In June 2013, I finally took to the International stage,
with a visit to the annual Rotary International (RI) Convention, which this
year was in Lisbon. The convention
itself lasted 4 days, and we added a couple of days on to the end, just to see
something of the city. Thousands of Rotarians, from all over the world would be
attending, so it was an opportunity to meet like minded people from around the
globe.
Our arrival in Lisbon was nothing short of amazing. The
aeroplane seemed to give us an aerial tour of the city as it circled to land at
the airport. We could see all the major tourist sites as we followed the course
of the river Tagus out to sea, turned and came back in to land. On arrival our
taxi to the hotel was driven by a very chatty driver, who only wanted to talk
about football. He seems to know all the top English teams and the top players.
He said he was impressed with the crowds supporting all the English clubs, as
in Portugal everyone supports either Benfica or Sporting Lisbon.
We deliberately chose our hotel as it was comparatively
small and family-run, so we felt it would be more authentic than the big hotel
chains on offer. It was indeed a friendly hotel, and made us very comfortable. I spent some time at check-in trying to
explain what a Consort is, in a doomed
attempt at a room upgrade, but I think they understood I was a man of some
standing.
The travel arrangements as we understood it, was that free
buses would be laid on, and we had a timetable of pick up points, one of which
was about 400 yards from our hotel. Additionally, special transport was laid on
for disabled delegates, although it wasn’t clear where to get it. On the first morning we made our way to the
nearest pick up point, where we waited for about half an hour. No sign of any
special transport, and no sign of a bus. So we decided to make our own way to
the convention centre, by metro. This was where we discovered one of the
problems with Lisbon. The streets were cobbled, especially the pavements, and
getting around by wheelchair was not very easy, or comfortable.
Feira Internacional de Lisboa
However, we found our way to a metro station, worked out the
complicated self-service ticketing system, and got on the correct train for the
Convention centre, which was several miles away, on the riverbank. When we
arrived, it was still a good walk to the Convention centre, called the Feira
Internacional de Lisboa, situated alongside the river Tagus in the Parque de Nacoes,
although mostly through a state of the
Art Shopping Centre, appropriately called the Vasco de Gama centre. It is named after the famous 15th Portuguese
Explorer, famous for being the first European to find a sea route to India. We
felt equally pleased with ourselves for navigating our way around the metro
system, where all information was in Portuguese, with no English translation.
Atlantico Pavilion
It was around midday when we finally arrived at the
Convention centre, and it was a very hot day. The site was enormous, and comprised 4 huge
pavilions, joined together in a similar way to the NEC., next to an enormous
state of the art concert hall, called the Atlantico Pavilion. It was in the Atlantico Pavilion where plenary
sessions and entertainment were to be held. As we made our way across to the
nearest pavilion (No.4) we saw stewards in high viz jackets directing people in
and out. I thought it best to introduce
myself, expecting to be whisked away to a VIP suite somewhere and fed canapés
and gin for the rest of the afternoon. As I have come to realise, it didn’t
work out quite that way.
‘Ola’ I said, demonstrating my knowledge of the
language (my only knowledge, in fact). ‘Consort to the District Governor
Nominee’.
‘Where’s your badge’ he said to me.
‘I don’t yet have one, I replied. ‘You can’t come in here without one’ he said.
‘Where do I get one?’ I asked. ‘Pavilion 1’ was the answer.
So here we were
at pavilion 4, needing to go to Pavilion 1 to register for the convention, so
as to get badges, so that we can come back to Pavilion 4. I should point out that these pavilions were
each the size of a football stadium, we had already had an arduous journey, and
it was 80 degrees in the shade. So we
did what anyone would do, we found a bar and had lunch, where we met up with
several friends. Eventually we made our way to Pavilion 1, picked up our
registration packs (and badges) and finally got in to the convention.
Once inside Pavilion 1, we realised we could walk through to
pavilion 4 without going outside. There was a central green carpet that took
you from one end to the other, much more convenient, and cooler when out of the
midday sun. More about the House of Friendship, Entertainment and Lisbon later,
but for the moment I will stick with transport. There was a kiosk in pavilion 1
which advised delegates on transport around the city, and also arranged
accessible transport for disabled people.
We went over to complain about the fact that our special
taxi had not turned up at the bus stop that morning. Only then did we discover
that the taxi called at the Hotel to pick us up, but we had already gone. We
had not realised the service would be as good as that! We were able to organise
a ride back to the hotel at the end of the day, and a pick-up time for the next
morning. The vehicles used are actually private ambulances, in which the
wheelchair user can remain in their chair without transferring to a seat. We
were very impressed with this service, which did not let us down at any time
during the Convention, unlike some of the buses laid on for other delegates. I
wondered if the service would have been the same if I hadn’t been Consort to
the DGN.
To be continued…
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