Sorry for the lack of posts over the past few days....we had to work out the photo downloading snafu and then our apartment in Porto did not have internet access. So, now that we have internet again, we will have a few posts coming over the next couple of days to get caught up!
View From The Oceanarium of the Vasco de Gama Towers
A stingray in the oceanarium's big tank
View From Barrio Alto Lookout
Our final day in Lisbon started off the same as the first two, with cereal and orange juice for breakfast. Big Whoop. We caught our double decker bus to the tile museum, where there were many cool tile arrangements. After the tile museum, we hopped back on the bus and took it to the Plaza Do Nacaos, the site of the 1998 Worlds Fair. It’s such a fine plaza and takes up many acres of land, it could practically be considered a small city. The only problem is that not many people visit it. All of the residents of Lisbon either don’t know about it, or have been there and don’t like it (which is hard to believe), and it seems to be that most of the tourists don’t know about it. Anyway, it houses a train station, a shopping center, many buildings, namely two identical ones that stand next to each other and they each have make believe “sails” at the top to make them seem like ship masts. They were built in memory of Vasco de Gama, an explorer that discovered the route around Cape Horn to India. Also in the Plaza, there was Europe’s biggest aquarium, and a tram system along the beach.
We visited the aquarium, and it was very interesting. They had many cool creatures, ranging from sharks, to fish, to crabs, to stingrays, etc. It was built literally right on the Ocean, so that added to the effect, and made it seems cooler. After we left the aquarium, we waited for an hour (at least) to catch our bus out. Either we didn’t time their system right, or it was just really bad. We took the bus back to the commercial part of downtown so that my dad could go to the car rental place and get our car ready for the next day. Since we were all starving, we headed into the nearest McDonalds, a “one time deal for this trip” as my mom told us. “We won’t be eating this kind of junk that we can get anywhere, we’re here to enjoy real food, not look like tourists.” “Yes mom, we know.” It was a most surprising McDonalds, unlike something you’ll ever see in America, for a few reasons. First, it was very clean (shocking, I know!), second of all, they had a desert counter, separate from the main counter, so that it almost felt like a café. Thirdly, it was painted nicely, there was a place where you could place a “quick order”, and order from a computer, and it even had an upstairs where you could eat.
After we were done being in awe of the McDonalds, we headed back to the bus stop. Once again, we were stuck waiting for more than an hour (there is no way that it could have been our bad timing twice!). It got so boring that Trevor and I started counting certain types of cars, he chose Mercedes Benz, and I chose Volkswagon, he outscored me by at least 50 cars, it was just unfair! In Portugal, nearly every car that you see is a Mercedes, because everyone has one, and at least 75% of the taxis are Mercedes’. We then took the bus up to Barrio Alto, where there was a great panoramic view of the city. After enjoying that for a while, we headed to the little side streets and soaked those in. We found a little spot to have a drink and they even had a PS2 that you could pay to play on. Trevor and I battled it out on FIFA 10, and we got about 15 minutes worth before it shut off. We left that place, and after a while found a place to eat, a tapas bar called Artis. They had many great appetizers, and a great owner who knew English and served us very well. After we were done eating, we headed back to our neck of the woods, the Alfama, to catch some traditional Fado music. The music was great, they had male and female singers, and it was our third restaurant/ bar of the night, so we decided to call it and head back to our apartment.
We visited the aquarium, and it was very interesting. They had many cool creatures, ranging from sharks, to fish, to crabs, to stingrays, etc. It was built literally right on the Ocean, so that added to the effect, and made it seems cooler. After we left the aquarium, we waited for an hour (at least) to catch our bus out. Either we didn’t time their system right, or it was just really bad. We took the bus back to the commercial part of downtown so that my dad could go to the car rental place and get our car ready for the next day. Since we were all starving, we headed into the nearest McDonalds, a “one time deal for this trip” as my mom told us. “We won’t be eating this kind of junk that we can get anywhere, we’re here to enjoy real food, not look like tourists.” “Yes mom, we know.” It was a most surprising McDonalds, unlike something you’ll ever see in America, for a few reasons. First, it was very clean (shocking, I know!), second of all, they had a desert counter, separate from the main counter, so that it almost felt like a café. Thirdly, it was painted nicely, there was a place where you could place a “quick order”, and order from a computer, and it even had an upstairs where you could eat.
After we were done being in awe of the McDonalds, we headed back to the bus stop. Once again, we were stuck waiting for more than an hour (there is no way that it could have been our bad timing twice!). It got so boring that Trevor and I started counting certain types of cars, he chose Mercedes Benz, and I chose Volkswagon, he outscored me by at least 50 cars, it was just unfair! In Portugal, nearly every car that you see is a Mercedes, because everyone has one, and at least 75% of the taxis are Mercedes’. We then took the bus up to Barrio Alto, where there was a great panoramic view of the city. After enjoying that for a while, we headed to the little side streets and soaked those in. We found a little spot to have a drink and they even had a PS2 that you could pay to play on. Trevor and I battled it out on FIFA 10, and we got about 15 minutes worth before it shut off. We left that place, and after a while found a place to eat, a tapas bar called Artis. They had many great appetizers, and a great owner who knew English and served us very well. After we were done eating, we headed back to our neck of the woods, the Alfama, to catch some traditional Fado music. The music was great, they had male and female singers, and it was our third restaurant/ bar of the night, so we decided to call it and head back to our apartment.
No comments:
Post a Comment