Europhile: C'est ma vie!

Lisbon. Another day, another hill.

Conventional wisdom holds that you should build your city - or your house - on top of a hill. This is poor advice, and Lisbon taught me why. Our first hostel was on top of a hill. A rather large one. Thus, to get anywhere, we had to walk DOWN the big hill, which wasn't really a big deal. But the Portuguese being who they are, every other locale of note is also on a hill - A DIFFERENT HILL - so, this entailed going down the first hill, up the second hill to discover you'd chosen the wrong hill, back down the second hill, up a third hill to see a sight you were then too exhausted to enjoy, back down the third hill, and just when you're about to fall over from fatigue, you go back up the first hill to your bed.

They do make for awfully pretty scenery though!


A view of "Alfama", the old Moorish district of Lisbon, full of tangled, cobbled streets that go everywhere but where you think they'll go. :)


The main gateway to this city that has seen millions of sailors, mercenaries, armies, immigrants, and more faded glory than most. It has a gritty charm. Not to mention a lot of yellow.

posted by europhile @ 09:56