A Weekend in Lisbon
A short stop over in Portugal
Posted: 26-August-2006
29th & 30th July 2006 - A weekend stop over in Lisbon on our way to Paris
In truth Angola is a fabulous experience, but after 6 months in Luanda, GOD it's good to leave the place! Getting to Lisbon was such a relief. It's funny how when you stay somewhere like Luanda for 6 months without a break you get used to things. All sorts of things become "normal" - taking 30 minutes to drive 1km, seeing families living on the beach and in the park, watching ladies carry a 20 litre drum of water on their head with a baby strapped to their back and two hands free, different car wrecks on the side of the road each morning, huge trucks on their sides in the main street every month or so, people winding their way through the grid locked trafic selling everything you can imagine (fish, bras, ice chests, floor rugs, irons, taps, phones, televisions, fishing rods, avocados...), people crowding around a dead person on the road or the beach, police with huge machine guns wandering around, ladies walking around selling vegetables out of a bucket on their head, every building having a guard out the front - many with a big gun. It's strange how some things just become normal...
That is, until you board an 8 hour flight and get off in another country half a world away. Then it really strikes you how bazarre that normality actually was. This happened to me when I left Oman, and again when I left Angola. It really does take me a day or two to adjust each time. Not because of the lack of sleep, I think it's more the altered sense of reality that knocks me around the most. But enough pondering for now!
Lisbon was a treat. We got there late on a Friday afternoon, dropped our bags at the hotel in town, and headed out to find something to soak up - anything would do! The first night we spent our time wandering about the old center of town - cobbled streets, narrow alleys, dimly lit resturants and bars. All was good, and we were two happy little pumpkins.
The next day we went to the big castle on the hill. Being the lazy sort, we took a taxi to the top and then walked down. The castle was great, but unfortunately I've lost the glossy tourist brochure I collected with the important names and dates, so I can't impress/bore you with any historical details. Just pictures. Here's Bradley manning the cannon.
And me crossing the moat full of hungry crocodiles with nashing teeth.
Here I am again, but this time I'm up in one of the turrets fending off the invading forces with my trusty bow and arrow.
With the invading forces crushed, Bradley has time to sun himself on the window ledge.
I might be a valient archer, but I'm certainly not valient when it comes to heights...
After a hard day defending the castle, Bradley stopped for a chat with the King and a beer from the larder.
I checked on the King's herd when we reached the low lands.
That first king sized beer was so good... Why not another!
Three cheers for Portugal!
