Oh dear, Di has got worse. Nothing like travelling when you are as crook as a dog. To make matters worse, we had to get up early as we had an international flight to Lisbon, Portugal at 10.30am.
The check in staff obliged by giving us seats right at the back of the plane near the bathrooms. Di asked for a pillow and you could just see the pity on their faces as she looked BAD, so they scrounged around for a blanket.
Fras will be doing this blog as Di went from airport to hotel bed and that is where she stayed all day. Fras went out for a guided tour that we had booked.
The tour was touted as a free one but it wasn’t really and you could pay what you felt was appropriate with some guidance also provided. None the less the guide Jose was very good and informative. Somehow, he managed to distill 3,000 years of Portuguese history into about 10 mins and then we were off on a tour of the central Baxia area. This area is the low area of town. I think tomorrow we are going to discover the high (ie notoriously hilly) sections of Lisbon. The tour covered the central square by the river, the main promenade and a couple churches.
We also passed by the Santa Justa lift which is an interesting iron structure only 100 years old which looks a bit out of place to be honest. Lifts like this and others are important in Lisbon as they connect the low Baxia areas with the higher ground that surround it. According to our guide astute locals know all the lifts and shortcuts that make it easy to walk around town. Only the tourist slog up and down the steep hills.
Towards the end of the tour I also came across some of Lisbons famous yellow trams and funiculars. Will be playing on these in the next few days.
Di’s steps 3756 – oh dear, this will be brining the average down!!!!
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