Lisboa - Looks Like a Goa!

It was an early start.  We had to check out of our hotel at 5.45 am, take a ride to Fes Railway Station and then catch the Marrakech Express as far as Casablanca.  That was a 5 hour train trip followed by a shuttle to the airport.  Any ideas of seeing Casablanca (nothing much by all accounts, so stick with with movie), were abandoned as the hours ticked away.  

Organisation is not one of Morocco's strong points.  Train seats are not numbered sequentially, so nobody can find their seats.  Why this also happened on the plane where they are numbered very sequentially is anyone's guess.  I've never been on a flight with so many people in the wrong seats who then argued about it when being confronted with what would have to be the rather indisputable evidence of a boarding pass.  I was looking forward to that drink in Portugal...

Lisbon, by contrast, has a much lighter feel.  There is a real old world grandeur to the part of the city we're staying in.  It's an absolute joy to walk these streets.  

Okay, so it wasn't all walking

But they have been making those tarts a while... 

View from our local metro...shame about construction

A lot of steep hills

A lot of massive buildings

There are also great day trips to be done at very little cost - a subway ride costs 1.40 Euro for the whole way, the connecting train ticket costs about 2.40.  So for a few dollars you can be in a completely different environment.

And so a 30 minute trip sees us strolling along the waterfront (no ice creams unfortunately) and through the cobbled streets in Cascais or, even closer the grand buildings and parks of Belem.

From the turrets of the Moorish Castle

Possibly not designed to subtly blend in

Likewise, a train ride in a different direction puts us in in Sintra,  "The heart of Portugal" enthused the girl at our hotel reception desk.  it is a place you could come back to many times be it for the history, the beautiful views or just the uniqueness of it.  Some of it was quite psychedelic!

Lisbon is a late night town, in the Latin tradition.  By the time you'd had dinner and a drink, it was usually around midnight.  Time just seems to get away here!  I should also mention that we arrived just in time for Lisbon Beer Week.  Wow!  They must have heard we were coming!