Foot Patrol

Every trip we take inevitably starts off with some long march covering much of the city in which we are esconsed, and today was that day. Off at 9 am with a guide until around 1 pm, then on our own. We also seem to always never get around to lunch, but there was time for a couple of beer stops. Yeah, most people would have wine in Portugal, but on a sunny day with lots of hills to traverse, a beer tasted pretty good, even the local brew that all the restaurants carry, called Super Bock. Your basic light lager, thirst quenching but nothing special.

One thing about Lisbon is that it is a city of beautiful vistas. It is difficult to keep in mind that it is situated at the mouth of a river and not on the ocean. It is also a city of hills, and we covered nearly all of them. After seeing many of the traditional sites We opted for something different in the afternoon and went to the Museum of Art, Architecture and Design. It forced us to figure out the tram, and although we did by tickets, truth be told that when it is busy you can pretty much just hop on. The museum had some funky modern exhibits, but maybe the coolest thing is that part of it houses the old water and steam powered turbines that used to generate the city’s electricity; it was kind of neat.

One thing about the city is that it has a very relaxed vibe; it just doesn’t seem crazy or overwhelming, certainly not for seasoned East Coasters. There is a lot of construction and other projects in the works to spiff up the city, which our guides said was due to an upcoming election. The mayor wants to show he is getting stuff done. It’s the same all over. We also have learned is that there is a downside to the advent of things like Air B&B, which is that it has become more profitable to renovate apartments for rental to tourists. The end result is that that local people are getting priced out. Unfortunately that makes the destinations more Disney like than real. That is happening here (as it is elsewhere) but the city is still well worth the visit. And we are doing our first B&B in Porto, so I guess in a way instead of living with locals we are displacing them.

Some of the day’s pictures follow.