Exploring Lisbon 17


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Lisbon is a city that I have only been to once before. It was the launching point for last year’s Ultimate Train Challenge and you may recall that day one on that challenge started…. poorly. When one titles a post “Day 1 of the Ultimate Train Challenge: Total, complete, miserable, abject failure,” it doesn’t take much of a leap to see the handwriting on the wall.

Then again, I really loved Lisbon in the couple days I got to spend there. So this year, I was back in Portugal for a travel blogging conference in Porto to the north and the folks at House Trip were nice enough to set me up with a few other bloggers for a couple days in a big apartment and also take us on some tours of town.

Considering one of my complaints this year to myself has been that I have mainly just been going to places and not bothering to look up from my computer to see some things, the fact they were willing to set up some tours for us was a wonderful bonus to their hospitality.

Here are a few of the pictures I took during my stay there:

colorful political graffiti in lisbon

One of the tours we took was a walking tour of Lisbon with Urban Adventures, which made me particularly happy because they are one of the sponsors of the Ultimate Train Challenge (which we pushed off to next May, by the way, so that more people could join in). They’ve been a joy to work with.

This was my first day tour with them and… I can whole-heartedly endorse them.

And I have to say that when I first started traveling, I looked down my nose a bit at taking city tours, but the more and more I continue to travel, I have realized a really well done (and not too long) city tour is about the best way to quickly acclimate yourself to your surroundings.

One thing you must do while you are here., on a tour or otherwise, is finding out where to eat the best Portuguese tarts in Lisbon.

lisbon castle in distance through buildings

One of the other features of Lisbon that completely enchanted me was the tile work on the sides of buildings all over town. It is an artistic and architectural byproduct of the times when the Moors conquered Spain and Portugal and after they were evicted, the style stayed.

Personally, I think it’s a heck of an addition to an already beautiful city.

tiled walls in lisbon portugal

 

tiled walls in libson in mosaic form

The other tour we took was a tour of the city by motorcycle and sidecars organized by Sidecar Touring Company and it was a blast. The guides were knowledgeable and fun. The vast amount of area you could cover by motorcycle got us to places I never would have normally seen.

sidecar on motorcycle closeup

 

yellow lisbon streetcar in motion

 

kid on skateboard in front of lisbon church

 

libson from tower at sunset

 

art deco eden theater in lisbon

 

Much fun. Thanks to my fellow bloggers on the trip and also to House Trip for arranging all of it.

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About Michael Hodson

I’m an attorney that took off on my birthday in December of 2008 to circumnavigate the globe without ever getting on an airplane. After 16 months, 6 continents and 44 countries, I made it all the way back home. Right now, I am back on the road writing about it all.

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