An early start!
We were both up at 1.30am this morning, and it felt horrible! I was dreaming that I'd arranged for a Spanish coach to take us to Heathrow, so when Sophie woke me up, it took me a while to feel awake!
We both showered and dressed and woke Keith to say goodbye. I made coffee to take with us and told the cats they couldn't go out... it was 2am in the morning! We put the case in the car, said goodbye to Keith and the cats and set out. I was aware that parts of the A45 were closed but we were able to follow diversion signs that took us up and over the roundabouts. At one point we had to stop, and there was a motorbike behind us, which spooked us a bit, but before long, we were on the M1 and heading towards Heathrow Airport and Terminal Five.
We had one small holdup when they closed the M1 but we were soon back on track and we arrived at the airport parking at about 4am. We checked in, and they took the car key (something I wasn't expecting as we had parked in a drop-off zone and the car would be moved), and we boarded a bus to the airport.
We were too early for the British Airways bag drop, so we mooched over to a Caffe Nero outlet and had a coffee. I'd been hoping to get rid of the suitcase as early as possible but we had to wait until about 5am. Sophie expertly printed off our boarding passes and the luggage tag and we dropped the bag off.
I was dreading security, as usual, and I had to have a body scan and be frisked. It's always the way! I hate it! Once through, we headed into a very busy departures lounge and Sophie had some porridge from Pret A Manger. We both sat and whiled away the wait with our books and people-watching. It's always fascinating!
Our gate was perhaps the furthest away it could be, but soon we were on board and anxiously waiting to see who would be our seat companions... We had selected two aisle seats but our neighbours were fine! I was surprised by how cramped the seats were, though. My knees felt like they were up around my chin and I had expected a little more space with BA. It felt more like an EasyJet flight!
Once we'd taken off we were given a bottle of water and a snack and then I tried to snooze away the two-hour, twenty-minute flight. Our pilot made good time and we arrived in sunny Lisbon at 9.30am, a little earlier than scheduled. Hooray!
Brexit consequences...
We were bussed from the plane to the terminal and Sophie made use of the facilities as soon as we got to the building. When we emerged, we arrived at the passport control section and the queues were horrendous. About twenty lanes were queuing in that awful up-and-down way so beloved of airports, and it took us two hours to get through. I don't think I have ever queued for that long, not even at a US airport where the immigration rules are much stricter.
Everybody looked fed up, especially when we looked over at the EU queue which was tiny... I'm not sure this was fully explained to us when the UK voted to leave the EU! We eventually made it to the desk, had our passports stamped and headed to baggage reclaim.
However, we'd been so long queuing that we couldn't find our bags. Our flight had disappeared off the monitors! We wandered up and down the baggage hall and asked a couple of people who had been on our flight if they knew where the suitcases were. Luckily, someone said they'd found their luggage so we took off in the direction of the carousel and found our cases! Phew!
Uber bother!
There was also a queue to go through customs, and by now we were thoroughly fed up with the airport. Sophie called up an Uber and we headed to a special section where pre-booked, online taxis could be taken. The Ubers (or Bolts) arrived, parked in a space and their customers loaded the luggage into car boots and off they went. Our man arrived but before we could exit, he pulled over to go and get a ticket. All the other cars were leaving without doing this... why were we different?
We watched as he tried in vain to obtain or validate a ticket but in the end, he gave up and came back to the car with a face like thunder. He drove down to the next level where the exits were, but he couldn't go through the barriers so we had to wait again while he went off to sort it out. By now, it was almost midday and all we wanted to do was get to the hotel, unpack, freshen up and find somewhere for lunch.
The computer says no...
Once our driver was back with the ticket, we had a pleasant journey to our hotel, The Real Palacio. It was exciting being in a brand-new city (and country) and we took in all the sights and smells. It was a beautiful day with blue skies and gorgeous sunshine!
The journey didn't take long and we were soon outside the hotel. At reception, we checked in but we were told our room wasn't ready yet. This was a blow, as we really wanted to freshen up and unpack. However, there was nothing we could do, so we left the suitcase and Sophie's rucksack in the hotel's safekeeping and went off in search of lunch.
One of the things we wanted to do most on this holiday was sit in the sun with either a glass of wine or a cold beer, and we quickly achieved that aim! We set off down the road, turned a corner and spotted a small restaurant with people sitting outside. We took a seat and asked for the menu. congratulating ourselves that we had found somewhere so quickly!
