Trip to Portugal 2018-LisbonBragaPortoCoimbraLagosLisbon-Transit London (Part 3)

Day 4- Lisbon moving to Braga

We took a regional train, and I think it takes about 3 plus to reach the destination. The train ride was smooth, and the train comes with super-efficient WIFI which makes the ride very fast and smooth. We had our breakfast at Jeorg’s apartment, and ate some remaining stuff from the previous nite in the train. I didn’t each much as my gum problem is persist and was painful. Still taking paracetamol and some fruits.

                                          Upon arrival at Braga, after checked-in, came out for a walk towards                                                      the town direction.

                                                   Train ticket to Braga from Lisbon

Taking number when you take turn (queue) to order or buy things in Pingo Doce Supermarket

On the second day to Braga, sunny day

Bus to Bom Jesus

Buying daily bus pass

When we arrived to Braga station, we moved out and took a Bus ride (actually intended to take Taxi, but the amount the driver wanted was Euro 6 and what was informed by the Air BnB host was about Euro 4), hence we took the bus to “Bom Jesus” which Euro 1.65 (to Rua Abril road). And since we do not know the actual bus stop to “unboard”, we got the driver to help out but he missed it out, and then we stopped at the wrong place, in the end we need to make a big circle of walk before we reached our apartment. And during that time, my gum problem was getting worse, and luckily the Air BNB host offered facet of Paracetamol (I initially asked for his help on where to buy if from, and he offered me free of charge). I took one, and then we moved out to the city to have a walk, but it started to rain, After walking for a short while, we were thinking about dinner, and we asked the local (passer by on where to find a super market-actually it is Pingo Doce, as recommended by the Air BnB host) and finding this place is just a blessing, as for the next 2 dinners, 3 breakfasts, we were well taken care off by what we can get at Pingo Doce, this is another thankful event that I will always remember.

Braga, the old city is just full of histories, and mesmerising in its own way. And following a local 2 hour tour helps us to understand more about Brage old historical city. Another highlight is out visit to Bom Jesus, and taking the bus ride to there from our apartment is also very convenient. We did not buy the local bus passes as we walked most of the time, and the only time we need to take bus was to and from Bom Jesus and the final time as back to the Braga train station again for our departure to Porto. Bought a small bottle of red wine and white wine from Pingo Doce which was very cheap and taste good too. Didn’t buy anything except we have given a small token of tips for the day tour (Euro 5), and no other shopping was done except we bought each other a bottle of Olive Oil to be taken back to Malaysia. At least we know the oil purity is there and reliable. After the stay in Braga, the next destination was to Porto. And from Braga to Porto, it takes also about 2 hours to arrive to Porto, and the train, in my memory looks more like a MRT, new and spacious. Had fruits lunch in the train, where we ate some cherries bought the morning before departure from Braga together with some bread. I am taking painkiller at this stage of time, cause it was getting worse. And only painkiller helps (suppose to be functional for 8 hours, but by end of 6^th hour, the pain came back). And to Porto, we have two choices, either to stop at Porto final station or Porto Campana station and we chose the latter. And there are around 6 lines for you to move around. When we arrived, we then move to the other part of Porto Campanha station (specially for metroline) what is 4 stations away from Campanha station, called Trinsdade. From this station, we walked about 600m to Cristiana;s Air BnB apartment which looks very gypsy. And we stayed here for 3 nites, and again, the local mini Mercado and Pingo Doce helped our every dinner and breakfast which we are very thankful,  not only that we ate well and full, it also helps our budget (not that we are tight, but you know sometime eating out is not worth the money spent, this is the key problem).

