"Beautiful Lisbon" a Lisbon Travel Page by haiamisa

There I was, back in Lisbon after 22 years. We had landed at noon after travelling all night (the drive from my home to the airport takes 3 hours and we must be early at the airport in Israel for the strict security checkings) and changed planes in Madrid. It had been a sleepless night and I only wanted to get to the hotel and straighten my legs finally and pull the blanket above my head. But I was also so excited to be in Lisbon again and wanted to see everything from the taxi window during the ride from the airport to Restauradores where our apartment hotel was. We checked in and I really had to sleep before I'd collapse. Later we went out to eat but only the day after we'd begin the serious exploring and fun.
And so the following day we woke up in Lisbon and it was raining. I was already up at 5.00AM because of excitement, because of sleeping alot and also because of the 2 hours time difference between Israel and Portugal. That was the only rain we saw on our trip and we savoured every drop of it because we had come from Israel where we have 7 months without rain in the summer. We were going to have 5 full days in Lisbon before renting a car and heading towards Lagos and other places. And we would return to Lisbon at the end of the trip for 3 more nights, that meant 2 full days. The main things that we chose to do/see during those 5 days were:
Day 1: Belem
Day 2: Alfama, Castelo de S. Jorge
Day 3: Parque dos Nacoes
Day 4:Alfama market, and Bairro Alto
Day5: Cristo Rei

On our return at the end of the month:
Day after return: Markets and shopping centers
Day before flying home: Jardim Botanico, Gulbenkian Museum
See the tips for these places.

Landing to Lisbon airport on a clear day is an unforgettable experience. you will see the broad river Tejo with its two huge bridges, above one of them is a statue of Christ arms outstretched guarding on the bridge. And when you land and enter the city you will find amazing networks of cobbled streets with crazy gradients up the hills which trams and funiculars climb. It is such a charming mixture of old and new . You will do lots of walking and your feet will hurt alot!

If you are going to take photographs in Lisbon, my advice is to take lots of film/memory. There is so much to photograph. I took some 200 photos of Lisbon and now when seeing them I wish I had taken much more. There were so many things I saw and didn't photograph.