Travel Day - Porto to Lisbon

It was once again time to move on down the road. Today we travelled by Metro to the Porto Campanhã train station where we caught the train back to Lisbon in preparation for our flight to Cologne tomorrow. It was much cheaper to do it this way but less convenient of course. We got to the Metro and as I approached the ticket machine a man stepped in front of me to assist. Naive John handed him €10 and the man quickly started entering information into the ticket dispenser. Initially I thought he was a Metro employee that sometimes do offer assistance to tourists but then I remembered Rick Steve’s warning about this. We did get our tickets but I think there was some sleight of hand as the change didn’t add up. Oh well, he looked like a needy old gentleman and it was only a couple of euros. He moved on to his next victims, a group of 3 young, English speaking women so I gave them a heads up.

We were at the train station early so no missed trains this time around. We stayed at a different Lisbon hotel that was cheaper and had a more direct route to the Metro that would take us to the airport. Google Maps doesn’t always work well in Europe. It directed us up a hill but when we got to where the hotel was supposed to be, we could see over a railing and there it was on a small street below us. Grrrr! There were 2 ways to get down to the hotel. I chose to take the route that involved going down 6 flights of stairs; whereas John decided to go the long route around the block and down. Either way, we were both exhausted when we got to the hotel reception.

It was 5 pm and all that exercise revved up our appetites so I did a Google search for restaurants that were near us that were open. We picked an Italian restaurant that was open according to their website. After a 15 minute uphill walk we were told that they were closed until 7 pm. Why is it always so difficult to find a meal at this time of day, especially in an International city like Lisbon? I realize it’s the European way but it is still frustrating. John insisted we eat at Pizza Hut and there is no sense arguing with him when he’s hungry. Another bad Portuguese meal....our last.Read more