The apartment I had booked sent a driver to pick me up from the airport last night, however he went awol. Instead I found my own taxi (only 10 euro), and the universe sent me another awesome individual. Jorge has lived in Lisbon his whole life and he LOVES it. He looks a bit like Danny De Vito and speaks pretty good English, and he picked that I was from down under because I tried to lift my own bag into the boot (apparently that’s a dead give away ha). On the drive into town we listened to the football on the radio (his team was losing), and he gave me a running commentary of the city of Lisbon. ‘That castle on the hill was built before Christ’, he said even though I could see nothing in the dark. Oh cool. ‘And that building there, before Christ. And over there you see the outline of that bridge?’ Before Christ? I asked. ‘Yes!’ I asked him if he was religious. ‘Of course, but you know before Christ there was Portugal and we are magnificent’. 🙂 🙂 🙂 Jorge then gave me a run down of tips for restaurants, places to visit, where I could get my hair done (???) and what time the sun sets into the water. I love meeting these quirky people who love where they are. Today I followed some of his tips, and hiked up the hill and through the maze of streets in the old town, to find the castle on the hill – the Castel Sant Jorge. He was so right about its age, although the one standing has been rebuilt the original ruins are from 700 BC. And the best view across Lisbon is from there. As the weather was so nice, I headed to the beach and soaked up some vitamin D, and wandered around. Lisbon is cool. Similar to Spain but a little less refined. I can’t master the Portugese language yet, but everyone speaks very good English so that’s not a problem 🙂
From the top of Sant Jorge Castel 
Best views are from up here 
🙂 
lunch 
sand artist, so clever 
i want a feather hat 
made from egg yolk and sugar (that’s it) not trying so soon after food poisoning 
I want to buy tiles! 
hard work making all those egg tarts 