Spain. Have a great Sunday!