Despite how obnoxious the passport check at the airport was, it feels like I made the best of it.
The time kept ticking away. It felt like delay after delay. While the estimates of how long it would take ranged from two to four hours, it actually lasted two hours and twenty minutes.
Once I was in front of the customs agent, it was maybe a little more than a minute. A few questions, but that was it.
Yet there would be more delays.
First, I couldn't find either baggage storage or the lockers to store the luggage. Nobody understood what I was asking, so I got numerous different - and conflicting - directions.
Once I finally found the lockers, there was another problem: my card transactions kept canceling. That despite my having made sure to give proper travel notifications. And I had not yet exchanged currency.
Extremely frustrating.
So I called and the guy told me to pay by cash, which meant finding the exchange place.
Of course there was a line.
Finally, I had some euros. Then I finally managed to pay for the lockers, so my luggage was taken care of.
Now, at last, I could explore Lisbon.
Not so fast. Another problem. My cards were not working for the Metro, either. So onto another line I went.
We had arrived maybe a little later than expected. It was supposed to land at 10:50, and did land probably a little after 11. No big deal in that regard.
However, all of those other delays added up. I had originally expected to be free to start exploring Lisbon by 11:30 or 12. Instead, it was now well past 3, maybe even approaching 3:30.
By this point, I was really frustrated. It was uncomfortably hot, and I was discombobulated by all of the delays.
Still, I had never seen Lisbon before. And who knows when, or if, another opportunity will come around?
So despite fatigue that felt like it bordered on exhaustion, I was determined to make the most of it.
The main site that I had always wanted to see, and associated Portugal with, was the Belem Tower. So I double-checked the directions and headed straight there.
And I'm glad that I did. It was beautiful, just as I knew it would be.
Below are some pictures:
No comments:
Post a Comment