We wake up on Sunday morning and open the wooden doors covering the windows to a view of the river and the nearby cruise ship dock. Wonderful! So far at least it doesn't appear that our jet lag will be too bad. We walk to breakfast at one of the many small cafes nearby bathed in the sunshine and sit outside even though the air is a bit brisk.
During breakfast we develop our plan for the day. We will take it easy, exploring the train stations and buying our tickets for Albuferia. We know that the trains go through Oriente station. The question is if we are going to book from nearby Santa Apolina and feel comfortable making a 10 minute train change at Oriente or just book from Oriente.
During breakfast we develop our plan for the day. We will take it easy, exploring the train stations and buying our tickets for Albuferia. We know that the trains go through Oriente station. The question is if we are going to book from nearby Santa Apolina and feel comfortable making a 10 minute train change at Oriente or just book from Oriente.
We are staying in the Alfama area of Lisbon, home of the castle, churches, viewpoints and many small businesses. We walk the kilometer from our apartment to Santa Apolina station on flat ground close to the river but keep an eye on the beautiful Alfama hilly streets and old buildings to our left. We buy a ticket to Oriente station on the next train.
The 15-20 minute trip between stations is not impressive, but Oriente Station is quite beautiful. It's large and the area over the train tracks on the top floor is constructed with columns to remind of trees. We decide to buy our Albufeira tickets to originate from Oriente. Across the street is the modern Vasco De Gamma shopping. An under-road walkway with shopping including a huge grocery store connects the two. We take our time and explore, including picking up a few groceries we think will be hard to find at the mini-marts near our apartment.
Four floors under the train tracks of Oriente Station is a Metro line. No time like the present to check it out! Our apartment sits between two stations on the blue line. We can take the red line from Oriente, transfer to the green line, then transfer to the blue line OR ride further on the red line to where we can directly transfer to the blue line. We take the more simple approach with only one transfer.
Metro tickets can be purchased at kiosks or the service window. Since there is no line at the window we opt to speak with a human. I explain our plans, in detail for the week, estimating eight rides each (transfers between lines are free). We're sold two tickets loaded with eight rides each for a total of 25€. We find the Metro to be clean and efficient. They are not crowded at this time of day on a Sunday.
For dinner we choose a typical family Portuguese restaurant in Alfama. We accept the couvert of bread, cheese and olives then we each have flavorful fresh fish meals of dorado for our mains. We wish we had room for dessert, but we don't.
For dinner we choose a typical family Portuguese restaurant in Alfama. We accept the couvert of bread, cheese and olives then we each have flavorful fresh fish meals of dorado for our mains. We wish we had room for dessert, but we don't.
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