Portugal: Lisbon
Half-marathon
Now my last six weeks have actually begun. Ai ai ai .. Time is flying. But before the autumn holidays start and I fly home, I have one more stop on my bucket list. Lisbon. So this is now being ticked off. After an hour of sleep, as we were saying goodbye to a colleague, my taxi driver Gilberto came at 6 am to take me to Tavira. When we arrived at the bus stop, it looked like a dance of death. No one there, not a single light on and no bus anywhere close. Creepy! If you avoid one at night, it's places like this. Even if Gilberto doesn't speak a scrap of German let alone English, he waited with me for the bus and asked with his hands and feet when I would be back so that he could be there by then. So cute. At 6:45 am the bus came. Finally. As usual, I spread out on three seats, put on my sleeping mask and put music in my ears and fell asleep straight away. After half an hour, however, I was woken up by a recurring loud cough. Cough ... it would have been nice. At that moment the man behind vomited a few times. Mhhhh. And how could it be otherwise .. of course. The soup ran under my shoes and my bag. Bah! Completely sleeping, I grabbed my things and fled to another place. Yo. That was a good start again, I would say.
Fortunately, the remaining four hours passed very lightly, so I arrived in Lisbon around 12 noon. However, the bus did not stop in the city centre as expected, but outside. All but four people gradually got off the bus. So I asked the remaining ones where they were going now. I thought they would maybe be another stop in the city centre. The bus driver was currently clearing the luggage from the car. When he came back in, I was standing in the corridor, he asked me something in Portuguese and of course, I couldn't understand a word. He freaked out completely and folded me up for two minutes. I have absolutely no idea what went wrong. I didn't even know what was happening to me and just stood petrified in front of him with wide eyes. What's going on? The four passengers cleared up the situation. Incomprehensible. Something like this never happened to me in the seven months of work and travel! Relaxed Europeans ... Well, what the heck. So we drove on. When I got off at the terminus, I realized that I had not yet come even close to the city centre. A Portuguese girl was so lovely and she even took me to the metro. Half an hour later I finally reached the city centre. The hostel search could start. Haven't done that for a while. I went in the completely wrong direction at first. Not a surprise. Orientation is on point again. After several questions from the Portuguese, who also have little idea about their city, I finally arrived about 20 minutes later. And how could it be otherwise? Check-in from 3 p.m. ... phew, a good start looks different somehow. It should be a vacation, right? Well. Meanwhile, it was already 1 pm., although I thought I would arrive at 11:30 am- very optimistic. After a quick change and freshening up, I went to the Praca Marqu de Pombal, which one has a gigantic view of Lisbon. Then I ran along the most expensive road in Portugal towards the sea.
From the Teatro de Maria II, Arco da Rua Augusta, Pacos do Concelho, Museo Antoniano, Castelo de São Jorge to Igreja da Graça, ....I know almost every street in Lisbon. At least that's my feeling. I covered 13.5km today. Not too bad. Lisbon is just beautiful! The bridge reminded me a bit of San Francisco and the rest of the city is just typically Portuguese. The small streets, ornate tiles and the architecture. For those who do not yet know Portugal very well, but also for everyone who likes to go on a city trip for shopping and history- Lisbon is a very good place to be. Especially because you can enjoy a lot here on a small budget. Centrally located hostels are available for as little as € 11 a night and eating out is also very affordable at € 5-15 per meal. I could well imagine coming to Lisbon again. But with a little more space in the case.
Hostel:
- Hostelworld from 11€ a night
10 Things to do near Lisbon:
Sightseeing in Lisbon
Praca Marqu de Pombal
Teatro de Maria II
Arco da Rua Augusta
Pacos do Concelho
Museo Antoniano
Castelo de São Jorge
Igreja da Graça
#Keepingup
@joanna.mrs
