I only know one person in my circle that has been to Lisbon, and having seen the place, I’m not surprised he kept it to himself.
The architecture is similar to Paris, but with a colonial twist, sugar almond colored houses decorated with wrought iron balconies. None shabby. None graffitied. An abundance of trees and flowers are on every street, parks and piazzas on every corner, Portugal is pretty.
The streets are clean and though modern buildings suffer the scourge of tagging, giant works of street art adorn others.
The people are friendly, and although the language does sound a bit like a tape being played backwards, reading it is pretty simple.
The food, predominantly fish, is ridiculously cheap. Our first few meals being less than €11 for a main course! Portuguese wine is definitely worth a shot, Duoro is on my favorites list, and of course port and the addictive cherry wine should be sampled.
The Lutecia Hotel is home for a few days; smart, comfortable and quiet, a little out of town but with a taxi to the centre costing under €10, and a tube station on the next street, we don’t feel too far away from anything.
We are here on a Rotary convention, but today have the day free to play tourists, a Segway tour and a couple of hours on Tram 28 are planned, and I’m hopping to get lost in the up and coming designers quarter at some point too.
