A Day of Sightseeing in Lisbon

^{Day 0: Introduction: Perfecting My Trip to Europe Using United Miles}

^{Day 1: LAX-YVR on Air Canada, Vancouver, and YVR-LHR on Air Canada}

^{Day 2: BD Number One Lounge at Heathrow and London to Lisbon on TAP Portugal}

^{Day 3: A Day of Sightseeing in Lisbon}

^{Day 4: An Unexpected Extra Day + New Years in Lisbon}

^{Day 5: 12-Hour Bus Trip from Lisbon to Algeciras, Spain via Seville}

^{Day 6: Monkeying Around in British Gibraltar + Ferry to Tangier, Morocco + Overnight Train to Marrakech}

^{Day 7: My Five Star Hotel Room in Marrakech}

^{Day 8: Bartering for Mont Blanc Pens + RAK-MAD on Royal Air Maroc}

^{Day 9: City Tour of Madrid on Foot}

^{Day 10: Escape to the Madrid Airport Hilton}

^{Day 11: MAD-FRA-CPH on Lufthansa}

^{Day 12: CPH-IAD on SAS, IAD-PHX-BUR on US Airways}

—

Day 3: A Day of Sightseeing in Lisbon – 30 Dec 2009

I slept in till 1000 (this was my vacation after all) and missed breakfast downstairs. No worries—I wasn’t hungry. The rain was back, but it was not steady and the clouds were quickly moving. It would rain for ten minutes, the clouds would blow away and the skies would be blue for about 20 minutes, then the rain would come back.

With umbrella in hand, I started walking. I am a huge museum fan, but with only one day in Lisbon (at least that was the initial plan), I elected to explore the city by foot. I walked toward the Ponte 25 de Abril, the sister bridge of the Golden Gate in San Francisco, named in honor of the 1974 Carnation Revolution that overthrew the Estado Novo dictatorship. I stopped at a fitness center on the waterfront because I had planned to keep up on my physical fitness regimen on the trip, but they wanted EU30 for a day pass. Looks like it was pushups and city running for me.

I stopped at a hole in the wall bar for brunch and had a ham and cheese omelet with French fries and a salad for 2,90. I found the food prices in Portugal were reasonable, though still higher than good ol’ bankrupt Greece and even some parts of Germany.

Later in the afternoon I took a ferry from Cais do Sobre to Cacilhas to see the Cristo Rei (Christ statue), similar to the one in Rio De Janiero. I walked around Cacilhas till dusk then returned to Lisbon for some shawarma. I planned to take a bus to Algercias, Spain the following day—positioning me for a day trip to British Gibraltar and a short ferry ride to Morocco. Plans would change, however.