Ok so we are writing this many weeks after the event but we are doing our best to keep the trips blogged... even if it's late.
So we started off with an early morning 7am bus from Whitechapel. Thankfully the bus turned up on time, so no dramas there. We got the airport without any problems and landed in Lisbon an hour or so later. Unfortunately the immigration queue took a full hour, and we were stuck near a crazy Yank lady who was raging that she had done the wrong thing and had got into the wrong line and it was taking so long... she was voice dictating to her phone her annoyance and dismay, and it was truely cringe worthy... "This is the first and last time I''ll be coming to Portugal"... good we thought.
Once we cleared immigration we took the tube to our apartment which was in the Martim Moniz district. We dropped our bags off and it was past lunch time so Jackie and I headed off to find some food. We went into the first place that we saw which was a very local looking hole in the wall type place that was serving fried fish and chicken. They had a massive wine box for your accompanying vino. We had a fried fish each with a side salad and bread, plus red wine for the very expensive sum of 14 euros! Ray and Sel called us on our mobile as we were finishing the meal as they had arrived at the accommodation. We finished our meal and walked over, they dropped their bags and off we went for our first afternoon of exploring!
We walked around the whole afternoon, meandering through the beautiful streets, taking in a number of the attractions such as the Elevador, the church with no roof, and consuming numerous Natas. We also had the famous cherry liquor shots from A Ginja.
As our wedding gift, Ray and Sel took us to a really nice fish restaurant called Solar dos Presuntos. We had a lovely meal of cod, lobster risotto, and other seafood.
The next morning was our wedding anniversary, so we planned to spend half the day with Ray and Sel, and then embark on our own romantic getaway. We had a walking tour organised for 11am, so we went for a leisurely breakfast, which ended up being too leisurely, so we didn't make the 11am tour and instead scheduled for the 2pm tour. We spent the morning wandering around the Alfama district, managed to find an amazing lookout point and got some good photos. We wanted to go in the Jorge Castle but the queue was enormous and we didn't have time. We then joined the walking tour, and there was some Christians nut job guy in the tour that disliked the mention of the Moors and also the fact that Christians raped and killed everyone when they invaded Lisbon. The tour guide was pretty good but our attention span was not great, so we decided to leave the tour and made our way to Belem Tower. By this time it was around 3.30pm so it looked like we were not going to get our own anniversary time together. Caught an Uber to Belem, saw the monastery, Belem Tower and also ate some natas at the first nata bakery in Lisbon - was definitely the best we'd had. When we returned to Lisbon centre it was 7pm already so we split up and we walked for 30 minutes to the restaurant we had chosen to eat our anniversary dinner at. The food was pretty good, we had steaks - which we haven't had in a long time. Also some delicious baked cheese with bread (almost like a fondue) and dessert. By the time we arrived home, Ryan was feeling rubbish and we were both exhausted from walking all day - Ray and Sel do not stop! It was obvious that our travel styles are very different. So we went straight to bed and passed out.
The next day we had a quick breakfast and then caught a train to Sintra. Its located an hour away on the train from Lisbon, in some hills that look like they get some nice ocean moisture and breezes, as everything is pretty lush and green. We walked up the hill from the train station to the Quinta da Regaleria, which is some hectic opulent palace like estate that built up by some tasteless millionaire. Ryan was feeling really sick so he sat down in the cafe with his head on a table while the Gaos and Jackie went and explored. I'm [Ryan] writing this so I don't know how amazing it was but it looked good from the cafe!
Jack eventually called time on her wanderings, then we waited for 30 minutes for the Gaos to rock up, and then set off back down the hill. We were taking the tourist bus further up the hill to the Park and National Palace of Pena. This Palace is built on the very top of the hill so it has a nice view to the Atlantic Ocean, but damn the palace is ugly. Its built in the "romantic" style, which tell you all you need to know.
We walked around up there for a while, then Jackie and I came down the hill and lined up at the bus stop. The Gaos came down but we ended up waiting for a bus for an hour in the fading light, and luckily just as we got on the bus the rains came in. The bus wound its way carefully down the hill to the train station, where everyone ran off and raced to the waiting train. We got home without a problem and then walked to a really cool seafood restaurant, where we were crammed in amongst lots of other tourists! But the food was really good. I was feeling way too sick so I left early and crawled into bed. Jack and the Gaos grabbed another nata on the way home in case we hadn't had enough already.
The next morning Jack and I got up reasonably early and went in search of some nice brekky, where the Gaos eventually joined us. After that Jackie and I headed back to the apartment and grabbed our stuff. We just had time before flying home to visit the aquarium, which is close to the airport, and then we were on our flight back home. The aquarium was actually quite good, we wouldn't have minded spending more time there. The sickness I picked up blighted me for a few weeks, and then eventually the sore throat bit got Jackie, and she is still coughing to this day...
