Well, where do I start? I left the UK on Wednesday 24 April 2002 to
start a new life in Lisbon. My furniture and other worldly possessions
left the UK on the previous Friday to sail to Lisbon and were due to arrive
in port the day after I did – which meant that for the next few days I
was anxiously eying up the docks to see if I could see my container. Portugal
is renowned for its Bank Holidays and of course that week it had one,
which meant that most people take the following day and make a long weekend
of it – not very usefulto someone who is keen to know if her home has
arrived safely.
We eventually moved into a flat on 1 May, under the walls of Castelo
do Sao Jorge. It is on the top (fourth floor) with views over the River
Tejo (Tagus) and the lower part of the city. We were so lucky to get it
because flat hunting in this country is not an easy business. It is a
large flat as it has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen, dining room
and sitting room. We also have a 2 foot wide veranda at the front as well
as a small outside area to hang washing, but the bonus is that we also
have a garden which backs up under the castle wall – luckily we are shielded
by lemon trees and vegetation.
The roads around the area are quite narrow and even more restricted
by the fact that the parking rules mean that you park where you can i.e.
on the pavement, against walls, often leaving just enough room for something
to go through – most cars (and some are very expensive) sports cars along
the doors and battered wing mirrors etc because of it. The pavements are
very bumpy as they are made up of small blocks of stone – high heels are
a definite liability – something with suckers would be more useful!
I’ve found a great store, it’s Spanish “El Cortes Ingles”
– a John Lewis and Waitrose over nine floors (John Lewis), basement
(Waitrose) and three underground levels of parking! And on Sunday we noticed
that they have opened a massive UCI cinema complex inside as well. The
shop also delivers!!!! Bliss.
The weather has been glorious and I cannot tell you what it is like
to sit at the dining room table and watch the sun go down over the river
and the 24 of April Bridge. It is also great fun watching all the ferries/car
ferries and cruise ships going up and down and backwards and forwards.
“The World” was in port a few weeks ago – that is certainly
some ship. Saturdays and Sundays there are quite a few yachts out as well
as speedboats. I keep waiting for a nasty accident as sometimes it looks
like they are on a collision course with the ferries. Oh and the last
ferries are at 2.30am – bit of a change from last bus from Swindon to
Malmesbury at 6.15pm!!
Tourism seems to have felt the effect of 11 September as the number
of cruise ships is certainly less than normal but at least it means you
don't get blown out of bed by them sounding their horns coming into
port at unearthly hours.
The whole transport system puts the UK to shame. Everything works and
properly. Even the trams that were built in Sheffield before or just after
the war still operate and look quite quaint compared to the huge new ones
covered in adverts for Kit-Kat and Sagres Beer. Prices are so low: a return
ticket for a 20 minute trip was 55 centimes – not even 1 Euro.
I am having Portuguese lessons three times a week, which is challenging
and trying to watch as many programmes with subtitles as possible. We
have cable TV, which means we get BBC Prime (good for catching up on Eastenders)
and BBC World.
Eating lots of fish – we found a wonderful place, a warren of rooms
(probably totally condemnable in the UK) and if you get in there early
(12.00) you can get a table. You sit very small (and rather uncomfortable)
wooden stools and for the princely sum of £7 ($10) for two of us,
we had a bottle of house wine, two soups, two fish with large salad, two
desserts, two coffees and two ports. Service is something that still has
a long way to go before it reaches what we would class the norm, so you
have to expect some Monty Python type situations occasionally, but in
general they like the English very much and find it flattering when you
choose to eat their home cooking.
We have had two water cuts – one totally unexpected which went on for
about nine hours (ugh) and one today from 9am – 6pm but at least
this time I was forewarned and able to store water so we could have drinks
etc. When it came back on it was a delightful shade of rust!
To contact Sally and find out more about Lisbon, e-mail: