Lisbon

5th May, Lisbon
Yesterday morning we caught the tube and bus out to the airport in Madrid. Our flight to Lisbon was pleasant enough and lasted only an hour. We got to Lisbon airport and caught a taxi to the hotel which is very pleasant and we have a private bath ... what extreme luxury! Our room is on the fourth floor again, but this time there is a lift. Having sorted ourselves out we went to explore. I had not realised that in Lisbon you are always climbing either up or down a steep hill! We headed for the Basilica da Estrela which turned out to be closed. We came back exhausted, and found on the map that we had walked the equivalent of nearly half way to the airport, a very long way! We then looked for supper, and as the hotel restaurant only opened at 7.30 (it was still about 6.15) we started to walk to the bottom of our hill and suddenly found a supermarket. So we bought various rather gorgeous goodies and set off back to the hotel. We passed the restaurant we had originally been making for and they did not appear be serving food even then. We had been keen on that place because they were advertising "skever of squid and sherimp". I checked the French part of the menu and it did mean what it seemed to. We have found that the French on notices is much better than the English, where it exists at all. Today we intend to master the underground and buses because everything is too far to walk to. I have another cold. Two in one trip to Europe is a bit excessive!

Later the same day
We set off with Ann carrying the money as usual as I am too careless about such things. We managed to work out the metro and bought our tickets from a machine. We got into a very full coach - or more accurately, we were pushed in by the crowd. After about half a minute of being jam-packed in, Ann felt uneasy about her handbag but couldn't reach down to do anything about it. She eventually found that two of the three zip compartments were open, and frantic checking when we got off at the next stop revealed her suspicions were correct: her purse with all our money had been taken. It was by then too late to do anything. Our travelling alarm and her cough sweets were also taken, but not (we don't know why) our passports and air tickets! It was Z$45 that was stolen, the money for the rest of our stay in Lisbon, and it was in cash because we were using Eurocheques not travellers cheques. We had so much cash at once because the banks are all closed over the weekend. The hotel couldn't cash a Eurocheque for us, so we have had to remain penniless! We'll survive until tomorrow on what soups we have left. After recovering from the shock of being robbed we set off for Gulbenkian Park and Museum. We found that the museum is free in Saturdays and Sundays and so went in. What an incredible collection of art Gulbenkian collected! It ranged from ancient Greek, Roman, Egyptian and Oriental to European Modern - a bit of everything, including Rembrandt, Renoir, Monet, Corot, Turner and Rodin, just a few of those I can remember.

Chinese Fo Dogs or Lions, Gulbenkian Museum.

We spent a delightful few hours there and then back to the hotel for our cup of soup each, half a pear each, a piece of orange stodge and a cup of coffee. Then I went for a walk to the bullring, walking down the Avenida da República in which it is situated. It turned out to be an extraordinary pink amphitheatre with mosque-like turrets!

Avenida da República.

Bullfighting poster for a fight at the Campo Pequeno Bullring.

Campo Pequeno Bullring, Lisbon.

I know we have a habit of arriving at airports early, but this is ridiculous. We had to be out of our hotel room at 6.00 p.m. and were ready by 5.30 p.m., so we got to the airport by 6.00 p.m. and our flight leaves at 2.30 a.m. To go back a bit: we set off after breakfast to find some botanical gardens which turned out to be closed! We continued walking and ended up in the dockyard area having been through some quite pleasant streets along the way, but sadly mostly foul, where every few minutes we were approached by shady looking men wanting to sell us Omega watches and various gold rings; and then there were the gypsies and beggars, although not as many of the latter as we saw in Madrid.

Praça Marquês de Pombal, Lisbon.

Blue Portuguese tiles in the Campo de Ourique.

Edward VII Gardens.

Billboard signage along with graffiti advertising Aliança Povo Unido (A.P.U., a left-wing electoral party active at the time).

We got back to the hotel in time for lunch (the last of our soups with a roll, which we had swiped from the breakfast table), and then we rested to prepare for the very long night ahead.

View from our pension before our last afternoon nap.

Praça de Pedro IV from where we set off for the airport.

7th May, transit lounge at Luanda Airport
We're now in transit in Luanda Airport where we are squatting on filthy carpets as there are only about twelve chairs. What a sordid, disgusting mess. The place is crawling with army, although they are not armed. Outside there are guns everywhere. There are a few trees and very little grass. How lucky we are to live in Zimbabwe!

Ray has not given the full picture. The temperature is 25^oC and humidity must be close to 100%. There is a duty free shop, closed "for balance and reparation". In fact the whole of the "transit lounge" is in a state of reparation, with painters, builders and hangers-on wandering through the whole time. Fortunately, as the outside door is left open we do get some fresh air, which is important as there is no air conditioning in evidence. There are four bright orange telephone booths adorning one wall, but they don't happen to have any phones in them!

 

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