Lisbon
Just got back from Lisbon, Portugal. First and lasting impression: It is tourist oriented. A lot of the service personnel speaks English too.
Spent two nights there at a Hostel. When looking for Hostels to stay, I would recommend using hostels listed under Hostelling International (www.hihostels.com). This trip, for 16 euros, it comes with a bed, sheets, breakfast of hot drink, cold drink, bread, cheese/ham and yoghurt.
For day trips, one of the best way to travel around is to buy a day fare ticket. The metro and bus network is run by two different companies. However, the day fare ticket allows you to take metro, bus and tram (which is widely used in Lisbon). For 3.85 euros, get a "7 Colina". A nice disposable paper ticket which has embedded chips to be used like EZ Link (Singapore) or Oyster (London) card. Interesting thing is, you'll have to tap to exit as well.
Some of the places on the list of to visit are Bario Alto, Alfama, Belem and Baixa.
First day, I reached at about 1pm. Clickair delayed for 2 hours! The hostel was near to Marquis Pombal. It is basically a roundabout with a statue, typical of roundabouts here.
The objective of the day was to visit Alfama (Castelo de Sant Jorge and Catedral) and Baixa District. Being a thrifty person, it was planned to walk all the way! The trip to the Castle and Catedral was a climb instead of walk, and my knee was giving way by the time I reached the top. So, I took a tram on the way down. Near the Baixa District, there was this impressive 105 years old escalator built by the Bus Operator - Carris.
A shot in the day was not that impressive. It was kinda difficult to find which angle is good for this building. BUT, at night, it was a total different story. The contrast of the lighting with the blue sky was fantastic (fanta-bulous I would say)
Anyway, back on to the day trip.
There's this Arc De Triomf look-a-like entrance near the sea. By the way, Lisbon was a famous port back in the old days. There were too many people at the Arc De Triomf look-a-like. So, I decided to shoot the other way.
Anyway, at night, I had Chinese Buffet (don't ask me why). I was trying to look for alternatives and I saw this pastry shop, selling the so-called Portugese Egg Tart!! Of course, being in Portugal, how can I not miss this. 6 pieces for 4.50 Euros. Reasonably priced.
That's all for the day. Time to head back, rest, and prepare for the next day.
The next day's plan was to go to Belem District to visit Jeronimos Monastery and Torre Belem. On the way there, there was this long bridge connecting Lisbon Central to another land across the River. I'm not so interested in geography actually, BUT, the bridge was fascinating, coupled with the wonderful blue sky, it was a deadly combination.
The benefit of buying the "7 Colinas" is you're allowed to take multiple trips with 1 ticket for the day. So, along the way, I got off the tram/bus several times in view of interesting sights. By the way, beware of pickpockets on the tram/bus.
Anyway, finally I reached the Jeronimos. Impressive piece of building. Also, judging by the amount of visitors there, it's evident of it's level of touristic attraction!
Entering some portion of the Monastery was free, other portion ain't. So naturally I went into the free admission portion. As usual, 1 sign shows the dos and don'ts while being inside. It shows: No flash photography, no tripod, and silence. People just don't understand what it means of no flash photography and silence. There was a service going on in the Monastery for goodness sake.
Well, no flash photography posed a big challenge. So I went off to shoot at the interior architecture.
Jeronimos Monastery ain't the only attraction of the Belem district. There's the Torre Belem as well. While walking there (yes, it's loads of walking), there was a statue with figurines of scholars, humbled and standing/crouching behind this figuring of an explorer. Well, enough of descriptions. I just like this picture of Sun hidden behind Statue.
Finally, Torre Belem. Nice. Enough said.
[Actually, most things with background of blue sky is nice. If you check the links of the photos posted, those with 'Medium' in the file name, has not been ps-ed at all. Those without 'Medium' in this series, has been ps-ed slightly]
There was this plane structure near the Torre Belem (Belem Tower). First look is "Oh, there's a plane here." Further scrutiny of the plate at the base of the structure shows that it's the first propeller plane which crossed the Atlantic Ocean!
To finish off the brighter part of the day, I visited Campo Pequeno, which means Small Camp. It's actually a shopping centre, converted from old structure of BULL FIGHT RING! Well, nothing to be excited about actually, come to think of it. There are quite a few shopping centres like this.
