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Loquacious Lisbon

Advantages: A Vibrant City with a Cosmopolitan Atmosphere
Disadvantages: A bit hilly for some

Lisbon or Lisboa is the capital of Portugal and enjoys a marvellous position. To the northeast of the city the River Tagus opens out to form the shining Mar de Palha (sea of straw). The city stands on the northwest bank of this lake just before it narrows and flows out into the Atlantic Ocean. For miles and miles, homes, factories, warehouses and port installations carpet the steep hills and valleys along the estuary. Lisbon is sometimes called the Cidade Branca, the White City but actually its colour is really a matt pastel shade. The best view of the city can be enjoyed from one of the many excellent fish restaurants in Cacilhas on the south bank of the river. Between Alfama (see my review), the labyrinth of narrow alleys on the citadel hill, and the elevated Bairro Alto, lies the flat plain of the city centre, the Cidade Baixa ...

Praski 28.09.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: exceptional
Review of Lisbon (Portugal)

There is more to Portugal than the Algarve - visit Lisbon

Advantages: Easy to get around and different quirky places to visit, everyone speaks English
Disadvantages: The City seems a bit 'faded glory'- places uncared for and tired

. It is an unusual looking piece of architecture, quite ornate and the lift itself is polished wood with two bench seats. Once you get to the top you have an excellent view up to the Castel de Sao Jorge and fortified walls, down to the river Tagus and also over Rossio square. You then walk out over a metal walkway under a church buttress into the area of Alfama with its old fashioned narrow tram lines, hilly cobbled narrow streets and balconied houses. In the square there was a wonderful display of blooming Jacarandas set against a pink building in the sunshine ? a real photo opportunity. We were then driven through to the area of a former Expo now called the Park of Nations and we left Lisbon by the other famous bridge across the Tagus, the Vasco de Gama Bridge which was completed in 1998 and is the second longest bridge in Europe at 17 ...

catsholiday 21.06.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Lisbon (Portugal)

Lisbon - Capital City On A Human Scale

Advantages: Plenty to see, good food, the trams, nice people
Disadvantages: Can't think of any, unless you count having a really odd-sounding language!

I?ve been to Portugal before, both the more popular Algarve in the south and some quieter regions in the far north on the border with Galicia in Spain. I?ve even been to Oporto, its other major city, but somehow, the capital, Lisbon, had always eluded me. Up until the weekend of the ?Glasgow Airport Security Alert? that is ? can I pick a great time to be dependant on planes or what? If there?s one thing more uncertain than how it will affect getting there, it?s wondering how it will affect getting home! Courtesy of some creative accounting at my wife?s school they ended up with a four day break, Friday being a ?SATS marking day? (my wife had done hers), and Monday being a bona fide ?occasional day?, which is not to be sniffed at since it?s an opportunity for those tied to school holidays by marriage, (i.e. me) to take a break when ...

BNibbles 14.07.2007 (29.07.2007) · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Lisbon (Portugal)