Lisbon, Portugal
We stayed at the Sheraton Lisboa,
which is being remodeled. If you stay at the hotel any during the day, keep the ear plugs
they give you on the plane, you'll need them, it's loud and they work from 7:00am to
7:00pm. We thought they were working in the room next to us, so we complained and got
moved to another room. We moved from the 2nd floor to the 14th floor and there is just no
getting away from it. We're talking loud pounding, jack hammers and such, constantly. Be
sure to also bring a sweater for the room, I couldn't get the heat to work in either room.
Also toilet paper, they have what I call cardboard on a roll !!
They do offer tours of the city and surrounding area, just be sure and bring two credit
cards, they start at around $60-70.00 per person, but average about $100 per person. 
We
choose to, do it on our on, and that's not the best idea either. We started out walking
and covered about a 4 block radius around the hotel. Nothing but stores, mostly in the
form of mini-shopping malls. You been in one, you've been in them all. There are a lot of
cafes and restaurants, mostly all in doors. The streets have names, but they don't tell
you on every corner, so remember where you've been and how to get back. There are private
van tours, which seems to be the best bet. The van holds 6-8 people and everybody splits
the cost, about $35-45.00 per person.
They tell you that the exchange rate is about 190 to 1, that doesn't sound to bad, till
you pick up the room service menu. Chicken and bacon with French fries 3100$00, Two eggs
and bacon 1450$00 ($7.64), Cola out of the minibar 800$00 ($4.22). That's in the hotel, I
didn't really check out the near cafes and such yet.
The Adventure
With the tours costing what they do,
and knowing how we like to take our time looking around, we decided to rent a car. Without
making advance reservations, it cost us $63.00(US) for the day. We went to Fatima, it's
about a 1 1/2 hr drive via a toll road, about $12.00 round trip. Fatima was nice and was
good to get out of the big city. We came back through Sintra for more sightseeing and we
should have passed on it. Burned about a 1/2 tank of gas, were we surprised to find out it
cost us $17.50 to replace that half tank. The fun part was getting back to the hotel,
there are very few street signs and without them, maps are not much help. It was so bad, I
got so lost and turned around, that I couldn't find the hotel. We started asking for
directions, ha ha, 2 people out of a dozen or better spoke English. Even when you put the
map in front of them, they don't even know where they are let alone giving you good
directions. We ended up going across that big bridge and back, tolls and all, during
evening rush hour traffic. Finally after about almost 2 hrs of lost and stuck in traffic,
the wife in tears, I paid a taxi to go to the hotel and we followed him. One way streets,
streets with middle dividers that run forever with no place to make u-turns, buses that
don't give. Just be prepared!! We did get to see a lot of the city, ha, and the best area
to return to and spend some time checking out, is the water front area, runs for miles, a
lot to see & do. If I had it to do over again, I'd spend the day in this area. The
next morning I turned in the car, with getting lost the fuel gage read about a needles
width, if that, below the full mark. Another $8.00 for gas to satisfy the car rental
place. I talked with another couple that rented a van with two other couples, $500.00 for
the day. Bummer....
