Monday, 11 August 2008

Portugal day 2-Porto/Lisboa- 10 June 2008

I can only say I love Portugal.A lot a lot. Western Europe is really my cup of tea. :)

Recently, I find it difficult to pull myself out of bed. I don't know the reason behind it honestly. I was supposed to wake up at 8a.m to go for a walk along the coast at Porto but I just couldn't get up. Shucks! I pull myself out of bed finally at 9a.m and headed for breakfast before I went to the Torre de Clerigos. Alvin said he wanted a postcard so I thought since Portugal is so beautiful, I should send him one here.

Church at Clerigo

I bought the postcard which depicts the Clerigo Tower and guess what? I actually wrote him a message on the postcard when I was right on top of the tower. It was so windy that I couldn't write properly. haha.. I hope he will like it. To make things worst, you can only buy stamps at the Post Office in Porto and god, I have a bus to catch to Lisbon at 11 a.m. I had to walk like probably 1km to the post office from the Clerigos Tower and I was sweating and panting like mad when I finally arrived at the bus station. Anyway, buying stamps was cool. The government employs mentally-challenged adults as assistance at the post office. The girl couldn't understand English well but she was super helpful to help me get the stamps and mail out the postcard. I really appreciate that. :)

View from Clerigo Tower

Where I got the stamp....
The bus journey to Lisbon is around 3.5 hours. I should be taking a train but there's a strike going on so the frequency of the trains are a bit irregular and bus was the alternative. I met this really funny Portuguese guy on the train. He couldn't speak English fluently but he understood simple words that I said. Initially, he just confirmed my doubts about where the bus is going. Then we started to strike conversations because he sat beside me on the bus. He says he like Spain better than Portugal because Portugal is just hills, trees and mountains all over so it's boring. Really? I don't think so.


Next, he showed me photos in his Ipod of Porto and Portugal. They were insanely beautiful pictures and I was so convinced that he took them. But after looking through 10 or so, I figured out that those were probably downloaded from the computer. Honestly, I didn't think he deliberately lie to me that he took all those photos. Most probably, he didn't understand my question so he just said YES when I asked if he took those photos? Anyway, it was nice meeting him. In exchange, I showed him photos that I took in Madrid and some outdated photos from Stockholm.Chelsea.Manchester which I haven't delete away from my camera. When he saw those photos and my traveling plan, he commented that "I have a beautiful life." What a description. haha.. Frankly speaking, when I reflect on that, I really feel that we Singaporeans are quite fortunate to a certain extent.

Yes, these people have freedom of speech, can conduct demonstrations and strikes as and when they like but what is happening to their life? Are they genuinely happy? I rather trade freedom of speech for prosperity and progress of the nation which ultimately leads to a well-off nation. So what if our government is authoritarian?

The moment I landed on Lisbon, I took on a different impression of Portugal. That's because I arrived at Oriente which is the modernised region of Lisbon. Buildings rocketed towards the sky, shopping malls, people carrying Zara, Mango bags etc. I felt I was back to Singapore momentarily. haha.. When girls see shopping, there isn't any way to resist honestly. So I started shopping and all the familiar brands just kept popping up, like Levis.Diesel.Mcdonalds.KFC.Pizza Hut etc..

Orient & Surroundings..
Inside the shopping MALL
Lovely riverfront, ain't it?


I headed down to the riverfront area and saw the Vaco Da Gama bridge and the TV Tower etc.I practically spent 4 hours there walking along the riverfront, taking photos plus shopping before I decided to head to my hostel in the old district in Lisbon.

TV Tower with Vaco Da Gama BridgeThere's the cable car too!! Girls can never resist shopping :)
Self-timer works wonders!



Streets lined with bars for SOCCER! hehe..
My plan was to embark on the walking tour recommended by my Lonely Planet guidebook but it failed. I couldn't find the starting point of the tour thus I merely took the tram (really old, traditional tram) from one end to the other. I arrived at Martim Monitz and it was very intimidating there. Blacks were hanging all around the square, people were eating roasted pigeon and a lot of weird characters hanging around thus I decided to leave. Instead, I thought maybe I should head to Belem instead but god knows I waited freaking 15 minutes for the tram 15 which never arrived! Along the way, I met 2 Indian guys (White-skin indian) who used to live in England and now Portugal and they were extremly helpful. They helped me to find the tram stop and guided me. Btw, the time was 9.15p.m haha..

The OLD 18th Century TRAM! :) Martin Monitz.
The winding narrow tram tracks.... :)
Just one of the views taken from the tram... Alfama. LOVELY!
The TRAM Interior!I wonder how the gears work?
The Story about this man who didn't want to pay for public transport. He simply "sticked" himself to the exterior tram door. Each time the tram stopped, he would jump off the door and when it was time for the tram to get going, he hopped back. A girl wanted to take his photo and he looked damn pissed and turned his back to us. Fortunately I took this picture secretly. By doing so, he's endangering his own life honestly. Unlike in Singapore, cars are always parked along the roadside, and there is only enough space for just one tram to pass through the narrow roads all the time. So by clinging to the tram, all it takes is just a BLINK of a AN eye or a look away from the traffic to get himself knocked over and fall. But it should be fun huh! hahaha...


Praca Pedro _ Baixai Chiado area. :) Lovely!

Either the Municipal House or Theatre. Can't recall .. hehe..

Ended up I didn't go anywhere and headed to Hard Rock Cafe instead to get my collection shot-glass. Who knows the city shot glass was sold out and I bought a shirt instead. I was a bit indecisive as to whether I should buy the bear or the shirt. The bear was really cute with the portugal football jersey on but spendin $50 on a bear isn't convincing. After buying the shirt, I kind of regretted. I should have saved that 24EUR and top up another 16 EUR to buy a Portugal jersey? haha... I am totally into football jerseys nowadays. I already have quite a few though. hehe..

Elevador de Sana Justa
According to sources, the Elevador de Sana Justa is the first passenger elevator in Lisbon! Cool! But it's really rundown and old...hehe...

Old Rossio Train Station.. Yet another stunning creation by the Portuguese...


When I stepped out of the HRC, I saw that 2 Indian guys once again. What a small world!!They were very nice to walk me back to the hostel and surprisingly, I met a SINGAPOREAN at the hostel. This is my first time meeting a Singaporean on my traveling trips putting aside my friends. haha...

Basically, I wasted my time in Lisbon that evening since all I did was shopping and going on trams.. haha. The next day was a damn packed one.....

But before I end off, we shall talk about one of my favourite places in Lisboa-Praca do Comercio. Why do I say that? It's a big square by the beach/sea. At there, you can catch the beautiful sunrise and sunset, see the Ponte 25 Bridge.. The scenery is just .......... Unbelievably NICE!








Muacks, Lovely Lisboa!

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