I’m in Lisbon, thanks to HP. They must have spiked the water because I enjoyed a 3 hour talk about ink cartridges yesterday. Some really sound HP Ireland people here too. Now off to a talk on how to test printers and compare multiple brands.
Lisbon itself is unimpressive and a little grotty. More later.
did you check your bags or are you just going with your carry-on?
That sounds like possibly the least fascinating thing I’ve ever heard of. What on earth possessed you?!
Celtictigger: hopefully cretinous baggage-handling company has learned from its mistakes.
The free trip to Lisbon and stay in a 5 star hotel, the chance to talk to HP engineers and NOT PR people and the chance to network with 300 european journalists and tech analysts. Anything with stats and ISO standards is always good too. If you like stats and ISO standards that is… 🙂
But what a wonderful city Lisbon is… Benign delapidation… fabulous light, great corners, some lovely restaurants and bars… If you have time, go sit in the castle, in the shade…
Damien
Which part of Lisbon are you in?
Michele
I am surprised at your assessment of Lisbon. When I was there, I found it a lovely city.
Take a bus out to Cascais, amigo.
Sleepy fishing town with the best seafood I’ve ever tasted.
Could be busy, though, the Inernational Sailing Federation World Championships are on soon, so hundreds of top yotties (including most of the Irish Olympic squad) are heading there.
Great nightclub called Coconuts (or was in 1998) just outside town.
I was in Cascais the day I got my leaving results, then went out on the water to race and nearly ran over King Juan Carlos of Spain. He was very chilled about it.
You’re right Tipster. I’ve been twice and would go back again. Amazing story about that earthquake, eh? And the olive oil they mixed with the cement to ensure the viaduct withstood the shake.
I think Damien was having an off-moment and he got Lisbon mixed up with the baggage handlers.
I thought that Lisbon was beautiful, some of the architecture was the best I have seen in any European city. However, you could look out over the water and see a lovely 16th century building sitting about 100 meters from a dirty industrial refinery, so I know where Damien is coming from.
Lisbon is a very dirty city thats really rather a shock to the system.
The streets are absolutely full of graffitti and there is a lot of litter blowing around almost everywhere you go.
From a planning point of view districts like CHELAS and OLIVAIS are just a total disater – with lots of dead space and misery as far as the eye can see.
My opinion is based on the fact that I actually live in Lisbon!
I was really shocked to see people spitting on the pavement – even adults in their 50’s seem to think that is acceptable. I’ve even seen women doing this too.
I was also shocked to see beggars with limbs missing and drug dealers in the main city squares (they try to sell you sunglasses and then offer drugs). Worse than all that is the dirty cafes and bars and the food left in unclean window fronts coverd in flies…. Yum …..
If you can get passed all that and the pickpockets on the metro and the selfish driving and parking and can cope with some abject poverty and way too many high rise buildings and ‘Grave Geral 30th May’ written everywhere in red by loosers who are quite happy to crap on their own city – plus the horendous cost of health care it’s alright.
But only in a run down shabby sort of aesthetic way.
The best part is Expo park and the castle.
The fruit and veg in the supermarkets is appauling compaired to the standards of the rest of western Europe – something which is really hard to live with …….
I wonder how many people in Portugal just assume its this bad in other countries elsewhere?
other gripes: paint the blackened pedestrian crossings stripes white please …. and stop parking cars on them.
Put extra people on counters during lunch time peaks – don’t take them off!
It takes half an hour to queue up at the post office …..and the supermarkets are not much better (Continente expo park for example).
I feel sorry for the mostly good people of Lisbon – their city has been ruined by innapropriate planning and agressive ill conceived building of concrete blocks of flats. Large chunks of Lisbon are just concrete wastelands.
I can’t recommend it as a city to visit – just too dirty and too depressing.
Lisbon is a failure as a city because it cant reach the waterfront. Most of the city is hemmed in behind abandoned warehouses, dual carrieagways, railways and docks …… the public can only get to the waterfront properly at DOCAS and expo park – the rest is all owned by the port of lisbon authority and is an industrial zone ….
The ‘beaches’ are a long way away and are overcrowded.
You have to pay for the car parking at Vasgo de gama shopping centre and pay for the motorwy network too (and the bridges over the river Tejo).
Its quite something to spend hundreds of Euros for shopping and then be asked so many euros extra for the parking ….how mean is that?
Someone will say why do you stay there then?
I ask myself that all the time …..personally I find it really grim and above all depressing and miserable.
If that offends anyone – sorry but Lisbon is a just a mess.
Its beyond redemption.