Até a próxima

Or, until next time

I'm now back at home in sunny England - and in fact have been for a couple of weeks now. Before 2014 comes to an end, I thought I would bring the blog up to date with my last week in Lisbon. Never fear - all being well, there will be more to come when I return to Lisbon in mid-January.

I last posted on Thursday the 4th. Friday was a normal day at work, followed by a meal out with the friendly people from my rowing squad at a restaurant in Santos, an area I haven't been to much. There was plenty of delicious food and it was nice to spend time with the rowers outside the club for a while.

Parque Eduardo VII

I was back with the rowers down at the club on Saturday for a final session. We managed to get the boat out despite the pontoon still being unusable, and had a good row in the sunshine followed by coffee at a nearby café. I had quite a relaxed afternoon and evening, which was nice. One reason it was so quiet was that Carly was feeling under the weather, so we put our plans on hold. On Sunday I went to church and read the lesson in Carly's place. From January I'll be on the rota in my own right, which makes me feel more part of the scene. It was the first service with a new locum, who in fact is right at home in Lisbon because he was the vicar at St George's for 10 years.

After the service I spent a long time looking round a craft fair in the Estrela garden, mainly looking for Christmas presents, before wandering around the nearby streets - very peaceful, and the beautiful weather helped. I met Carly, who was on her feet again, and we had an exciting trip to the police station to report that her phone had been stolen. We weren't the only people there for that reason - several other people came in about their phones while we were there. It definitely made me think a bit harder about looking after my valuables in the street - and in fact later on, as we were walking home, someone tried to snatch Carly's bag, driving home the point that you can't be too careful.

You can't argue with that view

After another relaxing evening, Monday brought deep joy in the form of a bank holiday. I met up with Carly and Feyikemi to go to the Christmas market in Campo Pequeno, which was again full of interesting stalls with a thousand and one things for sale. After a lot of wandering round, we left and went to a café near the Gulbenkian Foundation for lunch, which was very nice. Carly and I said goodbye to Feyikemi, then walked round the Gulbenkian gardens for a bit. I headed home for a while then went out again to have dinner with Sofia, who was home from Oxford for the vacation. Her whole family and a few other guests were also there, and it was a lovely occasion.

I spent Tuesday and Wednesday at work concluding my project - it seems to have gone pretty well. On Tuesday evening I had a last dinner at home with Luísa and Elena, and on Wednesday it was the office Christmas dinner, which was suitably foody - I almost lost count of the number of courses, all of which were delicious.

"Cutting-edge street art"

That just left Thursday, which passed remarkably quickly. I got up at a reasonable time and packed pretty much everything within two or three hours. I then met Carly for one final Portuguese meal, a farewell lunch at an excellent (and good value) restaurant near her flat. I had a few errands to get done, and to cut a long story short, ended up down by the river. To make sure I had plenty of time to get to the airport, I decided to get the metro, but there was a signalling failure and no metros were running. I couldn't find any buses either, or even a taxi, so just walked/ran (quite a long way) up to Marquês de Pombal, where I finally found a taxi. The driver was extremely helpful and kind, and agreed to wait by my flat while I grabbed my suitcases, before taking me to the airport. Of course, I actually ended up there with hours to spare; check-in was very quick, my bags were the right weight, and my flight was delayed. I made full use of the free wifi and skyped Stephen at length before the plane set off. Soon I was back in chilly England, and was met by my lovely family.

The rest of my holiday is strictly outside the remit of this blog, but all being well, I will be back in a couple of weeks with news of my return to Lisbon.

Feliz Ano Novo!

Anda cá!

Or, a small child talking to animals

I've had another fun week and a half since last updating the blog with my normal diary-type entries. So, if you're interested in the round-up, here goes!

I still love this view

Things have kept to their pattern of weekdays at work, and evenings and the weekend for fun things. To summarise the former: work has carried on being work-y. I'm coming to the end of my business-planning project, so it's satisfying to feel like I'm completing something useful. The Christmas lights have also been put up and turned on outside the office windows, which is fun, and good compensation for staying at my desk until after dark most days.

Rua da Escola Politécnica at dusk, with lights. A bit hard to photograph...

Aside from that, interesting things have occurred. I've had a few rowing sessions, some on the water and some inside, either tank or erg. One reason we haven't been able to get out on the river as much as we'd like is that the bridge down to the club's pontoon somehow broke, probably in high winds. Getting boats on the water is a bit of a logistical challenge, albeit one we overcame yesterday with a daring descent down a very slippery slipway. 

It's a bit hard to tell what's going on here. Suffice it to say, it shouldn't look like this.

The weekend brought sunshine, and I spent a fair amount of Saturday (post-rowing) wandering through the city streets. I enjoyed sitting in a small garden near the Ancient Arts Museum, doing a bit of people-watching (and listening... always good for the language skills!). I watched a small boy encouraging first a cat, then a little fly to play with him - 'Anda cá! Anda cá, bichinho! Anda cá!' (Come here, little animal!) Another high point of this walk was discovering a second hand bookshop that prominently advertised the fact that its prices were in euros - but even that thirteen-year-old sign seemed to be more modern than most of the rest of the shop.

I also finally managed to eat Pão de Deus, a deliciously sweet confection of bread and coconut that various people had recommended me. It completely lived up to high expectations, and I remembered to photograph it (or rather, the remaining half of it).

What's that you say? Half-eaten food makes bad photos?

