Well finally it’s time for me to update by blog with a post about my (un)recent holiday to Lisbon. I actually went at the end of March, and got back at the start of April, but it’s only now that I get around to updating my blog 
So here it is - I’ve written a short bit about each day and what we got up to. Expect photos and videos circa 2009…
27/03/2007
Cat and I went to Phil’s so we could all get a taxi together to the coachway. The taxi that arrived was a Toyota, with 427,000 miles on the clock! That’s the distance to the moon and back! Could this have been a sign of what was to come? We got on the coach, and just about managed to get on to the motorway, when we sensed something was wrong. The coach was moving very slowly, and it would have taken us days to get to the airport. Our fears were confirmed when the coach driver pulled up on to the hard shoulder, taking out a dozen cones at the same time. The driver was on the phone, and talking to someone else, we could hear that there was a problem with her gears apparently. Fortunately, just when I had visions of being stuck in the UK for the week, the coach magically came back to life. At the airport, the usual check-in and waiting took place, and the plane was fortunately not a biplane. On the other side, all of our bags turned up, sans-Phil’s, so we had the joy of waiting over an hour for Phil to speak with the people to arrange for it to come when it turned up. When back at Cat’s, a few of us went to the supermarket to get some essential provisions. We went to a restaurant, and then to the bar, then back home and to bed.
28/03/2007
We got the bus and the ferry to central Lisbon and went to the tourist centre. We went for a wander round and picked up some travel passes. Then we went to one of my favourite places in Lisbon, the Irish pub, and had a cider before going to the seafood restaurant back on the other side of the river Tejo (I had steak). Back at Cat’s flat, I discovered an unprotected wireless access point, so I was able to use Beup on my DS to talk to people on MSN. It was actually really cool. It also meant I could use my phone to browse the internet too!!
29/03/2007
We headed back to the city and up the hill to the cathedral, which was very nice. A bit further up the hill, we stopped off for some food and a beer. Pretty much everyone had sardines, and great fun eating them. I abstained Then we went to the castle where Cat used to work. They have a periscope that has a full 360° view of the city. Cat used to operate it when she worked there, and informed us that the script and the jokes they use are the same ones she and her friends came up with years ago. We walked back down through the neighbourhood of Alfama, which has very narrow paths and streets (good luck to anyone delivering a washing machine there). No trip to the centre would be complete without a trip to the Irish pub. When back at Cat’s we played poker, where I destroyed all and won everything. For dinner we went to Cat’s favourite Italian restaurant. Becca had a problem because all Italian cuisine has something in it that she cannot eat. That said, every cuisine has things I don’t eat!! (albeit Becca’s is a serious allergy, and mine is all in my crazy mo-fo head!)
30/03/2007
We left the others to fend for themselves now they knew how to get around, and went to Cat’s father’s. Cat and I went to the ID office as she needed to get her ID renewed. We met up with Cat’s dad and we went to a traditional restaurant and had a fabulous lunch of a lamb and potato casserole of sorts on bread. A group of people at the other table entertained us all with some impromptu singing. If only I had known the words I would have joined in. Later on Cat and I went to meet her mother at the café in Alges, before walking round the shops trying to find a coat and some shoes. We went to the Chinese restaurant where Rita met up with us, before heading back to Cat’s father’s and to sleep.
31/03/2007
We got up reasonably late, barely in time for a rabbit lunch, which I tried for the first time. Then - no surprises here - we went to the Irish pub and met up with Rita and Xana. I was engrossed in the football scores which were on Sky TV. Derby were winning. Then Cat and I got the tube and the train to Vanda’s. Vanda was at the police station after a calamitous “adventure” at the police station. We had a lovely dinner and some more fantastic chocolate mousse. We got the train back, and there were some very dodgy looking types on the train! Fortunately we got back ok, and fell into bed.
01/04/2007
This was our lazy day. I played DS, read a book, browsed the net, got Jeronimo.co.uk back online as it was down, and did as little as possible. In the evening I watched Befica draw 1 a-piece with Porto (which I predicted before the match) and watched the dreadful Ocean’s Twelve. The only other thing worthy of mentioning was the predictable April Fool’s joke we played on the others, which was to tell them that Cat and I were getting married.
02/04/2007
We went to Alges and Cat had a wax and a haircut. She went for a much different style to how she had before, and had it cut short. Later on we met up with Cat’s dad and Dan and travelled to Alvalade to watch Sporting beat Beira Mar (correctly predicted again) 2-0. Because of the time, and meeting up with Cat’s friends later and such, Dan wasn’t sure if we were still going to get something to eat together, and so his classic line “Does that mean I still get fed?” was born! We all had dinner of Nando’s style chicken before taking Dan back to the others.
03/04/2007
We were up at 7am to get ready to go out. We met the others at 8am at the Hard Rock Café to go to Sintra on our day trip!! We got on a minibus with our guides, Hugo, Patrick and Sofia, and headed out of the city of Lisbon. Our first stop was the Queluz Palace. There is a miltary building there also. But the main stop was the Palácio da Pena, the palace in Sintra. It is at the top of a very steep, very high hill that just seemed to go up and up and up! But once there it was fantastic. We saw the throne made of rock, the gardens, the slippery paths, and some fantastic views of the ocean. Inside the palace we were able to see some of the rooms, and learned a lot about the history of the palace and of Sintra itself. We also saw many other palaces on the way back down the mountain. It’s a very rich and lovely place. We had lunch and some traditional pastries, and I learned how to say tree (árvore! árvore! árvore!). We then visited Cabo da Roca, the most western point in mainland Europe, went on the beach where I touched the Atlantic for the first time ever, and had ice creams in Cascais. Then it was time to head back to Lisbon. Sadly Phil left his glasses in the minibus by mistake, so we had to recover those before Cat, Phil, Dan and moi got a snack and got on the tube and went to the theatre via some gardens (public ones not private). We watched a Bach and Schubert concert which was excellent. Sat behind us were some ladies boasting to each other about the concert. We all went back to Cat’s dad’s in his car, with four of us on the back seat with Cat lying (illegally) on top of us. We had a meal of spaghetti and pork, with some good music and good conversation before taking Phil and Dan back and completing the perfect day.
04/04/2007
Pasteis de Belém!! Then to Alges to see Cat’s mum and Vanda. Then some shopping. I have a note here which says “Cat’s ass too big”. I don’t know what I was talking about there. We went back to the café and met Rita, then to Cat’s mum’s to pick up some lovely tea towels she had made for us. On the way back we had to get off the tram because there had been someone run over by a bus and so the trams were being cancelled. We ate sugared almonds while resting, and then Cat went out with Rita and Xana to some pubs while I stayed and rested.
05/04/2007
We had breakfast and packed, and had a fairly lazy morning. Our coach tickets were booked for the wrong time, so I rang to get them changed. We went to meet the others at the ferry port to get the flat keys, but then went to have lunch at the restaurant over the street from Cat’s dad’s. I had an excellent oven cooked veal. I must find out how it’s cooked! We went to the airport to meet the others. Cat bought a Portuguese book which she has wanted to get for a while. We got back to the UK fairly late, waited for a while at the coach station and then got home. Another lovely holiday was over, and I had a great time
