Portugal - Lisbon

The last morning in Lisbon was a bit hard, as I stayed up watching TV quite late. The plane would leave very late in the evening, so not long before noon we visited the nearby Lisbon Oceanarium.

I loved it! There's a central big aquarium, where you can see rays and sharks among other fish. The other animals and plants are on different levels above around the main central aquarium. There was a big room for penguins and some other birds. It was very nice, and there was even ice around. Next door were a couple of sea otters. I fell in love! They were so cute, I could have watched them all day. I did take some nice video of them. They're so bendy.

There were many smaller and bigger displays. I really enjoyed looking at jellyfish, as they are very beautiful. My favourites were the White-spotted jellyfish. I saw two bump into each other, and they sprang apart like bumper cars. There were also some amphibians, though they were hard to take pictures of, because they were often hiding or the lighting wasn't sufficient enough.

We had lunch at the cafeteria. They have a pretty good one, with set prices. It was quite busy with many families eating there.

I also liked that in the main area they had sculptures out of plastic bottles. I'm very much into recycling, and I wish that everyone, everywhere did it. Also, as they said in Captain Planet: "Remember the three Rs. Reduce Reuse Recycle!"

There was also a very nice temporary exhibit, which at first I wasn't sure if I wanted to check out, but I'm so glad I did. “Forests Underwater by Takashi Amano” is a great display of Japanese aquarium design. You can see some of it in the second half of my video. It's so beautiful and relaxing, I felt like I was being hugged. I've heard not long before that empty spaces are important in Japanese designs, and this showed that so well. I just wish there weren't kids running about so much, because the atmosphere really wasn't for screaming kids.

Afterwards, we went with the areal lifts to the other end of the harbour. It was quite fun, in spite of me being afraid of heights. 

We slowly went back to the hotel to get the car. From there, we went on to the airport, and did all the usual things. The waiting room for Wizzair is awful. Overcrowded, still a bit under construction, few toilets. It took some time to find a chair. Of course, the plane was also late. The plane that was going to take us to Hungary arrived around the time when it was supposed to take off. The representatives didn't even tell anyone what was going on. People stood in line for hours to check in, when the plane wasn't even there. Then once it was there, they opened the gates, and everyone went outside, where a storm was brewing. Cold winds blew, sporadic rain. We just stood outside, while people were still getting off. It felt like forever. We were so happy when we could finally sit down, almost at the time when the plane was supposed to arrive to Budapest.

What they should have done was once they knew the plane was so late, they made an announcement, and had everyone sit down to wait. Then when people could actually walk up the plane, then open the gates.

To make matters worse, it was pouring in Budapest. Since we had to walk outside from the plane to the terminal, everyone was soaked.

Overall, I liked Portugal. Nice place, good food. The weather was terrible, and it was July. The week before and after? Summer heat. Next time when I travel anywhere in the summer, I'm taking winter clothes.

Portugal - Pena Park and Cabo da Roca

We started off to Sintra later than I would have liked, as it was quite a way from Lisbon. We passed through the city itself first, which I wished we had more time for as it looked very nice. We saw a very cute tiny car on the roads. It was something you could rent. It has four wheels, and could seat two people one behind the other.

When we got to the actual park, there were a lot of parking spaces, but as the weather was nice and it was a weekend in July, a lot of people trying to find a space. It took us almost an hour to actually put the car down finally. 

There was a long line at the ticket office as well, but meanwhile I got a map and plotted out the route we should take. Once inside, we were hungry, and had a sandwich at the buffet. That's when we began the long trek to the Chalet. It's a nice route. Took us through the Valley of Lakes, a part with horses, and some nice streams.

We finally reached the Chalet, but needed to pay extra to get in. It was interesting to read about the history of the building downstairs. It almost completely burned down, but thanks to donations, it was being built back up. There were some rooms still being done, but it was beautiful. I really loved the ceilings and walls with the wooden inlays.

Then came the long climb back up to the castle. However, it was worth the climb, as I really loved it. The colours are great, and some of the wall is covered by tiles. We went up to the buffet for a bite. It was very dirty up there, with a lot of trash. However, the view was lovely, so if it was cleaned up better, it would be a lovely place to sit.

Then we went around, exploring the castle. Going through the inside was slow going, as there was an Asian group that we couldn't avoid. I generally really dislike groups, as they always manage to stand just in front of things that I want to take a picture of, or hold me up, or something like that. This was sort of okay, I guess. Outside, the weather was getting worse. The wind was picking up, and there were dark clouds coming.

We left the park, and got back into the car, off to Cabo da Roca. That is the Westernmost point of Portugal. The weather was getting worse, and I wished I had brought longer trousers. By the time we got the point, it was really bad. The wind was blowing, and the sand was going everywhere. It was in my eyes, my mouth, my nose. Little rocks pelted my exposed legs to the point that it actually hurt. I only wanted to take a few pictures and then be on my way. Of course, that wasn't the case. However, I did end up discovering that if you went into a little restaurant in the resting area, by the souvenir shop, then that was protected from the weather, and had nice views. 

Soon after we finally went back to the hotel. I was exhausted and not really in the mood for dinner.

Portugal - Peniche and Lisbon

I woke up in Braga, and I had to admit that I would miss the bathtub and the view. Especially the view from the tub. If I could have had at least the bathtub shipped home, I would have.

It being a Saturday, there was no work, so we headed back to Lisbon. On the way, we stopped in Peniche, or rather, the beach at Peniche. The weather was okay, though the wind a bit chilly. My knees started to hurt, and I was sure that the temperature would drop come evening. The first beach location was Papôa, which is a kind of tiny peninsula. Under the rocks there was a very interesting part, but all a bit slippery, and I had to pay very close attention to where I was stepping. I kind of wished I had my rock climbing shoes. There was a guy fishing at the very tip of the rocks, but I found this almost flat rock where I got a bit of sun. I almost fell asleep to the sound of the waves.

After that I was getting tired and ready to go to Lisbon, but we ended up going to another point, the Lighthouse of Cabo Carvoeiro. The lighthouse itself was fine, but the surroundings! Lots of cats, and I saw a cat lady feeding them, There was also trash everywhere. And birds. It also smelled. It was all kind of disgusting. I also had to climb down a really steep set of rocks, and my bad knees were getting worse. By the end I was really in pain. Not my favourite part of Portugal, and definitely needs some cleaning up!

In the evening we finally arrived to the hotel, Ibis Lisboa Parque das Nacoes. A budget affair, but in a good location.

Review:

Functional

This is a budget hotel, and there's no escaping that. However, the location is good, so if you're not bothered much by how fancy the hotel is, this is the place for you.

Let's start with the room. It's really quite small. The bed took up most of the room, and the rest of the floor was taken up by my suitcase. It had a desk and a place to sit, though my window looked over a wall. The TV was small, but there was a good selection of channels, and some in English as well. 

The bathroom was not as small as it could have been. It had a shower, which was a comfortable size. There was some soap that I could use in the shower, and towels. A hairdryer too.

Breakfast was nice. Not a massive selection, but a good one. A problem spot was the single orange juicer, which even broke down one morning. It needs to be automatic, or there need to be more of them, because that was the bottle-neck in the flow of breakfast.

Overall, a comfortable, functional hotel in a central location.

After checking in, we went to have dinner. I really wasn't much in the mood, as I had a killer headache, and the weather was turning cold and bad again. However, on the way back from the nearby mall where they had a Vitaminas, there was a surprise. They were holding some sort of a celebration of the local samba schools, and there were dancers and music around. I stayed, and shot a really long video. I was in a much better mood when I got back to my room. Thanks to the painkiller I took, my headache felt better too.