from Lisbon Portugal

I came to Lisbon, the capital of Portugal (locally called Lisboa) for three days. Portugal is a developed European Union member country with population of 10 million. It shares largest part of border with Spain on north & east, and has Atlantic Ocean on the west.

Portugal is a peaceful & relaxed country which is:

• No 19 for best Quality of Life

• 14th Most Peaceful, and

• 13th Most Globalized country

Sea, sun, sailing, seafood & Spain are deep into their culture. Weather is sunny & moderate. Sea borders on one long side, hence fish food is common, actually very common. Culture has similarities with Spain, language similar to Spanish & a bit Italian also. Food is Mediterranean which includes seafood, olive, cheese and bakery products.

Vas Go Da Gama was one of their famous sailors who discovered the sea route from Europe to India about 500 years ago. Christopher Columbus, originally Italian, first came here and asked for help to sail from here to India. It was believed at the time that if one sails out of Portugal or Spain, he will end up in India. Columbus, the killer of millions of red Indians, was refused from here. He then went to Spain & requested help from Queen Isabella, and was accepted, an event that brought death to millions of red Indians.

Portugal was a global empire during the 15th & 16th centuries that occupied parts of Asia, Europe, Africa & America (including India, Canada, Barbados, Morocco, Malacca, Japan, Brazil etc), & controlled many important world trade sea routes. It was one of the world’s major economic, political and military powers of the time.

Portuguese People are friendly with medium height, normal features & darker hair. You can see many people from old Portuguese colonies living here. Inter-racial marriages have brought about a new mixed breed.

People here behave somewhat like Spanish but probably more relaxed than them. There are similarities with Pakies too, for example, coming to office after 9 (Swedish arrive before 8.30), late lunch after 1 pm (Swedish go for lunch around 11.30), leaving office at least after 6, and going to bed late after mid night. Oh, and arriving late on appointments. There are few more but I better not write them here!

There are very few Muslims in Portugal and just one mosque. It could not manage to visit it.

 Lisbon city has well built infrastructure. It is filled with old historical buildings and houses. I visited some of the places. One thing that bothered me and & my trolley bag alike was that all the footpaths are made with stones (see photo) which makes walking very trying and pulling a trolley bag even more difficult. View from our office was stunning. There is Tagus River on one side. It is so vast that it looks like a sea. 17.2 KM long Vasco da Gama Bridge, the longest in Europe, connects river’s two shores.

There is a famous old cake shop in Lisbon established since 1837. The shop is called “Pasteis de Belem”, meaning Cake shop of Belem. I visited it & and tried Nata (a pie with egg custard filling) with a nice cup of tea. It was just so delicious; crispy & salty outside and sweet & soft inside, real yummy. It was quite expensive at 90 cent a piece. The shop was huge and all full of people, mostly tourists. I brought a dozen cakes back for friends and family too.

Read my next visit here

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