Choong

Braga city

Trip to Portugal 2018-LisbonBragaPortoCoimbraLagosLisbon-Transit London (Part 3)

Trip to Portugal 2018-LisbonBragaPortoCoimbraLagosLisbon-Transit London (Part 2)

Lisbon-Day 1

For a start, we bought a single-day pass from Aeroporto to the apartment we booked via Air BnB. There are basically 4 lines in Lisbon Metro, named after colors, and they are Green (Verde Line), Red (Vermelha Line), Yellow (Amarela Line) and finally Blue (Azul Line). Very easy, and for us, is taking from the airport (Aeroporto) to S. Sebastio (using Red Line) and then changed to Blue line, until we reached our station, that was Altos dos Moinhos. And from the station, if was a walking of 4 blocks away, to reach our prebooked apartment. It was rather confusing as it was first time in Portugal and need to ask for guidance from road siders a few times, which they gladly helped. And due to the late arrival (we were asked to arrive around 12noon, and due to the delay at the immigration) we managed to arrive to the apartment only around 1.10 PM, and as expected, the house owner is not around and not having our mobile roaming, it was hard to contact the house owner. And that worries us, as we have baggage and how to travel around the city with the luggage tagging us?  But then again, you know as long as we have a will, then a way will be found and finally, and being the resourceful me, I just brought up this topic in a café (the shop we went for our lunch break before deciding the next move) and the lady in the store (who helped to translate) and the shop-owner agreed to offer us his space to put our luggage until 7PM, which is very helpful as the Air BnB host will be back by then. And to show our appreciation, we agreed to take our dinner at his restaurant, as a way to say thank you to him for his kind assistance (also take note he takes no fee for his kind deeds and we are grateful for his kind help).

Daily pass, you can get this at the airport Metro-Station       

And within the next few hours, it was just exploring the city, first part of the journey with our daily 24 hours pass. Not knowing where to head to, we just asked a passer-by in a metro Station, and he suggested 3 places or stations, and they are Cais Do Sodre, Martim Moniz and Baixa-Chiado. And the first station we went to was Cais do Sodre….and we walked around the beach area, moving towards Baixa-Chiado and Rossio (of course at that time, we weren’t aware the name of these places until later). And around 6PM, we took the Metro, and again, went back to the café to first, have our dinner there and then collect our baggage before walking back to the apartment we booked. Everything went well, we met the house owner (one of them) Joerg, and we got our room, showered and slept. Before that, Jeorg was nice to explain where we should book our train ticket, which station to use, and what we would like to have for breakfast (it was part of the BnB package deal).

(Day pass, metro pass)

Key notes: Daily Metro pass cost Euro 6.30 for 24 hours, is good enough to travel and cover the whole city.

We bought also another kind of pass (which includes train and visit to museum, which cost about Euro 16 per person). This I think we have not fully utilised as most places we do not visit or we might not have enough time to use it, except the famous tram ride.

 Some one the places visit (just walking around Lisbon upon arrival:

                                          Lots of Bakery

Super famous Portuguese tarts

                                          One of the infamous Mercado in Lisbon-We had our meal here lunch here on the final day at Lisbon

Menu u see from restaurant around

Wine I found at the restaurant we took our lunch on day 1 (the place we we were allowed to keep our luggage

Home-Air BnB-Day 1

Lisbon- Day 2

Slept for a few hours, and due to jetlag, woke up around 3am local time (there is about 7 hours difference compare to Malaysian time), and went back to sleep, and woke up again around 8am I think, then our breakfast. Breakfast was good and memorable because the bread Jeorg baked was just superb, tasty and delicious and we finished the whole loaf on the first day. And with the home made fruit jams, butter, cheese and hams (also good tea), it was a very good breakfast which we enjoyed a lot. This is worth mentioning.

Then, on this day, we went to explore different parts of the cities, bought our ticket to Braga, bought cherries and strawberries which are in the season,  and in the afternoon, went for the infamous Tram 28 ride, where the picking up point was at Martim Moniz.

Note: Tram 28 ride did not bring us to the destination we would like to visit, that was to the castle, and we finally managed to find our way, by walking to the destination and by asking a policeman, and then we got to our destination, just around the sunset time. In a way, I always believe that the Universe has already made a kind of pre-arrangement. You experienced different things, and the right thing will come when the time comes, and it happen just at the right time. And you need to be very positive and aligned to it.

