Breakfast in the hotel again this morning – good value, why break the routine? We packed our bags and took the MTR to Central where we could check our bags thru to the airport – even though we weren’t flying until midnight. We also put the laptop and some heavy gear into Storage for the day to make walking around easier.
We got on a tram which is only HK2 per trip. Sitting on the top of the 2 storey tram was a great experience and helped put together the various places we had been over the last couple of days. The tram terminated at the Happy Valley racecourse and there were a few people doing exercises and running there but otherwise it was all quiet.
After a quick lunch we headed across to the Flower market in Kowloon. There were a couple of streets filled with flowers and plants. Emerging rose buds were protected with little covers.
We headed back into Tsim Sha Shui and went to a large mall with 700 shops, but being tired it just seemed like a huge expanse. We tried to find a place for a beer but nothing appeared so we headed back to Central and took the escalators to the mid-levels and found a wine bar where we happily passed some time and had a couple of beers and wines. We decided to eat here and walked around a couple of streets comparing restaurants. Being an ex-pat type area there were many cuisines and we settled on a steak restaurant. Had a fantastic meal and an excellent (expensive) bottle of wine. This left us well prepared for the 12 and half hour flight ahead.
We took the airport express to the airport (24 minutes) and sat and waited for our plane. Terrorism had meant new regulations on liquids into the EU. As we were only transiting in London we were not allowed to take any duty free alcohol. If London had been our final destination we would have be permitted to do so! Later in London we didn’t purchase any alcohol as it was part of the EU and we would have been charged duty…fates against us.
Originally we were seated in a three seat, but with the plane only half full we could move to row 30, just behind the dividers. It was an excellent seat as you could stretch your legs out. You couldn’t lift the armrests, but it was an excellent place to sit. Andrew slept well for hours and it was a flight with no turbulence.
Arriving in London was a different matter. The heightened security levels meant everyone was only allowed to carry one bag through passport control and this was being strictly enforced. We had the computer in a separate bag and had to rearrange our backpacks to meet this requirement. That done we got our boarding passes and proceeded to the terminal to await the TAP plane to Lisbon, Another straight forward flight with some interesting views over mid to lower Portugal. Quite flat in these areas but with much agricultural activity.
Arriving in Lisbon Andrew’s bag came out quickly but Paula’s didn’t arrive at all. Talking to the lost baggage people it turned out it was still in London and would be sent through at 21:00 that evening. We rang the contact for the apartment and told him we were about to get in a taxi. Before leaving the airport we had a coffee and purchased a local sim card for E15, but with E15 credit on it. The taxi driver didn’t know our address but was good looking in his map book. The landlord had said previously that if there was any problem he could talk the taxi driver there. He was a talkative driver and pointed out the major items along the way and conversed about NZ. It was a cheap trip at only E10.
Mattias the landlord showed us through the place which was great and we went out for a walk to acclimatize. Unsure of the best route we wandered through the winding streets of Alfama. We headed down to Parco da Commercia and along Rua da Augusta. We also ascended the Elevator Justa to get good views over the city. Walked down to Rossio then back to the apartment. Paula slept and Andrew went out for a quick walk and managed to return with a bottle of wine and some bread. But he too went to sleep for a good restorative