Mamasqueak, this is for you! :-) Still no time to blog (busy and tamad) lol but here's my impression/sort of travel report of Lisbon, Portugal. This is by no means comprehensive ah since three day long weekend lang ako dun, but just in case it helps you plan your trip, here goes!
Places we visited: Lisboa then we took a day trip to Sintra (it's only 40 minutes aways from Lisboa by rail. Rail is 5 euro return na). thing is mura ang transpo nila. One day pass inclusive of trains, trams, bus, furniculars is 6 euro. But eto ha, instead of the one day pass we bought the hop on hop off tour bus (good for 48 hours) for only 17 euros. The good thing is, you can choose two lines of buses for your hop on hop off ~ Merong orient, merong red, merong castle, and one more. Di ako masyadong interested sa castles. Nagsawa na sa castles sa espanya? nope haha but kasi yun din yung mga castles ang marami sa Sintra, kaya di sya priority in Lisboa. We availed of the red Belem line (goes around the city center) and the Orient Line (goes near the riverfront). Link of the hop on hop off bus:
http://www.grayline.com/tours/lisbon/lisbon-sightseeing-hop-on-hop-off-combined-tour-of-two-days-bel-m-line-oriente-line-5876_13/#.UbjZ7KVrr-AConvenient yung hop on hop off bus if yung hotel mo is along Avenida Jose Malhoa (maraming hotels ditto including the Marriot, Mercure, Sana, Ibis)because both red and orient buses dumadaan sa Avenida Jose Malhoa, so parang may to and fro hotel transpo ka na rin ☺ IMO, nice na base yung hotels sa Avenida Jose Mahloa.
LISBOA:
First impression, hmmm, pretty small city, at least compared to Madrid. The good thing is mau waterfront sila. Yung river nila akala mo dagat sa kabluehan at kalawak ☺ Things we visited are the Belem, the Monasterio, Barrio Alto (though patay ito sa umaga, for nightlife sya talaga), Restauradores ( where the sosyal shops are), Rossio Square and well halos lahat ng stops ng bus haha. Yung commercial center nila ~ Rua de Commercio, then Rossio, Restauradores and Barrio Alto are within walking distance lang so pwedeng lakad lakad lhere. Rua de Commercio has coffee shops facing the river kaya nice din magpahinga ditto. Meron din Modern Museum here na small lang pero may mga fashion pieces (mga gowns by Givenchy, Balenciaga and the likes).
The tourist spots, for me ha, personal opinion lang, eh okay lang naman. Same lang halos sa Espanya ang view except yung popular tile design nila.
Ang best thing for me sa Lisbon is the food! Mura compared sa Madrid, and of course yummy eggtarts. Also masarap talaga ang seafood nila. Kahit grilled lang ang luto, sobrang sarap and malasa. A meal inclusive of everything sa midrange na restaurant (dinner ha) with matching acoustic singer pa is 20€. Lunch meals is mga 10-15€ sa mga restaurants. BTW, unlike Spain, parang expected mag tip sa Lisboa. Also pala be careful, after you order they will place appetizers sa table nyo : bread, pate, ham, cheese, butter, etc. These are not free (though di rin naman mahal, mga 1-2 euro per person for the whole appetizer set). Pagkuha mo ng bill Makita mo na nakalista ang bayad para ditto haha! Pag di nyo ginalaw naman yung appetizers they will not charge you. Nasarapan ako sa mga stuffed olives nila, pati yung mga fish pates na sinasama nila sa appetizer spread.
Portuguese People are nice, even if there are not so many Asian people you’ll see around Lisboa. Helpful sila, and unlike Spanish people na minsan di marunong magEnglish, most Portuguese marunong so di nakakadyaheng mawala or magtanong.
SINTRA: Sintra is medyo nahype ng officemate kong local na must do daytrip to when you go to Lisboa. Since it’s near lang eh okay lang naman. Ang nice sa Sintra is nasa high elevation sya tapos cobblestoned paths sya. To my mind parang Toledo , Spainang peg nya pero mas maganda pa rin ang Toledo lol. Walking shoes dapat when one goes to Sintra, yung walkway is polished stonepaths so medyo madulas minsan. Must do visit sa Sintra is the Pena Palace, which is high up in the Mountain hehe. Very easy naman ang bus transpo sa Sintra so madali lang puntahan yung Pena Palace. To be fair maganda talaga yung palace and malawak ang grounds nya. One can easily spend a day exploring both the Pena Palace and the park and grounds surrounding it.
Nagpunta rin kami sa Moorish Castle, near Pena rin. Akala ko well-preserved palace pa rin like Pena, but castle ruins lang pala hahaha. Haba pa mandin akyatin pa Moorish castle. But ang nice ditto is yung viewpoint (mirador), maganda yung view of Sintra and the surrounding areas from the Moorish castle. Aside from these two wala na akong nakitang magandang icheck sa Sintra haha, though nagtake din kami ng old school chochoo train pagdating naming sa Sintra para maikot sya (40 minutes) and matrim naming ang pagtutuunan naming ng pansin while there. I think yung green chochoo train is 4 euros. Sulit na rin since we did this as soon as we arrived in Sintra so may overall view nang attractions then nicross out na naming yung di naming feel pagukulan ng panahon.
Things to buy in Portugal:
Egg Tarts of course from Pasteis de Belem (near San Geronimo), basta may mahabang pila near San Geronimo Monasterio, ayun na ang Pasteis de Belem. 1.05€ per egg tart
Fashion jewelry (silver) with the Portuguese trademark na blue stones.
That’s it! Also, most retails shops , kahit sa Restauradores and sa Rua de Commercio are closed on Sundays, so if you plan to shop, choose another day. Dito kami nagkamali (not na may plan magshop galore pero at least to check out the shops sana haha!), since we went to Sintra ng Saturday (Friday kasi nagtambay tambay lang kami near our hotel at nagnight out), so yung Sunday na we were in Lisboa, ayun closed ang shops kaya pasyal na lang sa lahat ng pwedeng pasyalan. So pagshopping, anyday but Sunday.
So that’s it. Wala akong masyadong superlative expressions for Lisboa, but nice din naman sya. Medyo similar lang kasi sa Spain in some ways kaya napapagcompare ko tuloy kahit hindi na dapat ☺
I hope this can be of help to those who are planning to go to Lisboa ☺
