Lisbon

I am not a big city girl and I will never be! BUT... I am suffering from FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). So passing Lisbon and not going into the city, was not an option.

And Lisbon is a BIG city. Not as huge as other capitals but still big. 600 000 people are living there and 2,8 million if you include the surroundings. Mostly I was worried about driving there. I had a look for parking lots outside the city but even driving there was crazy. I am just not made for this :)

My first stop was Almada, a city and region on the other side of the Tajo river. I stopped there to visit the statue of Cristo Rei. The weather was not the best, but the view was still quite nice. You could see the famous red bridge (Ponte 25 de Abril) which looks so similar to the one in San Francisco and also see a little bit of Lisbon on the other side of the river.

From there I drove to Cacilhas and took the ferry to the city center. I walked around the old town a bit but it was quite rainy and windy, so I decided to come back the next day.

After a rather sleepless night because of loads of rain and wind I started driving to the other side of the river. Crossing the Ponte 25 de Abril (you have to pay a toll) and parking the van close to the police station. This felt safe :) From there it was a 30 minute walk to the city center. Luckily the weather was really nice and I spent a few hours exploring Lisbon by foot. I knew that the city is hilly but puhhh it was really hilly and there were quite a few very steep parts! It totally makes sense now that Lisbon is called "The city of the seven hills". Another similarity to San Francisco... The red bridge, the steep parts, the cable cars.

All in all I liked Lisbon. It was not too busy and walking around felt very safe. And I really really liked the facades of the houses! So beautiful!

The last picture is a collage of tiles I spotted while walking through Lisbon.

After visiting the city I drove a bit outside and found a really cute park in the woods. It's called Parque Florestal de Monsanto and was perfect for a tiny walk in nature. As long as you ignored the traffic noise, it was beautiful!

Tchau, Lisboa! Don't take it personally, but I don't think I will be back :)