Third Day in Lisbon

Today started well enough. It was another gorgeous sunlit day, that began chilly We went on a walking tour of downtown Lisbon with a local guide. She took us to San Geronimo Convent, the Discoverer’s Monument (shades of Stalin) and the Belem Tower. Then we got back on the bus and went to Restauradores Square, and Rossio square, both of which I’d seen yesterday.

She made various suggestions for lunch, and pointed to a street of restaurants. I sat down at the first one I came too, but really should have spent more time looking. Yes, it was cheaper than yesterday’s. Yes, the fish was beautifully cooked, but it was so full of bones it was hard to eat.

After lunch, I decided to try and get to St George’s Castle, which I’d somehow missed on my walk around Alfama. The guide had told us to go to the blue house in Figueira Square, follow the tram tracks until the end of the track, and then turn right.

There were two problems with this advice. Firstly, there were two blue houses in Figueira Square, not one. Secondly, after picking the wrong house, the tram line forked, so on the grounds that I had to eventually turn right, I picked the left fork.

As before, I found myself lost in the maze of streets of Alfama. Unlike yesterday, the area I was in today was a lot less pleasant, with no lovely buildings, but rather doorway after doorway of people who seemed poor, immigrant and not in good health (coughing). Given the way I look and the way I was dressed (straw hat) I screamed tourist. I felt very uncomfortable walking through this area, although no-one was rude or aggressive. However, I didn’t know what to do, so I continued. After about 30 minutes of this, with the sun pouring down on my head and the temperature rising to 80 degrees, I decided to call it quits. It was impossible to see the castle, because I was too close to it. So as soon as I found a street with lots of traffic on it, I made for it. Peering at my iPhone, I deduced what the correct direction was, and walked with great relief along a straight street. Eventually, I made it back to Figueira Square. 

I glanced at my watch, and it showed the time to be 2:30. So I decided to make my way to the iron elevator, go up it, and explored Caixa, which the guide had descrbed as a cool place. I walked through Figueira and Rossio squares, and got to a place where the elevator wasn’t that far away. But by this time, I was exhausted, my feet were swelling, and I was boiling under that sizzling 80 degree heat. So I called that quits too, and made my way back to the pick-up point at Restauradores Square. 

And that is when everything began to go wrong. To start with, I arrived at 2:50, expecting the 3:00 bus. But when it didn’t show, I realized that the hotel shuttle doesn’t come at 3 pm. By that time, I was feeling dreadful. There were very few places to sit, and the sun was pouring down from a cloudless sky onto a large square with no shade. Finally, I found a bus stop so I could sit down, and thank heavens managed to catch a breeze from the river. I considered getting a metro back to the hotel, but was in too bad a shape to contemplate it.

And so I waited. And waited. At around 3:30, when the bus should have arrived, a woman suddenly asked me if I was waiting for the Corinthia Hotel shuttle. When I said I was, she introduced herself as Valerie.

Well Valerie and I stood there chatting, until about 3:50, when two people from our group appeared. Turned out that the shuttle bus had been unable to get through to Restauradores Square, because the road was closed. And so the driver had left them off six blocks to the north and they’d walked down. I tried to call the hotel, but no-one picked up. So I then told Valerie and the others that we should take the metro back. 

The couple disappeared to enjoy their time in Lisbon, while Valerie and I made for the metro. We managed to pay our fares (I with my credit card) and then the train arrived soon after we arrived on the platform. But it was completely jammed. Valerie wondered whether we should wait, but I’d had enough, so I persuaded her to get on. Eventually, we managed to find seats, and when we got to our stop, which is the Zoo stop called Jardim Zoologico de Lisboa, we got off, along with hordes of people. 

After tapping my credit card, we were out in the station forecourt. But Valerie said we were on the wrong floor, so we walked down a level, and walked out to the road. It turned out that Corinthia Hotel was just across the street. 

I was so happy to be back! What a relief to be back in my room, where I could wash my hair and have a cool shower. I finished the day off by packing, for we are going to Evora tomorrow, and our large suitcases have to be out by 8.

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