After 3 years living a quite marvellous life in Poland, here I am moving to Lisbon. There are some notable differences. First of all, the architecture. Secondly, the food. There’s also the weather, language and people. I could go on.
I arrived on Sunday afternoon, flying in on the TAP flight from Gatwick airport and, as the plane was swooping low over the Tejo, I have to admit there was a pretty large smile on my face.
After landing, I muddled my way through the airport and fairly swiftly picked up my luggage and so on. Walking out to the entrance to the metro, I was caught in a torrential downpour. No more than 10 minutes after the above sunny vista was captured. It’s that kind of place. I arrived in a sweat at my temporary accommodation, provided by my employer at the central location of Alameda. The hotel itself is not much to rave about, but being as it is, on top of a metro station and offering a view like this from my room, I wasn’t going to complain. (They also do a pretty good line in breakfast cakes).
From here, I’ve mainly been travelling to my job and back for the last 3 days, but here are the things I’ve learned about Lisbon in the first few days:
- Portuguese is much easier to read than it is to speak or hear
- People in Lisbon are generally very friendly
- The use of public space is so imaginative – pop up restaurants, bars and so on really are EVERYWHERE
- Weather here is crazily changeable at times
- Food is cheap and of really outstanding quality
And that’s it for now. Follow the blog for observations about culture, art, food, hangout spots and a lot more.
Um Lisboeta Inglês - An Englishman in Lisbon 