Jet Lag in Lisbon

Taking a red eye is a great way to travel – as long as you sleep on the plane. We slept after we both bawled our eyes out watching Lion. The movie captured our attention from the get go – even though we were delayed on the tarmac for “30 planes in line before us”. At that scene (if you’ve seen the movie, you know what I am talking about) we looked at each other with tears streaming down our checks. After the movie we both slept until landing in Lisbon.

We built the bikes in the airport, in a conveniently out of the way spot behind the magazine sellers. The biggest challenge was finding enough garbage cans to take the cut up bike boxes. Our first stop was to meet our Warm Showers host, downhill all the way to the water. After a brief chat we cleaned up and promptly napped for two hours! Sleep is definitely not underrated.

For our first evening in Lisbon, we decided to explore the 1998 World Expo center – a relatively new area along the Rio Tejo. Our lodging is conveniently located one block up from the water. We followed the well maintained walk/bike way along the Camino de Santiago – Portuguese Way up to the impressive 14 km Vasco da Gama Bridge. We settled on a traditional Chinese place on the board walk for dinner – enjoying the sunset and cool breezes. It was a lovely evening to meet up with our Warm Showers host for a night cap in a cozy cafe on the river.

With the limited time spent here – I already love it! Everybody is friendly, the sky is blue and the air temperature is perfect. People are out and about on bikes and on foot. So many people out exercising. We have tasted one pastel de nata – a traditional custard tart- and are excited to become connoisseurs of fine Portuguese pastries… Off to explore Lisbon old town center.