The Convention lasted from Saturday until Wednesday, and was
fairly full on, with little time to spare to see the city, apart from the
evenings. On our first evening, we met up with Mike Thorn at a small Restaurant
across the road from the Hotel, where I had my first ever plate of salt cod
(bacalhau) a very traditional dish of Lisbon. It is definitely an acquired
taste, and I’m afraid I have not yet acquired it.
Bacalhau
The evening when local entertainment was arranged for us has
already been described, and on other evenings we took a taxi down to the
riverside, usually to a square called Praça do Comércio, where the Beer Museum was
to be found. This was to become our ‘local’, where we would meet up with others from the British contingent, including many of Vivian’s fellow DGN’s and others
from District 1140 such as Ron and Helena Daniels, Marcel Markan, Jim Onions
and Brigitte Faubert. One evening we
were joined there by RIBI President Nominee Peter King and his wife Di. On another evening we joined other DGNs and their Consorts to venture for the first and only time into the old part of the City, the BairroAlto, a trip organized by Vivian’s fellow DGN Les Wilson and his wife Pat. Here
the streets are very steep, narrow and cobbled (so not easy for wheelchairs),
but we took a taxi directly to the Restaurant, which was an old converted
monastery, beautifully decorated. I
can’t remember exactly what I ate there, but it was a type of stew, once again
a Lisbon speciality.
Praça do Comércio
Beer Museum
When the Convention finished, on Wednesday evening, the DGN and I added
a couple of days to our trip, staying at the same hotel, so that we could get
to see something of the city. It would have been a pity to go straight home
without having done so. In fact there was to be a strike on the Friday, which
would affect all city transport, including buses, trains and taxis, and would
also cause severe problems at the airport, so we were glad to be staying on,
and hopefully transport would have returned to normal by Saturday.
On the Thursday, we decided to get a taxi (one that we paid for this
time) back to the Convention Centre.
Why, you may well ask? Well one of the biggest attractions in Lisbon is
the Oceanarium, the Oceanário de Lisboa, which, like the Convention Centre, is
at the Parque de Nações. It really was a
terrific place to visit, full of all kinds of marine wildlife, not just fish.
Divided into different zones (Atlantic, Pacific etc) we encountered huge
sharks, rays, all manner of smaller fish, frogs, dolphins, otters and much more
besides. Thankfully all the information panels were in English as well as
Portuguese, so we could understand what we were looking at.
Oceanário de Lisboa
When we left the Oceanarium, we had a ride on the cable car which runs
along the river, offering spectacular views of the city, and of the amazing
Vasco da Gama bridge. At 11 miles long, it
is the longest bridge in Europe. The city has really made the riverfont in this
area attractive, with mile after mile of level
promenade to walk along, with numerous cafes and Restaurants lining the
route.
Vasco da Gama bridge
The next day (Friday) was the day of the strike, so we didn’t bother
with any transport, instead walking down to the riverside from our hotel. It
was a distance of about 2 miles, but fortunately was all downhill. For about a
quarter of the distance we avoided the cobbled streets by strolling
through the Parque Eduardo VII. This is
a huge park on a similar scale to Hyde Park, strangely named after the English
King Edward VII who came here in 1902. It was very pleasant walking among the
flower borders and lawns, along mosaic patterned walkways, away from the hubbub
of the city. The park ended at a large square, the Praça Marquês de Pombal,which has cleverly placed paving stones that give the image of waves, where in
fact it is all level. We carried on down the main thoroughfare to the city
centre, and stopped to ride the Elevador de Santa Justa. This is a 100 year old lift
which takes you up from street level to a position high above the rooftops,
giving views of the old part of the city, and of the castle, which is perched
on top of a hill in the middle of the city (but inaccessible to wheelchairs,
unfortunately).
Parque Eduardo VII
Praça Marquês de Pombal
Elevador de Santa Justa
Eventually we found ourselves back in
the Commercial Square at the waterside where we had a leisurely lunch in a pavement
café opposite the beer museum. There were still a lot of Rotarians in the city
and we had some lively conversations with various people we met that day. We
found that taxis were running fairly normally in the late afternoon so went
back uphill to our hotel in comfort.
A Lisbon tram - unfortunately inaccessible to wheelchair users
Everything in the city was back to normal by the Saturday, and our
flight home was uneventful, although we had treated ourselves to World Traveller Plus seats on
our BA flight. This is one step up from economy but not quite business class.
However, it was satisfying to have a curtain pulled across so the hoi polloi in
economy couldn’t see what we were getting for our lunch. Across the aisle from
us was John Kenny, former RI President and his wife, so clearly I was moving in
the right circles at last.
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