Day 3 Lisbon

I woke to the news that Anthony Bourdain died today. I’m sad. He was real and I enjoyed his quirky sense of humour. RIP you lovely man😢

I had to vacate my apartment this morning and move closer to the airport because I have a super early flight to Paris tomorrow. I’m staying in the Lisbon Airport Hostel. It looks like housing commission outside, or one of those places they secret away polish or Russian sex slaves, but it is really nice and I highly recommend it if you are looking for somewhere near the airport (5 mins in the taxi tomorrow morning).

It is super modern and clean. The guy who runs it is young, very friendly and helpful, and breakfast is included. There is a huge supermarket and shopping mall across the road, along with eating places too. Good decision, girl!

So I took my time this morning getting organized and headed off with the intention of getting a taxi somewhere but the suitcase overpowered me and dragged me down the narrow staircase, leaving us both in a bundle at the foot of the stairs. The momentum was only stopped by the door at the bottom, which is broken and only wide enough to fit one of us at a time. Then the white cobblestones, shiny and slippery because of last nights rain, caused us to slide down to the road and I managed to jam the brute up against the badly chipped corner of the building. We were on a huge hill and I had a dreadful image of us both rolling to the bottom, never to return! Lisbon is known as the city of 7 hills (I would say mountains)!

There was no way I could walk the 2 or 3 kms to town, so I thought of ringing a taxi. Only problem was that I speak NO Portuguese and I couldn’t pronounce the name of the street. Then genius hit me and I messaged the owner of the apartment and asked him to do it for me. Whoosh! The taxi arrived and I was taken into town and delivered to a bag storage place.

Now I didn’t think much of it at the time, but I did notice the VERY handsome guy behind the counter looking at me with a weird smile. He flirted with me and I thought he was just being very friendly….and he was. He took my bags, labeled them and told me to be back in 5 hours time or it would cost more. I took my ticket and trotted off.

I went and had coffee and a croissant, wandered around the shops and then boarded a bus and let it take me on its round just so I could see more of the city. It took me to Belém and I saw all the sights there and I spent a lovely hour or two just looking out the window and chatting to Gonzalo on messenger. It filled in the day perfectly….and then I went back to get my bags.😳

What happened?? Not what I was expecting!😱

Firstly, I have to tell you it is not unusual for younger men to approach me. However, this was on a whole new scale! Peter the perve was there waiting for me. There was no one else around and he fully propositioned me, flashing his beautiful smile and almost flashing his welcome wand. (I could go in to more detail but my kids will read this.) let’s just say that I was very glad when my taxi arrived to take me away. He was very persistent and I think the fact that I was laughing so much, made him try even harder. He WAS very good looking though😂 I have no idea why this happens to me!

That was today’s highlight. I seem to have so many funny adventures when I travel on my own.