A weekend in Lisbon

Mrs L and I are approaching the stage of our lives when we are child-free. When I started writing this diary of sorts, all the way back in 2009, the children were five, three, and one. Now two are at university and the third starts soon. We can scarcely believe it. Academic terms being what they are the kids actually spend a fair bit of time at home, and with graduate employment seemingly becoming harder and harder to come by they may yet return, at least for a while. We do not mind - it will be like COVID all over again. Happy days.

For now though we are starting to take advantage of a bit more flexibility that not being needed brings. By which I mean cheeky little weekend trips a deux. The first of these in this new modern era was to Lisbon in late January. A wonderful city to walk around, I had been with my son a number of years ago and was very keen to show Mrs L around. We did not do a great deal, just walked and walked really, admiring the views that are pretty much everywhere and exploring the city west of the main bridge over the Tagus, which is also where we were staying - at the rather swish Pestana Palace. We went to museums, did a bit of shopping, walked around the botanic garden, had lovely drinks and thanks to a tip off from a mate, had a truly excellent meal on the Saturday evening.

I did a bit of sneaky birding whilst Mrs L wasn't looking. Nothing special, just noted what was around, and managed to record around 30 species. My casual 'not birding' facade only slipped once, when I heard a Parakeet that I was certain wasn't a Ring-necked. I abandoned Mrs L on the pavement and a quick chase revealed two Blue-crowned Parakeet in the Jardim do Principe Real. This is obviously not a native species, but is sufficiently self-sustaining to be able to added to lists if you're into those, which I'm not obviously. Anyway, Yay!

Rather than an extensive 'we went here and did this' type account, here instead are a few photos from the weekend.

The Pestana Palace Hotel

From the inside

And the outside. We did not partake.

And the inside again. It was a lovely place, full of what seemed to be original furnishings and decor. .

The walk east to the city took in some serious graffiti.

Walking towards the 25 de Abril bridge. The 48th longest suspension bridge in the world wouldn't you know, completed in 1966.

Lisbon is very steep!

No trip to Lisbon would be complete without wonderfood and drink. The fish in Europe puts that in the UK to absolute shame. We are so stupid.

Salt Cod, a Portugese obsession. I am not a huge fan, but if done right....

Solar dos Presuntos. You need to book, the line stretches up the street at opening time.

We found a lovely gin bar in an old townhouse in which to rest our tired legs. Lots of little boutiques  - Mrs L bought a necklace I think - and loads of gin. What's not to like?

I know very little about Portugese wine but this was a mildly informed choice and was excellent.

Aloe sp, probably alborescens

A magnificent Encephalartos

Dragon Tree

One of many views

MAAT - the museum of art, architecture, and technology. In my view the outside was better than what was on the inside, but I am a philistine when it comes to these things.

Mrs L on top. Art innit.

Here is what was on the inside, a bizarre installation of neon tubes by artist Cerith Wyn Evans. Depending on where you viewed it from you saw different things. I just saw a crazy mess. That being said, it was better than the car windscreens thing and the stuffed Magpie.

This was actually pretty cool, as light went through these and created shadows on the wall. These do not translate in a photograph.

The Padrao dos Descobrimentos - a monument to Henry the Navigator, a Prince of Portugal. 

Lisbon

Back in March I went to Lisbon for a long weekend with my son. No particular aim, just to wander the city, take in the sights, eat a bit of nice food, some nice wine. Possibly take a photograph or two? It ended up being one of the last outings for my old Canon camera, at least in the context of a city break. As well as my birding lenses I had a collection of wide angles and intermediate zooms. Things like a 16-35, a 24-105, and a 70-200. Like the camera itself they were huge lumps, but they did the job. Heavily. Note the tense - had.

Henry meanwhile carried a tiny Sony mirrorless job that he could fit in his pocket. It and the lens, a basic zoom, weighed a combined 711g, the image quality and general abilities totally fantastic. My camera body alone weighs 1525g and certainly doesn't fit in any pockets! Add the lenses and I was lugging around close to 4kg. My mind was made up. As soon as I returned from a trip in July where I wanted a particular Canon lens I was going to sell the lot and make the switch. And that's exactly what I did. Ebay'd the whole lot. Did I lose money? Yes, loads. Do I regret it? Well, nobody likes losing money, but I'd had great use out of those lenses for years, in some cases a decade. It was time to modernise.

But this isn't about that. It's about Lisbon, one of the great capital cities in Europe. It is staggeringly beautiful, with wonderful buildings, an eclectic tram system, very hilly and views galore. We had a brilliant time. It is so long ago now I can barely remember how long we were there and what we did. Two nights I think, and largely we walked and walked. And, apparently, clicked and clicked - the photos will no doubt remind me. I've only just been through a very large set and made a small selection. Despite that this is a very photo-heavy post. 

Lisbon is heavily, perhaps excessively, tiled. It's really quite extraordinary.

I like this photo, it reminds me of a very similar one I took in Valetta which also had a old lady on a balcony. Apologies old lady, but you know how it is.

There are tiles, and then there are tiles. These are tiles.

Lisboa sits astride the mouth of the river Tagus, at that point more of an estuary. A huge bridge, the ponte 25 de Abril, which celebrates the 1974 revolution which eventually ushered in democracy, spans the strait.

Wonderful

The city is ridiculously hilly, and you don't feel remotely bad tucking into large lunches having tackled so many slopes and steps.

Trams feature heavily, especially in some of the older narrower streets around Alfama. They're used by a healthy mix of locals and tourists - easily separated! 

So do Tuk-tuks!

There are lots of scenes like this, though you often have to wait quite a while to get just a solitary figure like this.

Whilst the tiles are quite blue, many of the buildings are on the warm spectrum - yellows, reds, pinks, browns. 

I took about a million photographs of trams.

More tiles. Just because.

The Caixa Geral de Depositos, the National Savings Bank, is a huge 1990s half-temple half-citadel in the Arco de Cego district. Worthy of a slot on any itinerary. We decided not to try and photograph the entirety of this behemoth of a building, but just went for small elements of it.

More of the Caixa

There are several colonades like this.

This mural reminded me of Colombia

Oooh look! A tram!

Yet more steps.

"No way!?"

Breakfast. Sometimes we were forced to have several breakfasts.

Anyway, that's a small flavour of Lisbon, an excellent place in which to spend a few days. Not far away, and not expensive. I can also recommend White Port and tonic as a very refreshing mid-afternoon drink.