From now on i will try to pen down the travelogues in Portugal .
So after my first week of Portugal . i soon got adjusted to the culture, living style of Portugal and so days were passing swiftly . I began my first travel in country during Diwali . It was 9th November , my first diwali outside my country . I knew being a non traditional bastion for indians , i wasnt expecting anythin spectactular display of fireworks .. and yeah i was right . I took a day off from the work and went to the capital - Lisbon , the reason being i knew that there was a temple in Lisbon and that quite a significant amount of hindu population lived in Lisbon.. so we started on thursday night from coimbra to lisbon . The journey was an experience. we contacted the only guy we knew from Lisbon - an indian, Sowmya to tell him that we would be coming over his place and told him that we would join him by 10-11 pm .he said he would be waiting for us at some place as he wud be returning from office that time . We agreed to meet there . It looked all smooth and all set but it turned out to be something different . We reached the Bus Station at around 8.15pm to check in the bus to Lisbon and Ticket lady gives a shocker saying that next bus is the last bus and it starts at 10pm.
we had no other choice except to sit and wait for the bus . Finally the bus came at 10pm and we left for Lisbon .. The bus was painfully slow . It was 12am and we still did not reach lisbon ..Sowmya finally gave a message that he would be leaving and gave us the directions to home . We were puzzled .. It was new city , different langauge, and most importantly it was almost 1 am . we were not sure how to go ahead to the place he said. Finally we reached Sete Rios , Lisbon at around 1 am . The place we were heading was Amoreiras- Campolide.. We had no clue how to go there . There were two buses which ply in that route but we werent sure about the timings and whether buses ply at this time.. Metro in Lisbon closes at 1am . so we ruled out metro . Using broken portuguese phrases gestures and English we reached a place jsut outside Alvalade Stadium.. and then we saw few taxis coming .. We did not want to use taxis because we werent sure abt safety plus we thought it wud be costly .. Finally with no choice left . we reached for taxis. He looked old and mean . I was wondering what would be happen next .. Me and Sridhar got down and told the address ..He started moving taking taxi in zig zag roads.. i was confused .. but to my relief he took to the right place and we reached my friend´s place at arnd 1.15 am. it was cold , dark night and we managed to pull off ourselves in a strange city .
Pointers
- Lisbon is one of the safest cities in Europe. You can roam on the streets even at 2-3 am
- The modern part of Lisbon just looks like anyother major city like Mumbai or Delhi .. Nothin Spectacular ..
- Taxis in Lisbon start at 2€ which incidently is cheaper thn Coimbra ..
- Metro in Lisbon is not very well expanded.. covers most of the parts but not all and Metro closes by 1 am
- Buses in Portugal are no different than india .. They are slow and they do not start at the given time with the exceptions of International Departures
- Roads in Portugal are smoooth . Great for driving
- Portugal Main Cities - Lisbon- Coimbra- Porto are connected by the main Highway A1which is called Highway of Portugal
- Metro sign in Lisbon is designated as Half M written in Red
- The Main Transport Hubs in Lisbon are Oriente, Entrecampos , Sete Rios and Santa Apolonia
Bom fim Semana.. Adeus
