LISBON - PORTUGAL

LISBOA -LISBON

The first things I noticed in Lisbon were the buildings. From the airport to the hotel, the structures were amazing.

THE HOTEL

Olissippo hotel in Oriente, is a four star hotel with amazing views overlooking the Tagus river. (You can request for a room with a seaside view).
The staff are friendly, English speaking and the porters are very polite and helpful with everything- you name it, from carrying baggage’s, to giving directions, helping with internet connections-very nice indeed.
The rooms are spacious, and everything is built with recent technological gadgets. Most important is that,the hotel is a walking distance from all the restaurants, beach, shopping centre,metro and aquatic museum.
This hotel should really be a five star hotel in my opinion. I strongly recommend it to anyone visiting Lisbon.You can get their address by checking for the name in Google.


LISBON

This is the capital of Portugal and is the largest city in Portugal , with a population of about 3million people. It is by the Atlantic Ocean, at the Tagus River end.
Actually, the city is called LISBOA. I have never understood why names of cities are changed from the actual names to something coined up by someone else in the hopes of making it easier to pronounce, excuse me??? Here are a few examples: Lisboa-Lisbon, Roma-Rome, Venezia-Venice, Florenzia-Florence and the list goes on. If they were Chinese characters or Eastern European characters, I would understand that maybe there is no direct translation to English, but those consonants exist in English language. I am ranting about it because it’s thoroughly confusing when you arrive in the city. You want to be sure that you are in the right place, non?


LANGUAGES & SOME EXTRAS

Lisboa is the place to go if you want a relaxed holiday where you can wine, dine, stroll beside the river at dusk, visit some museums and enjoy the fascinating structures. It’s a perfect place for honeymooners. As always, before going to a non -English speaking country, do learn a few phrases, especially food related otherwise you may go hungry for a bit.The language spoken is Portuguese and the useful phrases for me were: Bom Dia: goodmorning, Boa tarde/noite- good afternoon/evening ,gelo- ice ( importance-very high,when its hot), gelado-ice cream, arroz- rice,Quanto-how much,Por favor-please, Adeus-goodbye etc.
Note: On one of those hungry days, i mistakenly asked for " grao " i.e chicken pea.Imagine the looks the waitress gave me.



PLACES TO VISIT

• Oceanario de Lisboa or Lisbon oceanarium


• Parquet das nacoes -Nations Park


• Gare do Oriente and environs


• 1998 world expo site


• Casino Lisboa


• Torre de Belem-tower of belem


• Food experience
  
• Baixa-downtown
  
• Museu Nacional De arqueologia-National museum of Archeology
  

OCEANARIO DE LISBOA

This is an aquatic museum shaped like an aircraft, with a collection of coastal North Atlantic environments from the british isles to Western portugal.Examples of what you'd see there are:fishes, sharks,seals, some types of sea birds,birds like gulls,cormorants, terns and a host of others.Remember that Lisbon is beside the ocean,in my opinion a perfect place for an aquatic museum. Let’s go on the adventure together.

The Lisboa Oceanarium has done an amazing job in collecting some rare aquatic animals, below are some of them.










Were you for an instance thinking, what is this?It is an Octopus going back into its home.I wasn't able to get a picture with its legs out because it moved so quickly.

Above is a real star fish.

I have no clue what this fish is called.I took its picture because it is so colourful, beautiful and unique.Any aqua specialist in the house?Please drop a line educating us on what it is called.











This is the sand fish.Look very closely and you will see the outline of the fish in the sand.It is simply amazing watching them move.










Above is the almighty shark.Notice that there is no other fish in the bacground.This happens when the shark comes around.











The giant crab.It moves so slowly and majestically,raising one sharp claw after the other.










The night fish.You only see them glitter as they pass.










The Ocean Sun Fish.











Some type of ocean flora.












The Penguin's rocky habitat











Can you see some of the Penguin's in the picture above










Now here is one nibbling with its beak.










A lovely view.












A beautiful picture of two seals playing.I actually saw them flip,turn and exhibit all manner of playful behaviour.They should be in the circus.

Baby jelly fish in an incubator.

TORRE DE BELEM (TOWER OF BELEM)

Initially, I thought this monument was the entry point of slaves in the slave trade era of Portugal . It does look like one of those things, doesn’t it?
Actually,the Torre Bellem was built between 1514 and 1520.It is was built in honour of Saint Vincent and it's purpose was to defend the Tagus banks.In 1983, Unesco classified it as a world heritage site (whatever for!)
While you are at Torre Belem, please visit Cascais-Pronounced as cashkah. This area is close to the Belem tower and is where the beach is (perhaps the only
beach in Lisbon ).

FOOD EXPERIENCE

After a while, one gets hungry and believe me, while on tour, food is a major issue. The restaurants open at very strange hours 12-3pm and reopen again at 7pm till whenever. So if you have a lazy day and wake up at 12pm, have a soak for an hour, watch TV and while away time and you rush out for food at 2.30pm.Surely you can expect to go hungry till evening.

PORTUGUESE SPECIALTY-SEAFOOD

Sea food such as: Sea bass, oysters, swordfish, sardine, clams, lobster, red mullets, prawns, cockles and mussels (ever heard the song: crying cockles & mussels in primary school? I never knew they were fish)!!!

