Lovely Lisbon

Our short three day stint in Lisbon is drawing to a close, but we have really enjoyed what we've seen. First of all, the weather has been absolutely PERFECT with bright sunny skies and highs in the 70's. We can see why so many British people like to vacation here! The apartment we rented worked out beautifully, especially the fact that we had a washer so we now have a clean wardrobe. The downside is that it didn't have internet access (I was sure I had asked the guy about that, but I guess not) so we ended up findng a service we could sign up with for a nominal amount. Anyway......

We visited the monument to the discoverers, which is one of the landmarks of Lisbon and dedicated to the early explorers who set off for the new world. In addition, we visited the Sao Jorge Castle which was really an amazing sight. If you want to read more about it, click here. It is built on the highest of Lisbon's seven hills and affords an unobstructed 360 degree view of Lisbon and the Tejo river. We were able to up in one of the towers where they have a periscopic camera where they reflect the view from the top of the tower onto a screen so you can see all of Lisbon while the guide points out all the major areas of the city. There are also resident peacocks on the grounds of the castle that put on quite a show as well. Well worth our 7 euro admission!

It's also been interesting listening to Portuguse being spoken all around us since I thought I'd be able to recognize more of it because I know Spanish. True enough, there are some words that are remarkably like Spanish, but then there are some that don't sound familiar at all! In fact, sometimes, the language almost sounds eastern European and we could swear that when they announce the subway stops in English on the train, it sounds like someone with a Russian accent.

Well, we're heading out bright and early tomorrow morning for a 7:30 flight to Madrid. Should be a pretty short one which is good, because from there we'll be renting a car and driving up to Bilbao, about a 4 hour drive. So we'll be back where we started in Spain for the next posting.......

Hugs to all,

David & Jim