Lisbon

During Christmas, several people asked us what travel we had planned
for the coming year. Unusually for us, we had to say that we had
nothing in prospect.

Today I addressed the deficit, and booked two trips. First, I booked a
ferry crossing to France in July. That's easy stuff. We know our way
around, and speak some French.

Then I checked for good deals on travel in the spring. A casual
exploration suddenly developed into a firm booking to go to Lisbon at
the end of February. We know almost nothing about Lisbon save where to
find it on the map and that the people there speak a dialect of
Brazilian. Oh, and something about a bridge.

So, folks, what should our programme be? We would welcome
recommendations on where to stay, what to eat and where to eat it,
what to do, and what to look at.

--
PB
The return address has been MUNGED

buy a guidebook or else martin will tease you

"Padraig Breathnach" a écrit dans le message de news:
...
During Christmas, several people asked us what travel we had planned
for the coming year. Unusually for us, we had to say that we had
nothing in prospect.

Today I addressed the deficit, and booked two trips. First, I booked a
ferry crossing to France in July. That's easy stuff. We know our way
around, and speak some French.

Then I checked for good deals on travel in the spring. A casual
exploration suddenly developed into a firm booking to go to Lisbon at
the end of February. We know almost nothing about Lisbon save where to
find it on the map and that the people there speak a dialect of
Brazilian. Oh, and something about a bridge.

So, folks, what should our programme be? We would welcome
recommendations on where to stay, what to eat and where to eat it,
what to do, and what to look at.

--
PB
The return address has been MUNGED

Padraig Breathnach wrote:
Then I checked for good deals on travel in the spring. A casual
exploration suddenly developed into a firm booking to go to Lisbon at
the end of February. We know almost nothing about Lisbon save where to
find it on the map and that the people there speak a dialect of
Brazilian. Oh, and something about a bridge.

Lisbon is a very good choice Padraig !

I went there for the first time this year, and didn´t really know what
to expect.My prior knowledge about Lisbon seems very similar to yours.
But I came back very impressed and found Lisbon to be one of the most
unique capitals of Europe - and perhaps also one of the most
overlooked.
You won´t regret going there - satisfaction 100% guaranteed !

A few practical notes on Lisbon:

To/from the airport:
Take the Aerobus 91 (3€). From the airport it runs thorugh the central
parts of Lisbon to Cais do Sodré. You can see the schedule and even
print out a route map from the "Carris" link below.

Getting around Lisbon:
Get a transportation day card from one of the metro stations for
3.10€. You can extend the card for any number of days for an
additional 2.5€ each. It works on the busses, the metro ,the trams
and even the historical elevadors. There are also a number of
"tourist" cards available , but I don´t know how good value they
offer.
http://www.carris.pt/en/index.php

Accomodation:
It will be difficult to find hotels in the central and historical
parts of Lisbon, but its not a big problem with the efficient metro.
But it would of course be a good idea to choose a hotel reasonably
close to a metro station.
Lots of hotels in this area with easy metro access:
http://en.venere.com/hotels_lisbon/s...anha_monsanto/

The "Olissippo Marquês de Sá" sounds like a good deal - some random
dates in February shows rates at around 55€ a night.


And on this last day of 2005 - Happy New Year everybody !




--
Kristian

Kristian wrote:

Lisbon is a very good choice Padraig !

I went there for the first time this year, and didn´t really know what
to expect.My prior knowledge about Lisbon seems very similar to yours.
But I came back very impressed and found Lisbon to be one of the most
unique capitals of Europe - and perhaps also one of the most
overlooked.
You won´t regret going there - satisfaction 100% guaranteed !

A few practical notes on Lisbon:

snip
That's very encouraging and helpful. Thank you, Kristian.

And on this last day of 2005 - Happy New Year everybody !

And the same to you. But let us concentrate first on making the best
of what remains of 2005: I'm not postponing any joie de vivre!

--
PB
The return address has been MUNGED

Padraig Breathnach wrote:

So, folks, what should our programme be? We would welcome
recommendations on where to stay, what to eat and where to eat it,
what to do, and what to look at.