Later in the day I met Carly in the Parque Eduardo and we ended up wandering down to Rossio for a while too, before heading our separate ways for the evening. We spent most of Sunday together anyhow. Church was a little chaotic - three baptisms and a burial, as well as it being Advent Sunday and the last service with the lovely locums, Ian and Caroline. There was lunch in the hall afterwards, which was a treat, as always. Carly and I then went out aiming to do some shopping, an aim that wasn't really fulfilled. We walked down to the Baixa, and met Carly's friend Lauren there briefly, before getting the metro up to Columbo, the biggest shopping centre in Europe. It was pretty impressive, in an overwhelming way - full of people, slightly too warm, and noisy. I don't think I'll be heading back too frequently. Fortunately Carly's presence made it all bearable! In any case, a relaxing evening at home worked wonders before the start of the next week, especially skyping my family. 

Carly in Christmas-y Columbo

Monday evening brought another trip to the boat club, as did Wednesday (yesterday). But yesterday evening was particularly exciting for another reason - Laura, the rowing researcher, invited me to her flat for dinner, and then to a dance performance at her faculty, the Faculdade de Motricidade Humana. Her friend's girlfriend was in the show, which was being given by the second-year students from the dance degree programme. It was really impressive - contemporary style, with lots of solo pieces - and it was great to see a small glimpse of Portuguese university life.

Today was another normal work day, but in the evening I had another adventure, going to a book club at a wonderful bookshop in Campo de Ourique, the Livraria Ler. I hadn't actually read the book being discussed (long story: I had been reading the wrong one, because they'd changed their minds about which it was going to be), which was Eça de Queirós' Contos (short stories), but everyone made me very welcome even so. I also managed to purchase some set texts for next year's work, which can't be a bad thing. So I now have a nice stack of books to squeeze into my suitcase next week.

Bonus photo for getting to the end

Thank you for reading, everyone! Until next time.

Public transport in Lisbon: 7 tips, plus a bonus

Hello! This post is something a bit different from my normal descriptions of life in Lisbon, aiming to introduce you to the wonderful world of public transport in the city. I hope it will be useful to anyone planning a visit to this beautiful place.

Yes, it's a tram, of the traditional sort

So, without further ado:

1. There's no good substitute for planning ahead. The public transport system (known to Lisbonites simply as 'transportes') covers the city really well, but it can be difficult to work out routes on the go, as information at stops can be confusing - that is, assuming you manage to find the stop in the first place! Having a look at the metro (underground) map and the bus/tram network map will go a long way to help you with this. Likewise the suburban train routes, if you're heading further out of the city.

2. If you're waiting at the stop for a bus or tram, you need to make a clear signal that you want to get on, i.e. stick your arm out into the road. If you are facing the wrong way and don't notice the bus approaching (and therefore don't make a signal), it will drive straight past you, leaving you to wait for the next one. Yes, this has happened to me - but it's a mistake you only make once!

3. There are often helpful signs telling you how long you have to wait for a bus/tram. These are generally accurate, but can be completely wrong, especially if the weather's bad and the traffic's busy. Some stops (e.g. ones where only one route stops) do not have them at all.
The metro has a similar system, which is nearly always accurate to within 20 seconds. Yay, efficiency.

This was at about 6am, hence the '76 minutes' until the 738 arrived.

4. There are lots of different ticket options. This could get complicated, so take a deep breath and bear with me. The main types of ticket are:

• Lisboa Viva. A card valid for 6 years for the individual whose name and photo appear on it. To get it, you have to fill in a form and pay a fee (€7 to get it in 10 working days, or €12 if you want it within 1 working day). The card must be topped up with a monthly pass, costing from around €36, or more to include train travel as well as metros/buses/trams. Only worth doing if you are living in Lisbon for a long time, and using more than €36 of public transport (excluding trains) a month.
• Viva Viagem and 7 Colinas cards. These are purchased for an initial fee of €0.50 and can either be topped up with a day pass (€6 - only worth getting if you're making more than 4 journeys in 24 hours), or used for 'zapping' (pay as you go credit). Zapping can be either for a certain number of journeys, or a certain amount of credit. €5, €10 or €15 are the standard top-up amounts at machines, but if you ask at a desk, they can put a specific amount of credit on. You also receive a 'bonus' depending on how much you add, up to an extra €1.15 for €15. For zapping, each journey costs €1.25, whether it's on a bus, metro or tram. Zapping credit can also be used on suburban trains, at very reasonable prices.
  The two cards do exactly the same things, the only difference seems to be that 7 Colinas is sold in shops (e.g. newsagents), and Viva Viagem is sold by the machines in metro stations. They can be used for up to a year after the date of purchase.
Bonus tip: The system in Porto is pretty similar. The Andante card is basically the same as Viva Viagem and 7 Colinas.

5. There are two different types of trams: the traditional sort, pictured above, and the new 'supertrams'. They can use the same lines, but they operate on different routes. The 12E, 18E, 25E and 28E are the traditional sort. The 15E is the modern sort.

An example of a 15E, closely followed by a bus, in case you couldn't recognise it.

6. On the subject of different route numbers - I don't really know how the system works, although bus routes are three digits, 7**. Tram routes are **E.

7. Watch out for strikes. They happen alarmingly frequently (to a British mind). The helpful website Há Greve? (slogan: see if you'll manage to get to work) can tell you whether there are any strikes planned for the next few days.

Have fun! If you have any questions, just ask me in the comments and I'll do my best to answer.