We had fantastic hosts for our AirBnb and they offered to pick us up at the airport. The only issue was that we were delayed more than an hour getting through baggage claim while they waited patiently for us. Because Andrew’s bag wasn’t in Lisbon we had to wait in a very, very long line to file the lost bag claim. There were lots of irate, frustrated people and no air-conditioning and it was an unpleasant experience. 3 days later we had to go to the airport again ourselves to pick up the bag . We did go shopping to get Andrew some more clothes while waiting on the suitcase and his fold-up shopping bag was a hit at the store. The lady serving thought the huge penguin on it was worth showing her colleagues. There was a lot of laughter and we can add pinguim to the short list of Portuguese words we know.
Our apartment for the 5 days in Lisbon was just outside the downtown area. It was easy access to the public transport or a 20 minute walk to downtown. It was an excellent apartment that was quiet and just around the corner from a supermarket.
While we didn’t do the walk to the downtown, we did quite a lot of exploring, relying on a bit more public transport than usual due to one semi-mobile person. One thing that I never thought I would see was Andrew using a e-scooter. He has avoided them in the past, but it was ideal for one afternoon out at the suburb of Belem. He took to it like a duck to water. This is him 20 seconds into his 1st test ride. After this, he did take the tote bag from around his neck and put it back over his shoulder! But sadly the floppy hat was used for the whole trip. And he did become a bit of a speed demon on the scooter.
Belem was on the list to return to for the iconic Pasteis de Belem. But it was a great place to just be outside, in Europe, in the sun, having a nice time
We walked as much as Andrew could manage and saw a lot of old favorites from buildings, to wines and of course lots of salted cod in the supermarkets. We went to a museum about the social upheaval of last century the Museu do Aljube https://www.museudoaljube.pt/en/
We went to a couple of new developments that had happened since we were last in Lisbon. The LX factory, which is a revitalized factory area that now has small designer shops and lots of places to eat and drink. Here we deserved those cold beers and pizza after wandering around in the heat!
And we went to the Timeout market which was absolutely packed with people looking for food experiences. It is TOTALLY tourist orientated and the prices are not cheap. But as our 1st meal in Europe this year, we were not complaining. I think there will be a lot of pictures this trip where there is a beer also in the picture. The weather for the 4 weeks in Portugal and Spain was unrelentingly sunny and warm!
One day we headed out the Park of Nations and had some good local food with plenty of locals enjoying family sunday lunch at Tacho.
Even though one suitcase caused us some problems and we had to retrieve it ourselves that was the only negative in a comfortable return to Lisbon