If you stay at the Olissipo hotel, you should take the tram (more about it later) to a great restaurant (just 5minutes away) called Senhor Peixe meaning Mr Fish, be prepared to spend at least 40euros per head for a great experience.BTW senhor Peixe opens at 8pm.
At Senhor Peixe, you start off by seeing an aquarium of huge live crabs, lobsters and the likes, then the staff welcome you by taking you into the restaurant to show you more seafood-oysters, shrimps and all varieties of fish. At this point you become thoroughly confused by the variety and the chef starts to recommend all sorts. (Be careful not to order too much).
Of course I tried the whole lot, lobsters, shrimps, seabass, tiger prawns,cockles; the problem of course was with one of the molluscs(i dont know it's name-i think it is called the fox), which I did not know how to handle!
I was given a hammer and palate and surgical looking pins. I had no clue how to use them. Painfully I left the mollusc on the plate.
See picture below of seafood mix (the food is already eaten halfway and this much was still remaining-and it was just the starters!!!!!!)

Now, just so that you do not make the same mistake when you want to have mollusc-fox. Here is a guide.
How are they eaten?
Knock each piece on the square palate given, either with the hammer or by using your hands, then use the surgical looking pin to pull it out, don’t suck it, okay? And for the very curious, no I didn’t try sucking it, (if this is the wrong way, please correct me in your comments, thanks).


BRAZILIAN FOOD

Brazilian food comes with a light starter of some pork strips and a bun with melted cheese on the inside, as well as some lovely soft cheese bread in small rolls-simply yummy. (Note that the starters are paid for by you, even though you are not told. You can refuse it though.)
The rest of the food went absolutely wrong; the menu was all in Portuguese and only one waiter could speak a bit of English. So I ended up with a Moroccain
fish which I never heard of before and some strange looking rice. You can deduce that I didn’t enjoy it but had fresh mango juice as a consolation. That was
nice.


JAPANESE FOOD-THE SUSHI EXPERIENCE

This was another adventure. Husband and I went in there to have regular Japanese food. We were seated in front of the chefs (it was an open restaurant) who
were getting Sushi dishes ready, and we started discussing why we would never try Sushi, especially after watching the Fear Factor experiences.(you know that program?)

THEN the chef kindly offered us a mixed plate of raw fish and all (sushi) and said it was a gift from the house, he would be offended if we didn’t try it.
WOW! Now this was fear factor staring us in the face.
One after the other with the chop sticks, we ate each piece and we finished it. It was wonderful. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the full dish,
so below picture only shows the left over’s, with salads and soup.

(pic of remaining Sushi.)










Below is a dish of Japanese dumplings.The loveliest dumplings i have ever had.













Enough said about food, lets continue looking around Lisboa.



CASINO LISBOA












Located at the Parque das Nacoes area, is one of the worlds technologically advanced casinos. Inside there are three floors for games and gambling. There is also a live band, and a round roulette table used for eating. Read this- the table moves very slowly in a circle with the people sitting around it also moving. So imagine you were sitting at spot X, facing the band when you got there, after 20minutes, you will be backing the band-it’s amazing!!
The casino also has two elevators, one moves very slowly so that you can capture its beauty, while the other moves at regular speed. It’s also got books and a few restaurants.

For some odd reason, police men are in the casinos, it is uncomfortable having them there. As a matter of fact, the police are everywhere in Lisbon . At noon, they are driving around and in the late afternoons and evenings they are in shorts, riding bicycles and getting a tan..


Cameras cannot be used in the
casino Lisboa.










Various views of the casino showing the changing lights.




PARQUE DAS NACOES

A lovely park area overlooking the Tagus River , with water fountains, not your regular type, done very flamboyantly like all Lisboa structures.
Restaurants and other state of the art buildings are also here and this is one of the places where you can take the tram.
In case you didn’t know, a tram is a method of transportation used in places inaccessible by other means of transport e.g. hills, above water and it is run by electricity.
The tram in this area is a great way to view some parts of the picturesque city of Lisboa.




























GARE DO ORIENTE











This area is where the shopping malls, train station, metro, and cinema are. It is huge (we got lost in it) and beautiful. Transparent with water flowing on the roof-to cool it I guess.
While at the shopping mall, do stop at VITAMINAS for some fresh juices and salads. Do also stop at soap factory, they have lovely soap packages there and of course
spoil yourself at Zara-the NO 1 shop. Ha-ha.


STATE OF THE ART BUILDINGS

For lovers of architecture look below to see some pictures of Lisboa’s buildings.











A restauant,built in the middle of the water,like the oceanario AND it really looks like that house in the Yanni video,the one in the water, remember?




















A housing comlexe in Bella Vista.



























I am not sure what this is.An office complex?It was in front of the hotel.















Another office complex.













This building doesnt look very good in the picture.Each layer flicks outwards like a birds wings. Thats the best description i can give.

























office complexes above.Notice the V-shape opening in the middle of the second building.It creates a feeling that the building is falling.











Another one, an exhibition centre i suppose.It is opposite the Museo Archeologia which you are just about to read.




MUSEO NACIONAL DE ARCHEOLOGIA












This is an archeological museum.i went in reluctantly to take a look.This is because after seeing Rome, i was certain no other museums could match what Rome has.I was right, but nevertheless this museum can also hold its own.The first picture shows the interior design while the second one shows a demonstration of death of some sort.Perharps of a saint-it was in portuguese.Nice, but definitely seen better, you know where.If you cannot see the pictures clearly, sorry about it,that is because flash was not allowed in the museum.

OTHER PLACES OF INTEREST


If you have more time on your hands, other places to visit are:

PARQUE DAS NACOES-PARK OF THE NATIONS
what to see:The 1998 world expo centre and

BAIXA-heart of the city or the downtown area.


Did you like/dislike the write up? Or you have something you would like me to add,please leave a comment for me.Do not forget to take the poll also.


For now it is Ate a vista and Adeus(see you later and bye),

Yemisi