Lisboa

Famed for averaging 280 days of sunshine per year, today and tomorrow look to be statistically beyond average - grey and rain is the forecast. The weather can't get in the way of this city though, everything is such a visual feast there is little reason to worry about the sky.
We're off to Fábrica Lisboa for breakfast, Fid decries them the best croissant he's had outside of Paris. How civil to enjoy a Super Bock and Ginjinha with my espresso and croissant! We plot our course for the day over breakfast - the YellowBus unlimited ticket. Hop On-Hop Off everything from the busses to trolly cars, a boat to Belem and even the funiculars. We opt for the long bus ride to orientate ourselves, out along the river to the worlds exhibition grounds and back along the river. We found out about the Statue the driver was so proud of, turns out we didn't understand as much as we thought, it had nothing to do with Marrakesh, nor is the lion anywhere near as significant as he made out!
Such an old city means almost every 100m has a square or Praça dedicated to someone who did something important, I feel so ignorant about Portuguese history I know none of these people, mind you almost everyone is commemorated. One Praça is dedicated to the guy who used to sell lottery tickets there! We pass the bullring and discover in Portugal it is illegal to finish the bull in the ring, instead he is subdued and removed from the ring, and I assume dispatched in private, I doubt the bull cares for the courtesy.
Back to Praça do Comercio, we stop for lunch in a Beer Museum, what are the odds? Fid couldn't hold back his interest any longer, he heads off to explore what the "Worlds Sexiest WC" might involve, he returns deflated that the sexiest thing about it was the woodwork. We're torn between the trolly car tour or the boat to Belem, but timing demands the trolly car.
By far the coolest thing we've done so far, these things are insane. Such a glimpse into early 20th-century technology, the whole process involves such antiquated limitations. The driver gets out occasionally to manually adjust the rails at any junction that does suit his plans. If the combination of heat, weight and incline get too much the driver has to get out and spread sand on the tracks to boost his grip. Then there are the rail placements, set at a time when these lanes only knew the fall of human or horsefoot, there was little need to design for cars, as such cars need to get out of the way, the trolly can't. A pinnacle entertainment on the trip is just how close come drivers have parked their cars to the tracks. Never actually a problem but the drivers have to slow and be careful nonetheless.
Back to the square and the rain is beginning now, we decide to skip the boat for the afternoon and wander up Rua Augusta again for a shop. This of course means Fid and I finding a FIFA screen and some Super Bock somewhere to pass the afternoon. We stroll, drink, shop, stroll, drink, shop all the way back to the Market square where we purchased the tickets this morning. By this time the litres of cerveja I've had over the afternoon are catching up with me. We're in the market where I somehow end up with some new suede shoes, cork wallet, and a whole bottle of delicious Ginjinha, Gab, in what a very clever piece of manipulative strategy, just bought some nuts.
Never one to underplay, Gab sealed her stoic frugality and it's contrast to my self-indulgence by talking me into a new leather messenger bag, it is rather swish! A brief stroll through Martim Moniz led me to some nice young north African men ready to explain Portugal's unique strategy for their war on drugs. The kids were more than ready for dinner, and the African men had left me rather peckish myself, Pizza was the order, not sure I've had anything quite so delicious.
An uber had us home and out of the rain, but not bothered by it in the least. Every hour only deepens our love of this place, what a city!Read more