Week 65 – Lisbon

There was quite a difference between Algarve and Lisbon. Capital instead of steep coasts. Many people instead of much landscape. Traffic in Lisbon is rather exhausting and after taking our rental once to get to an appointment within the town the rental car stayed in the car park. And we changed to metro, taxi or tuk-tuk. That worked fine.

We only took our breakfast once in the five star hotel and rather went for the rest of the week to small cafes which are also visited by the inhabitants. That was nice. At the hotel there was a lot of chaos and stress at the buffet. The waiter were overchallenged and it was noisy and hectically. That is not our idea of a relaxed breakfast.

The touristic highlights have also not been our cup of tea. Dozens of coaches which spill out big tourist groups and people that queue in front of a bakery as if there would be no more cake tomorrow. That is not interesting for us. Also we keep off sights that one can only visit with a guided tour.

Instead we stroll through the hidden alleys far away from the suggested paths. When we visit something we love to do it in our tempo without a guide that tells all the same anecdotes or boast with their knowledge by asking question to which only they know the answers.

We love to be surprised. If we want to know something we ask – in trouble even google. The best food you won’t get right beside the sights anyway but in the second or third row of the streets and where the tourists don’t go to. So we have discovered in Lisbon corners and restaurants that were fantastic. We had the best ice cream and listened to wonderful fado. We ate very good fish and lot of fun with the locals also while talking with hands and feet and whatever it takes.

As there are very very many things that are worth seeing in Lisbon we also had much work to do. And though Lisbon is rather small but the traffic is chaotic you need much longer to get from A to B. Even by taxi you are sometimes not much faster though they can use the bus lane.

And that seemed not be enough because we had again to fight annoying bureaucracy. When will that ever stop? The city of Bochum complained about our pollution badge and asked for our statement. So we told them that our car has been imported from Germany to Austria and back from Austria to Germany. So the car have had several badges during these years. Even the front shield had been exchanged after a stone impact. Each time we got a new badge. But the town of Bochum did not really refer to our statement and demands now that we get a new badge within one week. Ha, ha. We are in Portugal right now. Our car is in Germany. In case that we can proof by photo that we got a new badge we have to pay a fine otherwise it would cost us 108 Euros. Seriously Stadt Bochum? Only because you think our badge is not valid???

And after a long time we had problems with our laundry. In Lisbon there are laundromats… but… automatically to each load detergents, desinfection, enzymes and fabric softener will be added. Don’t Portuguese wear functional clothes? And what are enzymes doing in the laundry, please? So we tried again to find a washing machine in the hotel. Unfortunately this time it did not work out. They put our laundry to their hotel laundry service. They are kind of greedy concerning the price for it. For us or rather Olimar they made a special price though. So we got our 17 pieces washed for the bargain price of 95 Euros. But my tiny soap nut bag has been washed, emptied, dried and… ironed!! Ha ha. Maybe the first soap nut bag worldwide that received this treatment. Each piece has been delivered in a separate plastic bag by the way. What a madness!

Den ausführlichen Bericht zu Lissabon könnt Ihr Euch hier anschauen:

Lisbon and Surrounding

And now to something completely different:

We are fully booked until the end of the year 2016! YEAH! But in 2017 we are bookable. Have a look at our tour dates.

We are still looking for a new waltzing mobile. And we are looking for a destination where we can spend actually our holidays. So if you have any hints or recommendations let us know.

And now we are looking forward to Porto!