When looking for a round-trip ticket from Mali to Michigan, we unabashedly took the cheapest option available, even if it had us scheduled on our return flight for a 16 hour layover is Lisbon, Portugal. Never a pair to miss an opportunity, we decided to leave the airport and tour the city, despite being exhausted, jet-lagged, and burdened by our luggage. It was worth it.
Before leaving the US, we looked into one thing: how to get from the airport to the city. And it turns out that Lisbon has a great deal for long-layover tourists. For about $5 you can get access on public transport for 24 hours, which includes airport shuttles, buses, and trolley cars. Once we got downtown, it was just a matter of studying the various free tourist maps we had collected at the airport to know where to go next. As you can see, we consulted our maps quite a bit.
Lisbon has a few popular districts. From the Rossio plaza (where Joye is reading a map above), one can walk down a tiled shopping street (left) exit out near a cluster of government buildings (right), and enjoy a view of the river (where James is reading a map above). Being close to the Atlantic Ocean, Lisbon has a nautical feel to it, and was pleasantly smaller than other European capitals like Paris or Rome.
From here, we took a trolley car up one of the Lisbon’s seven hills to get a overview of its historic districts, complete with its winding roads and red-roofed houses. Believe it or not, this was Jim’s first time in a trolley car, so this was almost more exciting for him than anything else.
Then we took a half hour bus ride to the Belem district to catch some more tourist sites. But on the way, we both fell asleep, so that we arrived, our first task was to find a park, eat a PB&J lunch from the US, and take a nap. Afterward, we went to Lisbon’s famous monastery, famed to be the most beautiful building in the city. Inside the high-vaulted church was the tomb of the most famous Portuguese explorer. Can you guess who?
The monastery is only a hop, skip, and a jump away from two other destinations. First, the Monument to the Discoveries (left), a large monolith commemorating how awesome Portugal was at discovering new locations and losing most of them to other European countries. And finally, the Tower of Belem (right), which protected Lisbon at the mouth of its river, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean. Feet and backs aching, we then made our way back to the airport.
Overall, we liked Lisbon and felt that we were able to see the exterior of nearly all of its tourist destinations in one day. Our regrets are that we had a very limited amount of Euros and time and so did not indulge in Portuguese cuisine or go into any museums. Also, due the times of our layover, we did not experience any nightlife, which is supposed to be pretty fun in that region. Alas, you can’t do everything, or maybe on the next lay-over. :)
ANSWER: The explorer was Vasco da Gama. Some might say Christopher Columbus, but he was not actually Portuguese. He was financed by the Portuguese monarch but originated from the city-state of Genoa, now located in north-western Italy. Remember that for Jeopardy. :)
Thanks for reading,
-James (& Joye) Allen
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