Tapp's Travels

Lisbon here we come!  OK, I admit we set off from home a smidgeon early.  But by Exeter, I was unsure where exactly my phone was.  My “brain”!  A brief diversion to Exeter services to check before heading back to Brixham to collect it!  We had plenty of time!

Fortunately, it was hiding under our coats that we had chucked in at the last minute – mainly because the early morning weather in Brixham was typically horrid.  Cold and wet!  I got a good telling off for being totally disorganised!

The Silver Parking at Bristol airport was a smooth operation and the 60 minutes I had allowed for parking and transfer to the departure lounge was way too generous.  We ended up well over an hour before Sqeezy Jet would allow us to drop our bags.  Totally different attitude than we have experienced with Jet2  – much less customer focused.

A bottle of Prosecco, a late breakfast and an early lunch in the Escape Lounge and we forgot all about difficulties with Easy Jet.  That was, until we got to the departure lounge to find no plane waiting for us!  A late incoming flight meant late departure – made worse by missing various slots out of Bristol and into Lisbon.  Still, at least the flight wasn’t cancelled this time!  Think positive.  And arrival at Lisbon was a bit of a dream – until we got to baggage reclaim.

We were there as the belt started moving.  Our blue case arrived almost immediately but the black one didn’t.  There was a very similar looking one, black, but it had red trims.  And, as Glenda said, ours didn’t have any red on it.   As the crowds dispersed it was becoming increasingly obvious that someone had lifted our case and left their’s with the red trims for us.  After about 20 passes, this case ended up the ONLY case on the carousel.   So we pulled it off the belt to take it to “lost and found”.  “Oh look – it is ours”.  “Our case does seem to have red trims after all !!!”.

The Aerobus which we had considered using to get to the hotel had stopped running.  It stopped three years ago.  Good Intel!  Still that allowed us to experiment with the dreaded Uber.  What a revelation.  Easy, efficient, relatively cheap and with lots of useful info.  About our car, our driver, the route, maps, times, astronomical details etc….  I’m sure everyone knows this already.  But now we do too!  Not only that, but the ride was in a Tesla – our first experience.   Highlighted by one of us opening a door instead of a window while beavering through heavy traffic!  Just saying!

Our hotel is rather grand.  I guess there’s a clue in name.   Avenida Palace.

Piano recital in the bar.

Outside last night.  The hotel is on the extreme right.

… and breakfast this morning.  The only snag appears to be frequent rumbling noises.  Maybe the Metro station outside our window called “Avenida” has some bearing here!

A bit of research indicated that the hotel had never been a Palace of any sort.  It was built in 1892 as a station hotel – the International Hotel.  It was renamed a year later as the Avenida Palace.  So, no real royal connections unless Air-miles Andy stayed here back in the day.

This morning, over an hour walking down the main pedestrianised street towards the river has got us about a quarter of a mile and a cream coloured shawl – and nearly six pairs of sandals, a raincoat, a couple of tops and sixteen pairs of flared trousers.  Flared being the fashion, I’m reliably informed.  And “nearly” being a highly relevant word here!

I was on a mission to find Fado Em Si, a restaurant which has a Fado show every night.  But first, a beer on the waterfront looking out over the River Tejo (or the Tagus as it’s known in Spain where we met it several times, especially in the Monfrague National Park).  OK, so not the cheapest beer in town, but a great view of the river, the road bridge and the river ferries and tour boats.

The Fado Restaurant appears now to be called the Páteo de Alfama.  Alfama being the Fado district of the city, close to one of the cruise liner ports.  However, the restaurant doesn’t open until 7.30 pm and I bet the show doesn’t start till at least 8.30.  It’ll be past my bedtime when get home.  So we elected for a fish and chips supper (grilled salmon and Dover sole) at Restaurante Portas.  Followed by a small icecream:

Last night we had a piano master-class.  Tonight, it’s jazz night.  In a few minutes.  So I’d better finish this and get ready.

Lots more adventures to follow!