I have not mentioned about food. Day 1, was at the café next to our Air BnB apartment, day 2 was a tortillas wrap from McD with and later salad from the restaurant with a plain Pizza from the restaurant in Rossio. Day 3 was some cakes from another café at Rossio, but as my gums problem got worse, I could not eat anything except, drinking water, and taking paracetamol. It was something I have not experienced in my past travels (except one occurrence when I was traveling to Mumbai last year).

                                          At one of the stations, with beautiful ceramic art wall.

                                          Riding on the tram no 28

Lisbon-Day 3

To again fully utilising our full day tour pass in Lisbon, we first crossed over by taking ferry to the island opposite Lisbon Peninsula, and the purpose was to see the famous bridge (similar fo SF golden gate bridge) and also to visit the famous Jesus Christ image. That was first part of the say, and on the second half of the day, we decided to take local train, and move on to Sintra, about one hour ride from Lisbon. With our pass, the train ride is free, and our entrance ticket to the castles are off with 20% discount. We had out lunch in the train, and as mentioned dinner with some packed stuff from the café at Rossio station but I didn’t take anything in evening cause of my painful gum related issue ( it is still a big question mark to me on what actually happen, but nevertheless, at the time I am writing this, it is getting well, and I can sleep quite soundly.

Choong

Portugal 2018-Part 2

Trip to Portugal 2018-LisbonBragaPortoCoimbraLagosLisbon-Transit London (Part 1)

Portugal Trip 28^th May-13 June 2018

The plan to come over to visit Portugal was in my thought a few years ago, but then just didn’t happen, until last year, where a clear schedule and time has been roughly planned, hence, start on the airticket sourcing (within the budget I allocated for this trip). I am not really of the IT resourceful, apps efficient or Millenia who are very good in finding the cheapest ticket around, as long as it is not budget airline, not so much on the limitation on Meals and cargo allowance, then I am fine. And to cut it short, also with the help of FB, I finally decided to use PYO to get my British Airways ticket, hence the fixed travel itinerary, that is from KL-London-Lisbon-London-KL. And from KL, of course via our famous ETS.

Flight to Lisbon, via London

Dinner made by sis, took it at the airport before departure

KL-London

It takes about 13 hours of flight from KL to London, and using economy class, is really tiring for sure. But nevertheless, I managed to sleep a few hours in between, skipping my dinner (it was already midnite) and only ate my breakfast. Landed safely at London Heathrow airport, and the last time I was here was like at least 8 years ago, I think, and I think Heathrow airport has changed a bit in terms of its size. For the flight from KL to London, it is categorised as World Traveller, and once I reached London, changed to regional T3 terminal, where the flight sector is categorised as Euro Traveller. For the former, meals are provided whereas, for the latter, no meals or drinks are provided and the aircraft size for sure is smaller. Waited for about 1 hour 30 mins before boarding for the next flight, enough time to post a few pictures using airport WIFI which is quite good, and also the airport washroom. Boarding on timely but departure was a bit delayed, hence arrival time to Lisbon.

At London airport, transiting for Lisbon.

Lisbon

The first is the airport, Lisbao airport to me is relatively small in size, and once we are in the arrival hall, there were a long Q lying up to cross the immigration border. If you are European passport holders, then things would be easier as you need not queue up, and for our foreign passports, the Q was about 1 hour slightly. And then when we were out, the baggage collection area, it was again, a bit misleading, as we could not find out cargo carousel, and after checking with the kind customer service officer, we found our baggage which  were already offloaded from the carousel due to the time spent at the immigration. Nevertheless, everything else was pleasant starting with the immigration office asking if I were in Portugal for tour and my answer is “Si”, yes.Coming out from the baggage claim area, we moved to the tourism information counter, to get the metroline and also to get our daily tour pass of which, the information was obtained prior to our traveling.

1st view from the air

Lisbao airport upon landing

                                                   At Lisbon airport immigration-Long queue

 Choong
Portugal 2018-part 1