Loving Lisbon!

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So when we last blogged we were heading for a night out in Lisbon. Well that was good fun, although quite subdued. As some of you will know, people down in these parts don’t go out until late. Most bars don’t get busy until much after midnight, with clubs open till 7am. It was quite different to a night down at Queens or The New Penny – especially ringing doorbells to get in. We think we ended up in the wrong bar when we were confronted by a room full of teenage goths!

The next day, as we were suffering somewhat with a mysterious headache and Charlie had finished her Dick Francis, we decided to head for some of the spots in the surrounding area. Praia do Guincho near Cascais to the west of Lisbon was our first destination where we found a lovely campsite near a small deserted beach. This was our first chance to dig out the shorts, bikes and barbeque. It was perfect; we’re sure the neighbours didn’t mind the smoke billowing in through their front door! It was so nice we stayed for 2 nights (nothing to do with the hangovers!).


Some of the campsites we have stayed on have had wi-fi hotspots, which is great. This meant that on Mothers Day we were able to call home via Skype, and see the whole Ellis tribe crowded round the laptop on the dining room table, which was really lovely.

We spent a couple of days investigating Sintra, a hill-top town near Lisbon influenced by various monarchs trying to stamp their style on it over the years. It’s quite an amazing place. The Castelo dos Mouros is fantastic; perched on a rocky ridge over the town, the castle was built by the Moors during their occupation then taken over by Alfonso Henriques in 1147 with the help of Scandinavian crusaders. The views from the top were stunning, stretching for miles in every direction, as you can see from the photo.


The Quinta de Regaleira, a house and gardens just outside the town, is a fantastic place. The designer was theatrical set designer Luigi Manini. Everywhere you turn there are amazing follies, fairytale grottos and secret passages at the bottom of spiral staircases that go deep underground.

Both of these attractions would have been declared a health and safety nightmare in the UK. This is one of the things we’ve particularly enjoyed in Portugal so far, the laid back attitude to health and safety. If you fall off a castle wall and break your neck, well you clearly weren´t looking where you were going!

After Sintra we spent a couple of nights camped right by beaches famous in Portugal for surfing.

After a quick stop at the Mouth of Hell, where wild Atlantic waves crash into caves in the cliffs, we headed to the south side of the river Tejo. Our first stop was Cristo Rei, a statue of Jesus inspired by the one in the city of Rio and promised to god by the local church if Portugal was spared from the horrors of the second world war. It was, so this monument was built in the 50s and stands just across the river from the city of Lisbon, providing amazing views from the top on a clear day.


Next we visited the favourite beach resort of many Lisbon residents – Caparica. We had hoped to spend another night camped by the beach, but after stumbling across ... well let’s just call it a dodgy beach car park!... we decided to stay in the safety of a local campsite!

The next day we drove back across the amazing ‘25 April’ bridge, which connects Lisbon with the south side of the river. If this looks familiar, it’s because it was designed by the same people who built the Golden Gate Bridge in San Fransisco. When it was opened in the 60s it was named after the dictator of the time – Salazar - but it was quickly renamed to mark the date of the regime’s fall in 1974.


The following three days were spent exploring the centre of Lisbon, a city we have completely fallen in love with and would highly recommend. As we write this (23/3), we’re still unsure if we’re moving on tomorrow as we could happily spend a lot more time here. Rather than bore you with details of every attraction we’ve seen, here are a couple of highlights. If you want more detail, we´ll update the photo album shortly – you should find a link to this further down the page on the right hand-side.


The centre of Lisbon is spread across several hills and valleys but it has an outstanding public transport network that links the different districts. The trams, funicular railways and lifts that work so well have become tourist attractions in themselves. Flying up and down tiny, narrow, winding streets on tram number 28 was definitely one of our highlights. We could have spent the whole day going round on this!

It is a very attractive city with many interesting buildings and sunny squares full of character where people enjoy watching the world go by with a friend and a drink. They certainly have the weather for it; it’s been about 18 degrees, making it the perfect time to visit.


The Rough Guide says ‘it’s hard not to see the city as an urban funfair’. We’d certainly agree and if we do leave tomorrow, we’ll certainly be coming back at some point.