09/07/18 – 11/07/11 – Lisbon
I was apprehensive about driving into Lisbon in the Moho given its size and the possibility that it could quickly go wrong as it’s a hilly city (still feeling scarred from Nerja) so when we arrived I was slightly tense.
We had the address of the service centre (Dometic) for the fridge typed into the navigation and it took us to what looked like a small shop on the corner of a residential street. Surely this can’t be it we said to each other. Anyway, I pulled up on a narrow street taking up 3 parking spaces and went in to investigate.
It was the right place but the old guy that worked there said no motorhomes. Thanks a lot Dometic I thought. I started to explain our problem in my best Spanish – he understood enough to make me a makeshift tool to clean out the flue. I then asked if the fumes were bad – I was able to understand that the day time is fine, but he then proceeded to do an impression of someone dying at night. Half of me thought oh shit, the other half of me tried not to laugh at his impression! I guess it was down to us to fix then as they were the only Engineers we could find!
The next chore for the day was to find the parking spot. A choice of 2 that were both free. The first in the centre, the second a little further out. We chose the first.
It was on the waterfront the other side of the tram line that ran along the entire waterfront area and separated the road from where we needed to be. We followed the directions but when we arrived to turn right, it said no right turn. Two miles along and time for a u-turn. We headed back in the opposite direction. No left turn…..we then went passed another couple of miles looking for another way in. There wasn’t one!
This went on for a couple of attempts, so we decided to pull over and try the second place. All seemed fine until we had to go over an overpass….it had a height restriction sign for 2.8m. WTF. How are we going to get anywhere? This went on for some time. I was getting stressed, and Lorraine was trying her best not to lose it with my stressy answers. She got out the van with Marley for some air. I composed myself.
We decided to try the first place again and just turn right anyway. Turns out there was a traffic Policeman standing there this time, but I had had enough. We went that way anyway. He said nothing.
We eventually worked our way around the disused warehouses to a car park on the waters edge. We made it!
There we lots of mohos there – I talked to one guy who had been there since November 2017 and he said another one had been there for 2 years. Although it didn’t look the most inviting place, he said it was safe and there was quite a community vibe there. The only problem he said is that it’s between 2 nightclubs. Today however is Monday so they are all closed. More about that later.
We were both feeling pretty ‘hangry’ at this point, so decided the best thing to do would be to go into town, to find something to eat. I don’t think we could have chosen a more overpriced place to eat. Beers were 6 euros per pint. Ouch. We have normally been paying around 2-3. It was quite a funky restaurant, called Can the Can – Crossed between Bills and Gourmet Burger, and was related to the canning industry in Lisbon, only with a gourmet twist! When the food arrived it tasted good – although when it came to paying the bill and handing over €50 later we both left feeling somewhat ripped off given Portugal is supposed to be one of the cheapest places in Europe to live…..that’ll teach us to listen to the hangry monster within. PIPE DOWN!
Feeling exhausted, we headed back to the Moho for a restful night as we had a busy day ahead of touristy site seeing.
Belem
The next morning the three of us hit the cycle paths and headed towards Belem, a district in the west of Lisbon famous for inventing the Pasteis de Belem (Or Pasteis de nata outside of Lisbon).
In some ways, the cycle paths in Lisbon are similar to those in Brighton in that they randomly start and stop or take strange diversions. Not least of all (especially along the waterfront) is that no-one takes any notice of not walking in them – quite the opposite in fact, people seem to think they are for walking in. People are strange sometimes, often like ants – give them a line to follow and hey presto, they follow it.
We followed the cycle route out toward the 16th century tower of Belem, passing the Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Monument to the discoveries) and the massive Jerónimos Monastery to try a Pasteis de Belem made from the original monks (Secret) recipe at Pasteis de Belem just around the corner. We must have arrived at the perfect time as there was only a small queue at the time. However, within an hour or so people were queuing around the corner to try the little Portuguese custard tarts.
We had ours to take away and devoured them in the park opposite. Two tarts and 2 coffees cost the grand sum of €3. They were still warm, crisp buttery pastry with icing sugar and cinnamon to sprinkle on top. Yum. At least I thought so. Lorraine isn’t so keen on anything eggy but she said it wasn’t unpleasant.
Barrio Alto
I had read that this was the bohemian and young part of the city, where it changed character from sleepy in the daytime to vibrant and wild in the evening. After a short break back at the Moho avoiding the afternoon sun, we headed out this time on foot as it was in a particularly hilly part of town.
It took us about 20 minutes or so to reach Miradouro Santa Catarina – a place popular with the locals to sit and have a beer and we were lucky enough to bag ourselves a table at the bar on top. Lovely! We were about to take our first sip when we realised we didn’t have any cash and they didn’t accept debit cards….off I went to the ATM…Walking alone along a narrow road, this was the only time I felt vulnerable since we had been away. Largely due to the 2 groups of men, one group at each end of the road, trying to get my attention to sell me drugs..they were obviously communicating with one another…I put my hands in my pockets and held onto my phone, not making eye contact with anyone……needless to say after getting the money from the ATM, I took a different route back to Lorraine.
We walked back through the steep streets, passing some cool bars where everyone was sat outside on the pavements, drinking and having a good time. One street had one of the original trams parked at the top, covered in graffiti, that we followed back down to sea-level.
We got back to the Moho, ready for another restful night…or so we thought.
It turns out, we were surrounded by nightclubs. Tuesdays, apparently are the start of a full week of partying and sure enough come midnight, the thumping music started….this was loud. neither of us could find our earplugs, so in went the cotton wool which was effective to take the treble out….it went on until daylight, so either 6 or 7 am.
Alfama
I don’t know if it was the lack of sleep or the rising temperatures, but the carpark on the third day started to smell particularly bad….that kind of smell that that you only seem to get in densely populated areas that have been dirty for a very long time. Grime, dirty water, other kind of fluids no doubt all on the baking asphalt of the carpark. Nice!
Time for our final destination then. this time to the oldest neighbourhood in Lisbon, Alfama.
If we thought Barrio Alto had steep hill, they were nothing in comparison with this place, although this time around they were coupled with narrow streets, cobbled roads only wide enough to walk down in parts and azulejos tiles covering many of the buildings.
We spent some time enjoying a slow walk though these street, where old ladies emptied their water onto the pavement, giving little regard for passers by. There were lots of tiny places to eat or drink and a few funky hostels that had converted probably from large derelict buildings.
Working our way upwards, we ended up at another miradouro where we took some time to enjoy the views down back over the water. Marley even got to play with a Portuguese Westie called Matilda, and we got to chat to her friendly owners.
As we rode back to the van, I remember thinking, what had started as a bit of a nightmare had turned out to be a good couple of days. There is so much to see in Lisbon, I hope we captured enough of it in our brief time there to get a flavour of the city. Despite the annoyance of the sleepless night due to the nightclubs, we definitely thought it would make a good weekend break some time to go clubbing!
