Awake for 34 Straight Hours!

 

We landed an hour early in Lisbon which was great!  We couldn't check into our hotel until 2:00 p.m., but they are letting us keep our packs here while we sightsee.

The first task was purchasing the Lisboa Card right at the airport.  If you are going to spend any time in Lisbon, you will want this.  For a very reasonable price you get the following benefits:

• Free use of the Metro, buses and the tram.
• A guidebook and map of all the places you can see.
• Free or heavily discounted entry into museums and other attractions.
• Free train rides to Sintra and Cascais.

We took the Metro from the airport to a stop right by our hotel.  One thing I didn't understand at first was that the sign on front of the Metro train had a number and the name of the final stop.  I thought that the number was the route number, much to my wife's annoyance.  It is, in fact, the train number.

Our first stop was two fold.  First was to visit the Marquês de Pombal which was conveniently located right by the local McDonalds.  Jill and I have had a little joke between us to visit a McDonalds in all of our travels.  Our quest for this trip is to visit a McDonalds in Lisbon, Porto, Santiago and Madrid.

With that quest accomplished, we took the Metro to the Castelo de S. Jorge, an 11th Century Castle.  The hike to it had us pass through the small walk only markets.

The view from there was amazing!

By then, it was time to check in, take a shower, and recharge the phone.  Using Google Maps everywhere was sucking up the battery.

Our final quest was to find some dinner.  We took the Metro, but ended up taking the wrong exit.  That meant that we found ourselves walking the streets randomly.  Eventually, we found a restaurant that specialized in Portuguese delicacies.

Now fed and happy, time for some sleep!