Jul 05, 2001 09:58 PM
2480 Views
There is a lot more to Lisbon than the average eye does see!
It was a mere 7 years ago, in the sunny month of June, that the HMS FEARLESS, sailed into the safe harbour of Lisbon, Portugal.
This was a first for me, after some 15 visits to Spain, and 10 to Gibraltar, I finally made a stop in Portugal!
The first thing that hits the eye, is the massive Humber style bridge, that seems to stretch further than the eye can see.
The streets are all old world, with their cobbles and high pavements.
Electric trams run freely along the roads and pavements, along with horse drawn carriages and many various makes of cars.
Now this might be a bit of a vague description of Lisbon, as I was in the navy, and I was single at the time.
So if I miss out a few museums and architectural monuments, cut me some slack please!
Okay, the main drag, or town centre if you want to call it that, is huge.
The buildings seem to be 5 or 6 stories high, and built 100’s of years ago.
I don’t know if you have been to Edinburgh or Newcastle, but I would compare the buildings to the older style ones you have there.
The shops are all up market in the centre, so try not to look for a bargain, or you may be there a while
There are as many bars, cafes and restaurants as you could imagine, serving all sorts of delicacies.
Sadly my friends and I ate in a pizza hut! How sad is that!
There is a seedy part (apparently) where women of the night frequent local bars, and these are to be avoided like the plague.
They are vicious, dirty, dangerous places, where few locals dare to go.
The bars are bad as well!
One in particular to avoid is the Texas bar, which on first arrival seems fine. Disco in the middle, bar on the right, tables on the left.
It all seemed fine until 10 mins later the police raided the place for drugs, clubbed about 5 local drug pushers (one can only presume) and left them on the floor bleeding and quite obviously unconscious.
This led us to take what was in our view, a highly sophisticated and new rail system than ran along the riverside, and terminated at Estoril, about 30 mins in total.
Here you had a lovely little cove style beach, crammed full of café and bistro bars.
This was more like it.
Here we would sit for many an hour drinking, singing (here we go was not on the hymn sheet!), and eating fresh fish and generally being merry.
I would recommend Lisbon to anyone without children.
Great place, great history, great sights.
Enjoy it if your going.
Angus.