[to be continued/edited]
Spent two nights there at a Hostel. When looking for Hostels to stay, I would recommend using hostels listed under Hostelling International (www.hihostels.com). This trip, for 16 euros, it comes with a bed, sheets, breakfast of hot drink, cold drink, bread, cheese/ham and yoghurt.
For day trips, one of the best way to travel around is to buy a day fare ticket. The metro and bus network is run by two different companies. However, the day fare ticket allows you to take metro, bus and tram (which is widely used in Lisbon). For 3.85 euros, get a "7 Colina". A nice disposable paper ticket which has embedded chips to be used like EZ Link (Singapore) or Oyster (London) card. Interesting thing is, you'll have to tap to exit as well.
Some of the places on the list of to visit are Bario Alto, Alfama, Belem and Baixa.
First day, I reached at about 1pm. Clickair delayed for 2 hours! The hostel was near to Marquis Pombal. It is basically a roundabout with a statue, typical of roundabouts here.
The objective of the day was to visit Alfama (Castelo de Sant Jorge and Catedral) and Baixa District. Being a thrifty person, it was planned to walk all the way! The trip to the Castle and Catedral was a climb instead of walk, and my knee was giving way by the time I reached the top. So, I took a tram on the way down. Near the Baixa District, there was this impressive 105 years old escalator built by the Bus Operator - Carris.
A shot in the day was not that impressive. It was kinda difficult to find which angle is good for this building. BUT, at night, it was a total different story. The contrast of the lighting with the blue sky was fantastic (fanta-bulous I would say)
Anyway, back on to the day trip.
There's this Arc De Triomf look-a-like entrance near the sea. By the way, Lisbon was a famous port back in the old days. There were too many people at the Arc De Triomf look-a-like. So, I decided to shoot the other way.
Anyway, at night, I had Chinese Buffet (don't ask me why). I was trying to look for alternatives and I saw this pastry shop, selling the so-called Portugese Egg Tart!! Of course, being in Portugal, how can I not miss this. 6 pieces for 4.50 Euros. Reasonably priced.
That's all for the day. Time to head back, rest, and prepare for the next day.
The next day's plan was to go to Belem District to visit Jeronimos Monastery and Torre Belem. On the way there, there was this long bridge connecting Lisbon Central to another land across the River. I'm not so interested in geography actually, BUT, the bridge was fascinating, coupled with the wonderful blue sky, it was a deadly combination.
The benefit of buying the "7 Colinas" is you're allowed to take multiple trips with 1 ticket for the day. So, along the way, I got off the tram/bus several times in view of interesting sights. By the way, beware of pickpockets on the tram/bus.
Anyway, finally I reached the Jeronimos. Impressive piece of building. Also, judging by the amount of visitors there, it's evident of it's level of touristic attraction!
Entering some portion of the Monastery was free, other portion ain't. So naturally I went into the free admission portion. As usual, 1 sign shows the dos and don'ts while being inside. It shows: No flash photography, no tripod, and silence. People just don't understand what it means of no flash photography and silence. There was a service going on in the Monastery for goodness sake.
Well, no flash photography posed a big challenge. So I went off to shoot at the interior architecture.
Jeronimos Monastery ain't the only attraction of the Belem district. There's the Torre Belem as well. While walking there (yes, it's loads of walking), there was a statue with figurines of scholars, humbled and standing/crouching behind this figuring of an explorer. Well, enough of descriptions. I just like this picture of Sun hidden behind Statue.
Finally, Torre Belem. Nice. Enough said.
[Actually, most things with background of blue sky is nice. If you check the links of the photos posted, those with 'Medium' in the file name, has not been ps-ed at all. Those without 'Medium' in this series, has been ps-ed slightly]
There was this plane structure near the Torre Belem (Belem Tower). First look is "Oh, there's a plane here." Further scrutiny of the plate at the base of the structure shows that it's the first propeller plane which crossed the Atlantic Ocean!
To finish off the brighter part of the day, I visited Campo Pequeno, which means Small Camp. It's actually a shopping centre, converted from old structure of BULL FIGHT RING! Well, nothing to be excited about actually, come to think of it. There are quite a few shopping centres like this.
[to be continued/edited]
Labels: Travel Photography
