Lisbon with Friends

We decided that we wanted to go somewhere with friends so that we could spend quality time with them before going on our world trip. We chose Lisbon because of its proximity to the beach and also as a city we thought there would be lots to do for everyone.

Our flight landed in Lisbon on the 15^th June in the early evening. We decided to order an uber instead of getting public transport to our Airbnb accommodation because of Sassi’s knee. Sassi has been on crutches for 3 months because of a gradual knee injury and she was in constant pain. Thankfully we managed to get an extra seat on the plane so that Sassi could put her knee up to rest it. Uber seemed to be very popular in Lisbon so we only had to wait for a couple of minutes before the car arrived. This was our first experience of using Uber together, it worked out really well an cheaper than a taxi considering we were leaving the city centre and crossing a toll bridge.

Our friends were already at the apartment as their plane landed much earlier in the day. One of our friends invited her brother and sister-in law to come to Lisbon with us, they booked a different apartment in the centre of Lisbon. Our apartment was outside of Lisbon in Costa de Caparica 10 minutes walk from the beach, it was an area where lots of locals went to for the beach. we booked the apartment on Airbnb. For the price it worked out really well as we were sharing the place with our friends.

We had a chilled day on the first day. Our friend who stayed in the city along with her sister-in law came to spend the day with us as well. We walked to the beach and sat and rested in the sun. The weather was extremely hot while we were there, even the local uber drivers were complaining saying that it is never this hot in June. The temperature was around 40 Degrees. The sea was freezing at this part of the beach but we had a lot of fun walking into the sea and just standing in the middle of the waves. This beach is the most perfect beach for surfers as the waves are huge. We had a lovely day chatting with our friends and getting to know each other a little more.

We decided to venture into Lisbon on the second day of our trip. We were trying to make sure that it wasn’t going to be too hard for Sassi so we didn’t plan to see too many sights. We got an uber to the Amoreiras Shopping centre, they have a viewpoint where you can see the whole of Lisbon from. It was an amazing view although we were sweating from the heat.

Our next destination was the Sao Jorge Castle where we would have met our other friends, we used public transport to get there. Little did we know that the way up to the castle was much further up the road and there were many hills to climb to get there. It was an impossible task for Sassi with her knee injury. We called an uber but the driver said that they don’t allow uber drivers to drive to the actual tourist site as they don’t see them as a taxi company. When we finally got to the castle we realised that it was a useless trip and we apologised to our friend and her relatives and said that we can’t go into the castle, it was hot and would have been way too hard for Sassi’s knee. One of our main reasons for getting to the castle was finding the tram that takes you through Lisbon. We had a cold drink and an ice cream in a café bar by the castle and then walked down to the tram station. One of the café staff members informed us that we could get a bus all the way down the hill and then grab a tram. The bus wasn’t coming and the heat was overbearing for most of us. So we made our way to the Tram, we took the number 12 as it was less busy than the more popular 28, this gave us a nice little circle tour of the general area we were in which included some nice streets, and view points, but was far shorter than the 28 would of been.

All of us met up in Time out Market. There were so many choices of food and the market had a lovely atmosphere. We got an uber back to the apartment and had a little fun as people handed us free ice creams twice in a very short amount of time.

Sassi’s knee was strained and she was in a lot of pain by the end of the day so we had to be careful as we thought about what we could do on Sunday. We decided to go on a little train journey that takes you through the beach, this was the easiest choice for us as we were able to get an uber to the train station and the little train dropped us off right at the beach. It was a beautiful ride with lots of countryside and hills, we stopped at the final stop (Praia da Fonte de Telha), the beach was a lot more beautiful here and a lot warmer as well, we were happy with our choice although a little anxious about the others as we were aware that they were coming to spend time with us but they decided to stay at the beach that we were at on the first day of our holiday. Something that we have learnt is that communication is really important when you go on holiday with other people, communicating what people want and what their priorities and preferences are to make sure that everyone is happy with their choice and there is no misunderstanding.

Our other friends came to our apartment, we had a lovely dinner together and spent an evening together chatting and playing some games.

The friends we stayed with decided to go to the Aquarium on the last day so left the apartment in the morning while Nick and I checked out at midday. We got an uber to the cable car (Telecabine Lisbon) and had an awesome chat with the uber driver. He was telling us about the fire that happened in Portugal recently and killed lots of people and the conversation went onto terrorism, world problems, faith, Christianity and solutions. We prayed with him at the end and encouraged him to look for the Light. We pray that we will come across many people like Alberto who are searching for the way and that we can will be open and ready to direct their steps towards Jesus.

The cable car was nice although it was really hot inside it. This area of Lisbon was very modern and looked very different to the Lisbon that we have previously seen. We had a lovely lunch by the river and then waited for a friend as she was also at the Aquarium. We got the same plane back to London and Joe came to pick us from the airport which was really nice of him and Hannah arranged it all.

We would definitely recommend Lisbon if you like beach and city. It was awesome that we could rest by the beach but also there is so much to do in Lisbon so we wouldn’t mind going back one day. People are super friendly, all the different uber drivers chatted with us and were really nice and approachable.