Sunny Lisbon

Like I’ve promissed, here we are again to learn some more Portuguese words, on our second lesson regarding colors. Learning the colors should be regarded as something very useful, as they can help you identify a subway or train line, or to get directions to somewhere.

• Black – Black follows the same construction form that the color white uses, that I’ve talked about in the previous post, changing it’s form with the gender and with it’s plural. So you can have a “carro preto” (black car, male) or a “camisa preta” (black shirt, female). In the plural form, you just have to add the “s” letter at the end of it. So you can have “carros pretos” (black cars) or camisas pretas (black shirts).
• Red – This can be a tricky one, as there are two distinct words that have the same meaning, but are used more frequently on some parts of the country than on others. So, for red, you can have the word “vermelho” (more used in the south of the country) or the word “encarnado” (more used in the north). Like, with the previous colors it follows the same rules of construction, so you can have the “autocarro vermelho” (red bus, male) or the “luz vermelha” (red light, female). In the plural form we would have the “autocarros vermelhos” (red buses) and the “luzes vermelhas” (red lights). Using the “encarnado” word, we would have the “autocarro encarnado” (red bus, male) and the “luz encarnada” (red light, female).
• Brown – Again the same construction. You can have an “envelope castanho” (brown envelope, male) or “madeira castanha” (brown wood, female). In the plural form we would have “envelopes castanhos” and “madeiras castanhas“.
• Gray – You can have a “chapéu cinzento” (gray hat, male) or a “manhã cinzenta” (gray morning, female) or, in it’s plural form “chapéus cinzentos” and “manhãs cinzentas“.
• Yellow – Since we had to go through some pretty dull colors today, I’ll end up with yellow, to lighten things up and give you the true feeling of the current weather in Lisbon : Sunny, bright and warm. Guess who’s going for a ride on this Sunday afternoon . The yellow colors is said through the word “amarelo“. So you can have a “passaro amarelo” (yellow bird, male) or a “caneta amarela” (yellow pen, female). In the plural form, “passaros amarelos” and “canetas amarelas“.

As with all the countries in southern Europe, Portugal is also known for it’s sunny and warm beaches, with Algarve being the most famous and desired shores. Every years thousand of tourists coming mainly from Germany and the UK flock to the south of the country to spend their vacation, in the search for the great weather and spendid landspaces that only the sun and the sea can offer.

Although being far away from Algarve, Lisbon also has some nice coastlines in it’s surroundings, where the it’s citizens spend their free time over the summer weekends. In this post I will talk about the closest ones, the Cascais/Estoril and the Costa da Caparica. If, while spending your time in Lisbon, you decided to rent a car and travel a little bit further, you can also try the beaches at the north of Sintra (Ericeira, Santa Cruz, Nazaré) or further down on the south side of the river (Portinho da Arrabida or Troia), than can be more quiet and relaxing.

• The Cascais / Estoril Coastline (Green) - It is the most easy beach area to access to someone traveling from abroad. First, because of the Cascais train line, take starts in Lisbon at Cais do Sodré (close to downtown), goes through Belém area and goes straight to Cascais always close to the ocean. The most known beach on this shore is Carcavelos. On second place it’s easy to get to this beaches, because of the Estoril and Cascais areas, that are worth visiting even if you are not enjoying the beach. I would recomend visiting the various defensive forts that are spread along the coastline, the Estoril Casino, and in Cascais, the sea bay and the Boca do Inferno cliff. The train tickets prices vary, but the ticket from Cais do Sodre to Cascais (the whole line), costs 1.7€ per journey.

• The Costa da Caparica Coastline (Pink) - Costa da Caparica is the ocean shore on the south bank of the Tagus river. The beaches here are clearly better than the ones of the Cascais line : larger and more wild spaces, fewer building in it’s surroundings, specially on the southern beaches. The handicap of this area can be it’s access, as the transportation between Lisbon and the south bank of the Tagus serve mainly it’s working population that lives in cities like Almada, Seixal or Barreiro. Still you can get to Costa using three buses from Transportes Sul do Tejo : the 153, that leaves from Praça de Espanha (Spain Square), the 161, that leaves from Areeiro Square and finally the 186 that leaves from the Universities area.

The 25th of April bridge is one of the most relevant buildings in Lisbon landscape. Getting to know Lisbon involves getting to know the Tagus river and the Belém area so, given the bridge location, it’s kind of hard to miss it. As you can easy check, the bridge design is not the most original in the world, as it copies the Golden Gate Bridge (San Francisco, USA). The 25th of April bridge was open in August, 1966, almost 30 years after the original one. It was at the time, one of the longest suspension bridges in the world.

The bridge construction took place while Portugal was living in it’s fascist regime, and was originally named after the goverment leader, Oliveira Salazar. It’s initially plan also included a train line, but the project has stopped for many years, only being concluded in 1999 and finally Portugal was connect from north to south with a single train line. It was now possible to get to Algarve from the center of Lisbon without changing transportation. The bridge was the fuel that galvanized the growth of the south margin of the river, making one of the greatest suburbs of Lisbon city, where thousands of Lisbon workers live and sleep every day.

