Portugal here we come!

Friday 27th December 2024

Leaving London

We headed off to Gatwick at about 7:30am to catch our flight to Portugal. The stations were busier than I expected, but for many people this Friday morning was their first day back at work after a short Christmas break, so would have been expected by a seasoned local.

I had been enlightened the previous day of the phenomonen know as the meal deal. A fiver gets you a main lunch item (sandwiches or pasta salad type), snack and drink from Tescos.

Hence my surprise that we could get the same type of deal from Boots at the airport. A place in may experience that normally charges princely prices for pauper offerings. That was our food for the 2.5 hour flight sorted.

We arrived in Lisbon airport early afternoon and paid 1.8 Euros for the tube to city and a short wak to our hostel.

Exploring the City

We were about a 45-minute walk through the old city to the waters edge.  There was a festive feeling in the air still, with Christmans Makrets, skating and Aperol Sprits stands.  The weather was mild and dry. We ditched our coats for jumpers.

Lisbon is spacious.  The plazzas are big, the train concourses wide, and the central roads generous. Even when we wandered through narrow streets, there was room for everyone and the ever-present electric cars.

Our Hostel Accommodation

I have stayed in a few hostels over the decades. This wasn’t the worst.

We were on the second floor, and the ancient wooden stairs had a definite slope.  I imagine the sequence of engineering failures that would result in us being buried alive.

The double bed was small and lumpy, with two matching pillows.

The bathroom was a recent fitout with all the necessary white items, bath, sink, toliet, bidet.  But only one plug.  I did not relish using it in the sink to wash my face.

One towel, no toilet paper.  We  ostered the shower and stole paper from communal bathrooms.  You may well ask why we didn’t just ask for some. Well,  we learnt our lesson is futility when we inquired about where one could get boliing water in the communcal kitchen that was populated with a toy sized microwave and three plastic forks.

Having drawn the carefully considered conclusion that cooking was off the agenda, we headed to the local Aldi for fruit, bread and sandwich fillings.

We settled on early night sitting in our lumpy bed, watching the second half of Troy, and planning our excursions for the morrow.