Paving in Portugal

Another before dawn get up and go saw the late moon (upside down from home) leading a bright Venus up out of the eastern horizon. By the time we we're coming into land in Lisbon the sun was deciding to follow suit. The taxi driver to the airport had taken us for a ride in few ways - even to the the extent of short changing the change. Oh well - when you're half asleep and just happy to get there on time is couple of bucks is really not worth stressing over. The flight went smoothly. The Portuguese cheap carrier went one notch up again by providing snacks and drinks for gratis on the short hop. So now the Irish sit well back in that race. We were surprised how chilly it is in Portugal. Expecting the same weather as Spain was indicative of a lack of research. Figuring it's actually on an ocean and gets cooled by the northeryt currents doesn't really help the fact that it's a bit chilly after hours and we were rapidly spoilt by a week of really nice warm days in dear departed Spain. Lisbon is one of those clever cities in which the Metro trains run to the airport (how logical!) So we relatively easily navigated the airport, collected the luggage and got our way through the quiet early morning Sunday system to pop up at a stop in a square just near out new abode. This was a bit disconcerting as it was quiet(ish), seemingly dirty streets with seemingly seedy shops with like people hanging around them , these impressions were all incorrect and just a case of moving from one country to another - as we later discovered. The hotel is undergoing complete renovation. So the location as advised by Google revealed a closed building site. This was also disconcerting. As it turned out they have done a temporary refurb on the building next door.

Once we found that at least we were in a comfort zone if some sorts. Once again - early to arrive. Room not ready. Leave the bags. No chance to change and hit the town. Extremely clever pre-planning by the non-blogger saw us head up the hill to join a walking tour of the town. As we were hanging around for that start a model and 3 support crew turned up to take photos in the middle of the crowd. A thong in a throng. The walk was exhausting after 3 hours of traipsing around, however absolutely invaluable in providing insights into what we were seeing, what to see and why as well as tips about how to get around, where to eat etc. So now we are set for the next 3 days. The history of the place is incredible. They've certainly had their ups and downs over the centuries. Similar to next door they've had the Romans, the Arabs, the French, the Germans all come through and take over at one stage or another. They've also had their share of power broking, expansionism, socialism, dictatorships, revolutions and now tourism. Along the way they also had next door drop in for while. Significantly they also had the biggest earthquake in history bring the whole thing down to a pile of dust, also creating huge tsunami's which rolled through and drowned all the survivors. It was politically significant that the timing of this event was Sunday morning when everyone was in church (as they had to be). Where all the roofs collapsed on them. Then caught fire - the survivors got washed away. Needless to say the big G's reputation took a big hit that day. When contemplating the incredible atrocities also performed under his name over certain periods it's not overly surprising that the notion of the separation of the church and state holds sway here.

The architecture in the streets is pretty cool. The buildings are adorned with many mosaic Muslim based tile patterns (they're restricted from depicting people or nature), the footpaths are a rich tapestry of patterns and colours. Unfortunately they are a bit rough, uneven and decaying in spots. The walking tour ended up in a grand Plaza down at the water front. For some reason they haven't paved that yet. It's only been there over a hundred years... maybe that's why it's still gravel. After the tour we capitalised on our new found wisdom and caught a wonderful series of escalators back up the hill to check out a spotted on the tour market and have lunch in a great little bakery nearby. Finally back into the now available room we spent a few listless hours trying to catch lost Z'ds whilst noisy neighbours in adjoining rooms kept running around, slamming doors and generally showing that whilst these rooms look well appointed they are actually sitting on a very unstable, temporary structure. Let's hope the 100 year overdue earthquake doesn't arrive whilst we're here. Then again if it does happen we probably won't notice if those annoying Aussies are still next door at the time. Sort of refreshed we headed up the hill next to us for drinks and dinner. Straight into a local locale where all the locals we hangin' around on Sunday afternoon. Very interesting to see them all in action. We found a restaurant which was exactly the sort we were told by our earlier guide to look out for. This was a great experience with the menu nicely interpreted into English on a hand written A5 notepad piece of paper. Genuinely fresh and singularly cooked we were lucky that a local who knew English spent some time giving us some tips. This was yet another highlight experience. All thanks to the walking tour.

An easy stroll down the hill to base past a local political rally ( elections are coming and socialism is on the rise - based on the tourist squeeze. Similar threads everywhere it seams - no one is entirely happy and it's always someone else's fault). It really did appear that they were all pretty upbeat though...maybe it was the fabulous BBQ that was being put on. The pavements seem to glow under the lights at night.