The deVOL Journal

Lisbon

10th December 2014

By Anja King

Recently, I went to Lisbon for two weeks of sun and relaxation. Well, one out of two wasn’t bad! Although the weather let me down a little bit – mainly involving getting stranded in the middle of who knows where, on my own, during one of the biggest thunderstorms I have ever witnessed! – the city really did deliver.

I must admit, Lisbon was never on my bucket list, but my sister has been travelling around Europe for over a year now and has been in Lisbon for a large portion of that time, so I figured it must have something to offer.

I had gone with a few ideas in mind of things I wanted to see and do – visit the famous oceanarium with a ‘one ocean’ theme where all tanks are linked by a central hub, visit the zoo (very surreal I’ll have you know – a jungle-like haven surrounded by skyscrapers) and then just a few sights here and there.

As soon as I arrived, I was asked by one of the locals when I would be going to Sintra. He said it was a must-see, but then he was biased, as he grew up there. However, when I did go, it really was a stunning and magical place to be. Beautiful landscapes, an open air sculpture museum, an old gothic style mansion and a series of confusing, but exciting, grottos to discover.

 Although I was staying in downtown Lisbon (the old part), I am a bit of a ‘new age’ girl at heart, so when I saw what is considered the futuristic area – Parque Das Nações (translates as Park of Nations)- I was blown away. This entire area is less than 20 years old, as it was built for Expo 98. Each building is gorgeous standing alone, but is astounding with its neighbours. Every skyscraper is aesthetically linked to the next, each extravagantly designed, creating a seamless colony of imagination and fantastic architecture. This area has one of the world’s longest bridges, so long they even had to consider the curvature of the Earth when designing and constructing it. There are mini wave machines in the middle of the street, lapping the wooden boarding on the ground. Colourful water fountains shaped like cones, each one tiled with vibrant mosaics, sit between the wave machines. I even found a statue of a giraffe looking in a mirror! Where else do you get that?!

I won’t lie, some things did upset me. There are endless stray cats, so scared of people I never managed to get a photo, plus, as you come to expect of capital cities, there are homeless people round every corner. Generally though, Lisbon is a beautiful city, with what I call a ‘subliminal attraction’. I can’t quite put my finger on what it is, it just gets under your skin.