Tag Archives: lisbon

Portugal day 7: More Lisbon explorations…

13 Saturday Sep 2025

Posted by in Architecture, Food and drink, Photography, Portugal, Railways, Travel

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I’m a day late with this blog, mainly because we were out most of the day and by the time we got home it was too late to blog as we were both knackered!

Staying in the gorgeous Editory Riverside hotel at Santa Apolónia station had many advantages (apart from me being able to photograph trains with ease). The station has a wonderful, boulangerie, the Marie Blachère – which became our go-to for wonderful pastries like this. Sitting out in the sun with a coffee and pastry was a great way to begin the day.

There’s also a well-stocked and reasonably priced ‘pingo doce’ supermarket where you can buy goodies for your journey. Our journey first took us out to Oriente station where we changed for a suburban train for the 50 minute trip to Sintra, a town to the North-West of Lisbon.

Sintra’s the terminus of two routes from Lisbon. One from Rossio station the the centre of town, the other from Oriente. Both routes are worked by these Class 2300 and 2400 EMUs seen at Cintra.

Sintra’s like Disneyland for the wealthy. It’s full of outrageous palaces and other architectural marvels. No wonder it was the haunt of people like Lord Byron. Nowadays it’s an even bigger draw with its narrow streets clogged with gawping tourists keen to get the perfect picture of themselves stood in the way of something. Even so, the town’s still worth visiting. Here’s a taste of what’s to be seen.

Quinta da Regaleira is an extravagant early 20th century palace and gardens.
Castelo dos Mouros – If Monty Python built castles! In reality, this Moorish masterpiece was built in the 10th century.
How’s this for a town hall?

Having baked in the sun and worn through a decent amount of shoe-leather we caught the train back into Lisbon, this time arriving at Rossio station in the centre of town. We toyed with the idea of catching the No 28 tram but seeing the queues at the start of the route we flagged that idea and walked home in order to have a rest and chance to freshen up before venturing out to eat.

Another of the advantages of our hotel is that it’s at the edge of the old Alfama district. Its narrow streets are packed with restaurants and bars to suit most tastes (and price brackets). As it was our last night we found one where we could dine alfresco whilst watching the world go by. We plumped for do Vigário Pub and Records, a laid-back and friendly little place which does good tapas style dishes, craft beers, local wines – and music.

Laid-back life on do Vigário…

Whilst our city tours are coming to an end we’re not leaving Portugal yet. We leave Lisbon to head back South by train to the Algarve and several more days kicking back in Olhos de Água, where I hope to have time to catch up with more blogging and picture editing…

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Portugal day 6: Lisbon explorations…

11 Thursday Sep 2025

Posted by in Photography, Portugal, Travel

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We’ve had a great day exploring Lisbon and areas old and new. Neither of us have been back since our last visit in 2010 and it’s fair to say the city’s changed a bit – and not all for the better.

We started out walking into the centre from Santa Apolónia, then heading over to Cais do Sodré station to catch a train out to Belem, a couple of miles Westwards along the Tagus river. The town has lovely waterfront walks and a few historic sights like the Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Monument to the Discoveries) which is a tasteful and whitewashed celebration of colonialism without mentioning any of the realities or drawbacks. Still, it looks nice. Just don’t ask how many of these idealised explorers had syphilis or other diseases, or how they treated the indigenous peoples of the places they ‘discovered’.

Belem also provides great views of the massive double-deck Ponte 25 de Abril bridge, where the railway runs below the road to span the Tagus.

Having walked miles in the sun we caught the train back into central Lisbon where we played tram Bingo, grabbing whatever service came first that was heading in the general direction of Martim Monez, where we hoped to pick up route 28. The queues we saw when we got there put us off straight away, so we opted to explore the backstreets on foot, which was a sensible move as we loved what we found that way. Except for one thing. It’s painfully obvious why the trams are so unreliable nowadays – the narrow roads are choked with vehicles that never existed when we were here in 2010. Now there’s hundreds of ‘tuk-tuks’, fake vintage cars, golf-buggies and medium size tourist buses clogging every street – many of them empty and cruising the streets looking for trade, or blocking every spare inch of road and pavement. It’s chaos.

No wonder the tram timetable’s a work of fiction, public transport’s being sabotaged by things like this, which are turning the narrow streets into an endless traffic-jam.

As a photographer, I found the old town very frustrating. Trying to replicate atmospheric shots of trams traversing the narrow streets is next to impossible when there’s a queue of cars/tuk-tuks/deliveroo drivers surrounding them. Here’s one of my few successes.

Frustrations aside, we did enjoy wandering the backstreets, especially when we got away from the main routes. The Alfama area is a delight to explore, when you haven’t got a travel guide and just follow your nose so come across stuff like this.

We’ve another day to explore the city tomorrow before heading back South to the Algarve, so expect more backstreet images…

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Portugal day 5: Migrating to Lisbon…

10 Wednesday Sep 2025

Posted by in Photography, Portugal, Railways, Travel

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We’ve begun the trek back to the Algarve from Porto, a place both of us really didn’t want to leave. It’s a fascinating city the pair of us rather fell in love with. Personally, it has everything I enjoy, amazing architecture, cosmopolitan people, great food and drink – and interesting transport infrastructure. What’s not to like?

Well, maybe the weather – especially this morning as we left when it was chucking down. That said, it was a minor inconvenience. A bus to the station stopped right outside our hotel. At 07:10, it took us 20 minutes to Campanhã through sodden, deserted streets. We sought refuge in a cafe opposite the station and fortified ourselves with coffee whilst watching the locals come and go. I love people-watching and cafes and bars around railway stations are ideal observation points.

Our intercity train South arrived a few minutes late and lost time throughout, but that wasn’t a problem as (in theory) we couldn’t check into our hotel for another three hours after arriving at Lisbon Santa Apolónia. The weather was miserable throughout the trip so there was little to do but doze on the packed train. Fortunately, conditions broke as we approached the city outskirts. To add to the brightening mood we didn’t need to kick our heels in Lisbon either as the hotel had our room readily available. Oh, I forgot to mention, we hadn’t far to go as for the next three nights we’re staying at the station in the gorgeous Editory Riverside hotel! Both the hotel and station have a lovely feel to them – as I hope this selection of pictures portray.

We’ve not done a huge amount on our first day in Lisbon, mainly because our attempt to traverse the No 28 tram route was foiled by the service falling down. We gave up after waiting over an hour for a tram, but we’ll try again tomorrow.

In the meantime, here’s some of what we have been up to.

The weather was still a bit moody when we arrived, as this sky over Praça do Comércio illustrates…
Residential tower block? Almost. This was a cruise ship moored in the dock by the station.
Name the Otis Redding song (thanks to Dawn for spotting this image).
Lisbon Santa Apolónia station is a relaxed place, but it has a lovely atmosphere and great facilities
The lobby of our hotel. Nice, innit?
We’re on the 2nd floor, where the window at the end of the corridor allows this view across the station.

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312