- Go to Belém and visit the Tower of Belém/Torre de Belém and the
Jerónimos Monastery/Mosteiro dos Jerónimos
- Take a ride with tram #28. It takes you to a lot of Lisbon's sights.
- If you are into Art and even if you're not, visit the Gulbenkian
Museum/Museu Calouste Gulbenkian. It's free on Sundays.
- Go to the former Expo 98 site, now Nations Park/Parque das Nações.
There's is a shopping center nearby, you could go on a cable car ride or
just sit and relax and watch people passing by etc.
- Take a ride with one of the elevators/funiculars
- Visit the St. George's Castle/Castelo de Sâo Jorge, an old Moorish castle
- Visit Alfama, the city's oldest quarter, and Bairro Alto, if you want
to see Lisbon's nightlife.

Public transport will get you for "free" to all of these places if you
have a day pass, even tram #28 and the elevators/funiculars are included
in the day pass.

Ulrich

Ulrich Neumann wrote:

Padraig Breathnach wrote:

So, folks, what should our programme be? We would welcome
recommendations on where to stay, what to eat and where to eat it,
what to do, and what to look at.

- Go to Belém and visit the Tower of Belém/Torre de Belém and the
Jerónimos Monastery/Mosteiro dos Jerónimos
- Take a ride with tram #28. It takes you to a lot of Lisbon's sights.
- If you are into Art and even if you're not, visit the Gulbenkian
Museum/Museu Calouste Gulbenkian. It's free on Sundays.
- Go to the former Expo 98 site, now Nations Park/Parque das Nações.
There's is a shopping center nearby, you could go on a cable car ride or
just sit and relax and watch people passing by etc.
- Take a ride with one of the elevators/funiculars
- Visit the St. George's Castle/Castelo de Sâo Jorge, an old Moorish castle
- Visit Alfama, the city's oldest quarter, and Bairro Alto, if you want
to see Lisbon's nightlife.

Thanks, Ulrich. That, combined with a bit of eating, drinking, and
getting lost, looks like sufficient programme for our four-day visit.

--
PB
The return address has been MUNGED

Kristian wrote:

To/from the airport:
Take the Aerobus 91 (3€). From the airport it runs thorugh the central
parts of Lisbon to Cais do Sodré. You can see the schedule and even
print out a route map from the "Carris" link below.

This ticket also entitles you to free use of all Carris buses on the day
on which you have used the Aerobus.

Ulrich

We know almost nothing about Lisbon save where to find it on
the map and that the people there speak a dialect of Brazilian.
Very funny, "dialect of Brazilian", just like in London they
speak a dialect of "Texan".

It would be a better parallel to say that Londoners speak
a dialect of Barbadan. Which in some areas they do.

What both cities have in common is decayed imperial glory.
Lisbon never recovered from the loss of the Portuguese
colonies, just as London is full of monuments to conquests
that now look bizarrely stupid. And both cities have vast
populations of former colonial subjects and their descendants.

London has a lot more money, cultural activity and filth.
Lisbon is friendlier, cheaper and has much better weather.

============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk ==============
Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660 4760
http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/ for CD-ROMs and free | fax 0870 0554 975
stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, & Mac logic fonts | mob 07800 739 557

pmlt wrote:

More seriously, Lisbon is not a very big city (for a capital standard)
and is very conveniently seen on foot (still some of the most scenic
views can be seen with the local tramway in the old neighbourhoods).

Several must sees:

snip

Thank you. The project file is building up.

--
PB
The return address has been MUNGED

Padraig Breathnach wrote:
pmlt wrote:

More seriously, Lisbon is not a very big city (for a capital standard)
and is very conveniently seen on foot (still some of the most scenic
views can be seen with the local tramway in the old neighbourhoods).

Several must sees:

snip

Thank you. The project file is building up.

--
PB
The return address has been MUNGED

Sintra is a worthwhile trip, get there by train, can also stay there in
a posh place.
Hotel in Lisbon was Novotel (I think) perfectly functional
and the sightseeing bus is the easiest way to see Lisbon