Lisbon

I've always wanted to visit Portugal and Lisbon was at the top of my places to visit  and so in November 2022 I finally did. I used to live on Portuguese Macau, located in South China near Hong Kong and was fascinated by the blend of Portuguese and Chinese architecture. Friends kept telling me to visit Portugal especially as they knew that I liked Portuguese food. I enjoyed Macau and Lisbon wasn't to disappoint either. 

Whenever I travel, I try to visit a mix of free and paid attractions as this helps with costing my trips. Besides, there are so many free attractions in many towns and cities if you do your research beforehand. I do like to look at statues of local people as often they tell fascinating stories. On my first day I found the statue of José Tomás de Sousa Martin, a doctor renowned for his work for the poor in Lisbon, who died on 18th August 1897 in Alhandra. After his death, a secular cult arose around his personality in which he is thanked for miraculous" cures and today grateful people leave plaques of gratitude by his statue. 

Lisbon has numerous museums on a variety of subjects and I managed to visit two of them on this trip,  plus two other major attractions. The money museum, owned by the Bank of Portugal, was a free attraction, telling the story of money, finance and banking in Portugal. The second was the 'Lisbon Story' which was an interactive museum.  On entering you are given an audio guide to listen to as you walk around the exhibitions.  Absolutely brilliant and well worth the €6.50 entrance fee. 

One of my passions when I travel is visiting castles and Lisbon Castle was not only interesting to see but the views over the city were quite superb. There are seven hills around the city and the views from the castle and the Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara  are certainly the best.  The other attractions, located at Oriente, were the cable car and the oceanarium. The array of fish and other marine life inside the oceanarium were incredible,  especially the central tank containing the sharks and rays. The sun fish were also a crowd pleaser due to their box shape body and small fins. The other marine exhibits of coral reefs and sea horses were just incredible to see. One of the best attractions I've visited in years and well worth the €28 fee for both.

Portugal is known for the popular egg custard tarts or Pastel de Nata  as the local call them. Simply delicious and they are sold on every street corner. I naturally made frequent stops for coffee and nata which was nice. My hotel also had them on the breakfast buffet, which was a bonus. If I'm honest I could quite easily have spent a month in Lisbon as there is just so much to see. I can't wait to return again and visit other towns and cities in Portugal.