Flying to the capital

As if my body was adapting to Brazilian time beforehand, I woke later than normal around 0800 then just before 0900.  We had a leisurely breakfast and then rushed to ready ourselves for the 1100 check-out.

As part of our TAP Air Portugal ticket from Madrid (or London in Kim’s case) to Brazil, we had to take a flight to Lisbon when in fact it is easier to go by train or bus.  Actually the Uber ride to Porto airport was a little more than Greg’s train ticket to Lisbon.  We can’t throw this flight away as it would invalidate our remaining flight to Brazil.

We got to the airport around 1130 for Kim’s bagdrop.  He had chosen to collect his luggage for the Lisbon nightstop of 23h40 which is technically a connection rather than a stopover.

We killed time in the lounge till boarding for our 1600 departure.  The flight on the Embraer jet took 55 minutes scheduled time but was only in the air for about 35 minutes.  Despite that we were offered a small piece of chocolate on board.  TAP Air Portugal seems to put a nice touch on things compared to other legacy airlines; eg. Iberia has a buy-on-board product for all European routes except a handful of the furthest ones such as Moscow.

Taking the bus to Cais do Sodre and walking to our apartment “Boho” we were pleasantly surprised that it was furnished with a fridge, kitchenette and washing machine.  Sadly, we didn’t need any of that for the short stay and we had just done our washing yesterday.

Also surprisingly, Greg hadn’t arrived at the apartment around 1815 and had expected to be there an hour before us.  We had received a message that his train had been held up along the way due to a fire in the countryside quite close to the tracks.  He eventually arrived an hour after us, having been held up around 2h along the way.  To make things worse, he took a bus from the station to Cais do Sodre that took a circuitous route that was slower than walking.

We waited for Greg at a bar/cafe on the steps outside our apartment.  Some seedy characters were hanging around eyeing the customers.  I thought they were muscley male prostitutes.  They eventually came up and said to the next table “Are you going to pay?” and flicked one of the customers on the head.  I thought it was a paid hook-up gone wrong.

However, talking to the waitress, she said this happens everyday with drug deals gone wrong.  And the drugs aren’t real.  The drug dealers hung around for quite a while until our neighbouring table left.

Waiting for Greg, another drug dealer walking up and down the steps, gestured to me that he had “smokes” available.  I ignored him.  But funnily, I saw him helping a couple with a pram up the steps later.  Never judge … he might be a nice person just needing to make some money.

Drugs on the street seem to be a Portuguese phenomenon.  I saw someone shooting drugs on a relatively busy alley in Porto.  The situation is supposedly better than before decriminalisation (of use and minor possession, presumably not dealing).

The offers for drugs would continue through the evening on our walks.  We took Greg for a walk to Praca Comercio and then up the pedestrian street.  We found a reasonably priced restauarant right next to Elevador Santa Justa where we enjoyed a selection of Portuguese and Iberian meals.

This stop in Lisbon is not technically a stopover but a transit, in airline terminology.  We have 23h40 here and I think we are making the most of it!