Fifteen Hours to Lisbon

Early morning bedroom hotel scene. 0700ish. Oviedo, Spain.

Linda: “Thom. I need you to wake up.”

Me: “….mhmm?”

Linda: “Are you awake? There’s a bus to Lisbon. But if you want to go, it leaves at 0930.”

Me: (Yaaawwwwn) “Ah.. uhhh… Ok…” ...thinking… sort of. Rolling over.

Linda: “Is that what you want to do? We are just going to sit around all day, we might as well spend it on a bus. Tickets are 50 Euro for both of us. It’s either that or we fly to Rome and take a train to Palermo. Or we spend another day here, and figure it out, or we hike in the rain for a week. These are your options.

One of us clearly spends more time researching than the other.

Me: (Drowsy and warm, eyes closed, waking up a bit) “Ok. Let’s go to Lisbon.”

And so we did.

From the bus.

I had grand ambitions of catching photos of the bus ride, but I missed the first three great photos due to a lack of readiness. I gave up that idea, and stared out the window instead. I regret it now.

Gas station cortada @ 2200.

It’s 0100 fifteen hours later. It’s cold and raining. We are waiting for our Uber, but we are in Portugal.

Looking out the hostal window.

Pastis de nata and coffee for pre breakfast.

And then a bunch of street scenes in Lisbon.

The city tile/cobble work is excellent. Pity anyone in heels.

“See the apple thing?”

Senior picture.

Reminds me of a Lowry painting

Feet and Tile.

The Old Bookstore

Old tiles for sale.

Cream. Blue. Yellow.

The old stone work on the church.

Dandelion.

Trolley Line.

It’s my first time in Lisbon. I really like it. It’s visually stimulating. I enjoy using my camera here. It’s busy. It’s international. There’s a lot of different languages being spoken. It’s fun trying to speak very basic Portuguese. I am immediately a 3 year old again, trying to communicate.

We went to the Asian market for lunch. This is the BEST Asian market I’ve ever attended. The upstairs has ten different stalls offering almost any Asian craving you are feeling. It’s fantastic!

You may wonder why we went for Asian instead of Portuguese fare… In my experience, the city has a greater variety than the small towns do. So when we are in the city, we seek out the cravings we can’t get anywhere else. We know we’ll be eating Portuguese every day out on the trail.

“Abrigado!”