Lisbon – Part 1

Lisbon has been great. There are so many things to do here. The surroundings are very different in that lots of the buildings are very old and nearly all the paths and streets are cobble stones, all laid one by one.

Rach wasn’t feeling that well on our first day so we didn’t do any major sightseeing. We just had dinner and went for a walk around a few parts of the city and of course had a delicious serve of ice cream at Ben and Jerry’s.

 

Water Park

On our second day we headed to Oriente. Oriente literally meaning “east”. We went there for the oceanarium. Along the way we passed the largest casino in Europe and as you can imagine it’s quite large 🙂 We also walked through the water garden that had these volcanic like water fountains that were quite pretty and impressive when they let off a burst of water, just like a volcano.

 

Above Land

 

Ocean Tank

The oceanarium is similar to an aquarium but also mimics above land areas near the oceans. It had several other above ground areas that combined with aquatic areas. One area had these interesting birds that swam in the water along side the fishies :)They had an area which mimicked Antarctica with penguins and large frozen slabs of ice. The room was quite cool to replicate the normal environment. The ranger said the penguins suffer a little bit in summer as Portgual’s summer can get quite hot.

After the oceanarium we took a cable car ride across to the other side of Oriente. The cable car is similar to ski lifts but full in a fully enclosed capsule. The trip took us along the foreshore from one side of Oriente to another with Lisbon on our left and the river Tagus on the right. The river leads into the ocean surrounding Portugal.

 

Vasco Da Gama
Tower

 

Vasco Da Gama
Tower – Behind

We headed for the Vasco Da Gama tower, which gives viewers a 360 degree view over Lisbon, the river and surrounding areas. Unfortunately the tower was closed so we didn’t get to go up the top.

We then walked towards the Vasco Da Gama bridge. This is one of two bridges that links Lisbon to the other side of river Tagus. This one is huge though. It is the longest bridge in Europe with a length of just over 17 kilometres.

 

Vasco Da Gama
Bridge

 

Hi Mum

After this it was almost time for the Portugal vs Angola world cup football match. A strip in Oriente is loaded with restaurants and bars, all with either big projector screens or plasma TVs. By the start of the game there were literally thousands of people around all dressed in Portuguese colours. Jumpers, hats, flags, scarfs you name it. My auntie says the Portuguese are crazy in the head over football. I know what she means. The atmosphere was unreal. The locals were clapping and cheering when the game was about to start and loud roars when the Portuguese team came on to the playing ground. When Portugal scored the first goal the crowed went crazy waving their flags, jumping up and down dancing and cheering. Rach and I couldn’t help but laugh. As some of you may know, the Portuguese won the game and the partying in the streets kept on going and going for some, well after the game had finished. Cars all around Lisbon were beeping there horns too.