Lisbon

                It is the first time I travel to Portugal and, especially, the first time I travel so far away from home, more precisely almost 4,000 kilometers away. What I had to discover here was beyond my expectations. 

            The first city in the entire Portuguese experience was, of course, the very capital of Lisbon. Although my expectations were to meet a crowded capital full of buildings and the madness of a big city, I was surprised to find the exact opposite. Lisbon surprised me with its beauty and charm. As simplistic as life here seems, so grand are the city's architectures. It is a clean capital, with quiet people.

        *****Travel conditions*****

        To enter the Portuguese territory I needed the following documents:

• Valid Identity Card or Passport
• EU COVID Digital Certificate in English
• For unvaccinated tourists it is required the proof of a NAAT test (includes the RT-PRC test or the rapid test) or a rapid TRAg antigen test, performed 72 and, respectively, 48 hours before boarding
• Completing a PLC (Passenger Locator Card) form required by the Portuguese public health authorities to track passengers who may have been exposed to the virus.
• For Madeira, complete an epidemiological questionnaire 12 to 48 hours before boarding

        More information on the restrictions can be found on the website: http://www.mae.ro/ (for Romania) or your local Ministry of Foreign Affairs site.

        *****Transport*****

        What stood out to me here is that most residents use public transportation or electric scooters. The least used are the cars and taxis, which most of them are also electric. This makes the air of this capital to feel breathable and clean. From what I noticed, the Portuguese put a lot of value on the environment ♲. I've noticed a lot of commercials on TV, banners on the subways and in bus stations, street demonstrations and all sorts of ways to encourage people to recycle and lend a helping hand to our planet that is suffocating beneath our feet.

        The most frequent type of transport used by the Portuguese is public transport, especially in Lisbon, from their traditional trams to buses and subways. The price of a One Way ticket is € 2. A One Day ticket is € 4 and it is valid for 24 hours from the first charge and can be used on any type of transport which is part of the Carris network. You can find more details on their official website, but if you want to buy tickets, I advise you to do it directly from the vending machines on the subway or directly from the bus, because the price is higher in online purchase.

        You will also find electric scooter (Bird, Uber and Lime)or bicycle rental stations at every step.

        If you need transportation at night and there are no buses available at the desired time, we opted to use the application FREE NOW. We used it to schedule a flight from our accommodation to the airport. The race was 6km, lasted 20 minutes and costed € 6, which for us was perfect for 5 o'clock in the morning.

        To travel between cities, you can use the Trainline or FlixBus. Personally, I found the FlixBus cheaper if you order your tickets in advance. For example, we took FlixBus from Porto to Lisbon. The price for 2 people was 10 € two weeks ago. Subsequently, one day before departure the price rised to 30 € for 2 people. So, if you have a concrete plan to follow, it is good to get them as early as possible.

        *****Weather*****

        Although we traveled to Portugal in November, the weather was on our side and followed us everywhere we went, which made it a perfect vacation. However, Portugal is known to have a warm climate all year round. In Lisbon and Porto the temperatures did not drop during the day below 12 degrees, and in Madeira ... it's another story; being in equatorial climate, we caught even 28 degrees at the end of autumn and we returned home tanned. Also, in the winter, the temperature doesn't drop below 19 degrees.

        *****Grocery stores*****

        If you are going on holiday on your own and the accommodation does not offer you the main meals, having a food source is crucial. Their most common and most diverse store is called Continente and I found it in all cities, including on the island. It is actually a supermarket with everything and with good prices.

 

        *****Legal/illegal?*****

        Another thing you should know as tourists in Portugal, in general, is that here the "grass" is legal...well, sort of. You can go google it for more informations, but one thing is for sure: the chances of being offered drugs on the street by various weird people are quite high. And this happened to us as soon as we left the airport and got off the subway to go to our accommodation 😆.

____________________________________________________

        Check out my 3-day experience as a tourist in Lisbon: day 1, day 2 and day 3.