In 1974, the fascist regime was overthrown, in the 25th of April. Given the memory of the old regent, the bridge changed it’s name to 25th of April, to celebrate democracy and freedom.

Every year, in March, the bridge is used in the Lisbon Half-Marathon race. The event, starts on the south side of the bridge, it is open to everyone who wants to participate. It’s a great opportunity to cross the bridge of foot and take some great photos of the city. Meanwhile, if you are visiting the city in some other time of the year, you can always take the train back and forth to Pragal (the first stop on the south side) and enjoy the view. The price is something below 2€ for each journey.

During the 90s, Portugal experienced a growing number of rock festival spread all over the country, most of them happening in remote and peaceful grounds, far away from the big cities. That is the case of festivals like Sudoeste and Paredes de Coura, that take place in, literally, the middle of nowhere, so can enjoy nature, camping and of course, music.

While the number of festivals grew, so did the idea of having rock festivals in urban centers like Lisbon or Oporto. Although there are rock festival in Lisbon every year, seldom are the one’s that seem to last for a great period of years, either by a lack of audience in the summer months, lack of sponsorship or simply a bad choice of the space used for the festival. This last point comes mainly because of a city hall law that prohibits concerts after midnight, as a form of respect to the citizens rest (which is kind of silly if you check the noise on Bairro Alto area at 2am).

So, let’s talk about the three major rock festival take seem to be here to stay :

• Super Bock Super Rock
  Of the three festivals, it is clearly the oldest one, and had in 2008 it’s 13th edition. In all of these years Super Bock Super Rock has taken different shapes and happen in different places. It started at Passeio Maritimo de Algés (where Optimus Alive! now takes place) and has switched between a tipical 3 or 4 days of rock festival in Lisbon to single band concerts in Lisbon, Porto and Vigo (Spain) or, like this last edition, has a two day festival in Oporto and another two day festival in Lisbon. In the last four edition it has always taken place in Parque Tejo, in the northern part of the city, close to Parque das Nações and Vasco da Gama Bridge area (outside of Lisbon area, where the midnight law doesn’t apply). The festival is mainly sponsored by Super Bock, one of the two top selling beers in Portugal. Just as an example, in this year edition, the festival brought to Lisbon metal bands like Iron Maiden or Slayer in one day, and a more pop/rock version on the second day with performers like Beck, Duran Duran, Mika or DJ Tiesto.
• Rock In Rio Lisboa
  Rock in Rio is a franchising business that was exported from Brazil by the original creators of the Rock In Rio festival, that happens from time to time in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. It has had it’s third edition this year, and it happens every two years, in Parque Bela Vista, again close to the Parque das Nações area. Rock In Rio it is not just a festival : it’s a well oiled marketing machine, that brings along big sponsors and lot’s of money, presenting the most mainstream and generally accepted bands. It is presented and recognized by it’s audience has a “family festival”, as it offers much more than rock music and beer. The place it self is a nice green park, with some hills that help to create the ideia of a large natural amphiteather. This year edition had shows by Alanis Morissette, Bon Jovi, Metallica, Rod Stewart, Amy Winehouse, Lenny Kravitz or Muse. More relevant that the bands are the audience numbers, with two of the days bringing more that 90.000 people to the Bela Vista park.
• Optimus Alive!
  It is the youngest of the three festivals, but even in it’s first edition (that happend last year, this year was only it’s second edition) has shown a set of bands and and dragged so many sponsorship that made it a sure bet to keep on happening in the years to come. The festival takes place in the Passeio Maritimo de Algés (again outside Lisbon city limit), just right by the Tagus river mouth to the Atlantic Ocean. The organization has made on this two editions a great effort to have one of the best european rock festivals, investing in capturing interess even in spectators from abroad. In 2008, the festival has brought bands like Rage Against The Machine, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Ben Harper or The National.

Camping is one of the cheapest solution while traveling, given that you are willing (or restricted by your budget) to give up hotel commodities and sleep in a more wild and nature-friendly environment. Well it here goes the post that will let you know (at least from the 2008 year) how cheap it is to camp in Lisbon.

For a typical scenario of a couple with a small tent, you’ll have to pay, per day a total amount of 19€ in the High Season to 13.10€ in the Low Season.

High Season is called to the months of July and August and the New Year Season, between 29 of December and 1 of January 2009.

Intermediate Season is called to the months May, June, September and October and also the Carnival and Easter days.

Low Season is everyday that doesn’t fit in any of the previous seasons.

You can find below a more detailed price list of the park. You can also find on this post, information regarding public transportation serving the camping park.

Users

Tents

Caravans and Motor Caravans

Vehicles

Bungalows

Equipped Bay