Let’s get going

We left Fort Myers around 4:30 PM on April 30 heading to Lisbon through Philadelphia. Our first flight was on time and after a quick dinner in Philadelphia we were on our flight to Lisbon. We arrived in Lisbon about 30 minutes early and after customs got our bags and were transferred to our hotel in the central part of Lisbon’s old town.

We were able to use the hotel spa to freshen up and we were off. A quick lunch and then we met our private tour guide, Sara. We had booked a 3 hour walking tour and we did walk. We visited many of the different areas in Lisbon. She explained the different characteristics of the various neighborhoods and how they came to be over the years.

The city was 90% destroyed on November 1, 1755 by an earthquake and then a tsunami. This allowed the city to be developed with a more modern plan with streets that were in a grid like pattern. The streets are narrow but straight.

The sidewalks are made of white limestone and black basalt tiles and are intricate in design. Many of the buildings are covered in tiles as decoration. Most were blue and white.

Lisbon’s current population is around 600,000 but the metropolitan area has around 3 million residents. To live in Lisbon is very expensive so most of the people live outside the city and across the river.

Sara was able to give us a very extensive education about the history of Lisbon from the time of the Phoenicians through the world wars and then explained how they became a democracy in 1974.

One of the stops we made was to sample the special pastry Lisbon is famous for, Pastel de Nata. It is phyllo pastry filled with custard and it is yummy.

We climbed many of the hills that make up the old town area and learned a great deal about Lisbon and Portugal.

After an early dinner we crashed.