So we started off with an early morning 7am bus from Whitechapel. Thankfully the bus turned up on time, so no dramas there. We got the airport without any problems and landed in Lisbon an hour or so later. Unfortunately the immigration queue took a full hour, and we were stuck near a crazy Yank lady who was raging that she had done the wrong thing and had got into the wrong line and it was taking so long... she was voice dictating to her phone her annoyance and dismay, and it was truely cringe worthy... "This is the first and last time I''ll be coming to Portugal"... good we thought.
Once we cleared immigration we took the tube to our apartment which was in the Martim Moniz district. We dropped our bags off and it was past lunch time so Jackie and I headed off to find some food. We went into the first place that we saw which was a very local looking hole in the wall type place that was serving fried fish and chicken. They had a massive wine box for your accompanying vino. We had a fried fish each with a side salad and bread, plus red wine for the very expensive sum of 14 euros! Ray and Sel called us on our mobile as we were finishing the meal as they had arrived at the accommodation. We finished our meal and walked over, they dropped their bags and off we went for our first afternoon of exploring!
We walked around the whole afternoon, meandering through the beautiful streets, taking in a number of the attractions such as the Elevador, the church with no roof, and consuming numerous Natas. We also had the famous cherry liquor shots from A Ginja.
As our wedding gift, Ray and Sel took us to a really nice fish restaurant called Solar dos Presuntos. We had a lovely meal of cod, lobster risotto, and other seafood.
The next morning was our wedding anniversary, so we planned to spend half the day with Ray and Sel, and then embark on our own romantic getaway. We had a walking tour organised for 11am, so we went for a leisurely breakfast, which ended up being too leisurely, so we didn't make the 11am tour and instead scheduled for the 2pm tour. We spent the morning wandering around the Alfama district, managed to find an amazing lookout point and got some good photos. We wanted to go in the Jorge Castle but the queue was enormous and we didn't have time. We then joined the walking tour, and there was some Christians nut job guy in the tour that disliked the mention of the Moors and also the fact that Christians raped and killed everyone when they invaded Lisbon. The tour guide was pretty good but our attention span was not great, so we decided to leave the tour and made our way to Belem Tower. By this time it was around 3.30pm so it looked like we were not going to get our own anniversary time together. Caught an Uber to Belem, saw the monastery, Belem Tower and also ate some natas at the first nata bakery in Lisbon - was definitely the best we'd had. When we returned to Lisbon centre it was 7pm already so we split up and we walked for 30 minutes to the restaurant we had chosen to eat our anniversary dinner at. The food was pretty good, we had steaks - which we haven't had in a long time. Also some delicious baked cheese with bread (almost like a fondue) and dessert. By the time we arrived home, Ryan was feeling rubbish and we were both exhausted from walking all day - Ray and Sel do not stop! It was obvious that our travel styles are very different. So we went straight to bed and passed out.
The next day we had a quick breakfast and then caught a train to Sintra. Its located an hour away on the train from Lisbon, in some hills that look like they get some nice ocean moisture and breezes, as everything is pretty lush and green. We walked up the hill from the train station to the Quinta da Regaleria, which is some hectic opulent palace like estate that built up by some tasteless millionaire. Ryan was feeling really sick so he sat down in the cafe with his head on a table while the Gaos and Jackie went and explored. I'm [Ryan] writing this so I don't know how amazing it was but it looked good from the cafe!
Jack eventually called time on her wanderings, then we waited for 30 minutes for the Gaos to rock up, and then set off back down the hill. We were taking the tourist bus further up the hill to the Park and National Palace of Pena. This Palace is built on the very top of the hill so it has a nice view to the Atlantic Ocean, but damn the palace is ugly. Its built in the "romantic" style, which tell you all you need to know.
We walked around up there for a while, then Jackie and I came down the hill and lined up at the bus stop. The Gaos came down but we ended up waiting for a bus for an hour in the fading light, and luckily just as we got on the bus the rains came in. The bus wound its way carefully down the hill to the train station, where everyone ran off and raced to the waiting train. We got home without a problem and then walked to a really cool seafood restaurant, where we were crammed in amongst lots of other tourists! But the food was really good. I was feeling way too sick so I left early and crawled into bed. Jack and the Gaos grabbed another nata on the way home in case we hadn't had enough already.
The next morning Jack and I got up reasonably early and went in search of some nice brekky, where the Gaos eventually joined us. After that Jackie and I headed back to the apartment and grabbed our stuff. We just had time before flying home to visit the aquarium, which is close to the airport, and then we were on our flight back home. The aquarium was actually quite good, we wouldn't have minded spending more time there. The sickness I picked up blighted me for a few weeks, and then eventually the sore throat bit got Jackie, and she is still coughing to this day...
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