First Day in Lisbon

After a short night in Dublin I was back on my way to the airport to take the early flight to Lisbon.  I have a friend that grew up in Portugal and was going to be in Lisbon for the week so I thought there was no better time to visit than now.  However, we had a big miscommunication and/or understanding because I thought I was staying with him but when I sent him a text that I arrived he responded with "Great! Where are you staying?"  So, I spent my first few hours in Lisbon in the airport trying to connect to the internet to try to book a hotel and also visiting every store to find a travel guide in English about Lisbon as I had done zero preparation.  I then took a cab to the hotel to check-in and took a short nap to relax before heading out in the city. 

I wanted to go down to the water so I walked down the main stretch toward the water and was amazed with what I saw in such a short time.  First, I was staying next to a huge roundabout near the Eduardo VII Park.  The sidewalks themselves are all cobbled and have painted designs on them everywhere which was neat but not the most comfortable surface to walk on after a while.  There were also quite a few main squares and monuments everywhere. 

Captions: Top - Roundabout / statue by my hotel

Middle - One of the big squares on my walk to the waterfront

Bottom - Pic of the sidewalk, almost every sidewalk had a design on it!

Down near the water was another amazing, HUGE square with a monument and a big gate that was an entrance to one of the main shopping areas.

After walking around a bit I went to find dinner before my friend and his girlfriend were going to pick me up for a couple drinks.  On the way to dinner I stumbled upon a nice park with great views of the city and this view confirmed my thoughts that the city had a very Mediterranean feel to it. 

Dinner was good but should not have picked a place in my tour book because everyone there was speaking English and 3 of the 8 tables in my room had the same book I did... After dinner I met up with my friend and they took me to a couple neat bars I would have never found on my own.  The first was called "Urban Beach" and was more of a lounge / club right on the river with private sections right on the water.  Also had a great view of the Cristo Rei, the smaller statue than the one in Rio.

Next, they took me to a local place that was huge and each room has different music and a different feel to it.  It was neat because the place was filled with collectibles and each room had its own theme.  We chose the first room and I ordered a glass of Port and it was delicious.