Sitting in the sun
Our menu was in Portuguese (obviously) with no English translations. The language bears a lot of similarities to Spanish, but the pronunciation is slightly different. We managed to order a beer each (a large one) and had a good look at the menu. Neither of us wanted a large lunch as we were looking forward to dinner, so we picked out omelettes, served with French Fries and salad. The waiter tried to tempt us into a different, very meaty dish, but we said no. This was our first experience of the Portuguese wanting us to do things their way!
In Portugal, you're normally given bread, butter, cheese and olives, which you have to pay for. You're quite entitled to say no, but as we were starving, we fell upon the food like ravenous wolves! They even had little pots of fish to spread on the bread! We were soon to learn that Lisbon is a very fishy city!
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| Lunch, first day. |
Our omelette and chips were perfect and all we wanted from lunch. It was heaven to sit and watch the street life, and the small restaurant gradually filled up with what looked like local diners.
By now, both of us were feeling sleepy and I would have done anything for a lie-down and a nap! We finally, after a lot of attempts, managed to ask for the bill but our waiter disappeared and never did bring it over to us! We had to go into the restaurant and pay at the bar! Had he fallen out with us because we didn't follow his recommendation for food?
The computer says no again...
Over lunch I realised I'd forgotten my sunglasses so we popped to the Aldi opposite to see if they had any in the middle aisle. They didn't, but it was interesting to see how different the supermarket was from the one at home!
Leaving there, we wandered off along the street and spotted a pharmacy. This street was very busy and there was a large restaurant with people eating and drinking on the corner. We walked to the pharmacy but they didn't have sunnies, so we decided to make our way back to the hotel and see if our room was ready. We had been spoiled in Berlin because whenever we arrived, we were always able to get into our room!
We arrived at reception and spoke to a drippy girl about the room, explaining that we had been travelling all day. She poked the computer a few times, spoke to another receptionist and then said it wasn't ready. We asked if she knew when, and she replied about 3pm...
I couldn't face going back outside and traipsing about with no real plan of where we wanted to go (the hotel was in a good location, but there were no sights nearby), so we decided to sit in the lounge of the hotel and read our books. I fell asleep sitting up and by 3.30pm, we decided to try again. Another guest was also trying to get into his room but luckily, ours was ready and we were given the room cards and told we were on the second floor.
Nap time
Our room faced the busy street and I soon had the double doors open so I could gaze down at all the comings and goings below. This is one of the things I love doing in a town or city as I can't do it at home!
We unpacked the case and Sophie had a shower. I lay down on the bed and fell asleep. I was shattered!
When I woke up I had a long, hot shower and spent a pleasant half hour watching parents arrive to pick up their offspring from what we thought was a convent nursery (we'd seen two nuns earlier). At 6pm it was busy with parents arriving and abandoning their cars all over the road while they went to collect their tinies.
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| View from our window |
Evening delights
We'd decided to eat in the hotel tonight and I'd booked a table for 7.30pm. We went down and had a drink in the hotel's Sports Bar first and chose Sangria. The Sports Bar was heavily themed and was a pleasant place to sit and have a drink. I called Keith to say we were watching football!
The Sangria was delicious and we were given a little bowl of peanuts to accompany our drinks. We sat and chatted and had another drink. It was heaven to know I didn't have to drive anywhere and could fully relax!
At 7.30pm we made our way to the beautiful restaurant called Real Cozinha, which we thought meant kitchen or cuisine. I'd already looked at the menu and it seemed reasonable. We took our seats by the window which delighted me, as I could look out at the street!
Our waiter brought us bread, butter and olives and we looked at the menu. We skipped starters and we both chose chicken served with grilled courgettes and an intriguing sausage crumb. I chose a bottle of Vinho Verde to accompany the meal.
Our waiter was a quirky one - he smelt heavily of aftershave, was missing quite a few teeth and was at first a bit surly and unfriendly. However, the music playing in the background was from my era and when I mentioned REM he came alive! He said that the track playing was from when he was a lot younger and that you can't go back to those times, this said a bit wistfully. It was a bit deep from a waiter, but we warmed to him after that!
Our main courses arrived and the food was delicious:
We managed to find room for pudding, and although I asked for a dish called "Chocolate Textures" I was given a dessert similar to a Key Lime Pie. The waiter apologised and said there'd been a computer mix-up! We forgave him, though, as he'd kept our wine glasses topped up all night and he was great, albeit still a bit surly! I imagined him going home at the end of his shift, maybe on the Metro or the bus, to an apartment he shared with his wife who'd waited up for him and was watching television...
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| Sophie's creme brulee |
The meal, and the evening, had been lovely, but we were truly shattered now and more than ready for bed!
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