Большие открытия маленького путешествия Big discoveries on a small trip

I really liked Portugal. The choice fell, thanks to one of the programs about the architecture of this country, viewed one of the winter evenings. Immediately began the search for hotels and tour operators in the country. Oksana from the Alto Sol company responded to my request for compiling and booking a route. Hotels (Lisbon-Sana Malhoa and Lagos-Carvi Hotel) and private tour of Lisbon and Sintra (Pena Palace) booked through this company. There are no complaints, I liked everything very much, we were met at the airport, an individual transfer was ordered, though later we realized that it was possible to save money on it, a taxi in Lisbon is very cheap, we got to the airport for 10 euros on the way back; guide Elena, who conducted a tour of Sintra and Lisbon - is beyond praise, a big thank you to her : ). In general, we realized that an individual tour is worth the money. Flights booked through Ozone. ru, everything is also without problems, they flew there with a connection in Geneva, went to the city for sightseeing, very beautiful Lake Geneva, still under the impression, the route was printed from the Internet, I used the Geneva guide site. We flew back through Vienna, also went to the city, I had already been there before, so many of the sights were already familiar. At the Vienna airport, they gave out a map of the city, which helped a lot when walking. Before that, I also used sites on the Internet, one of them was Vienna Guide. Now back to Portugal. Hotel in Lisbon - Sana Malea - stayed there 2 times at the beginning of the trip and at the end. Stylish city hotel, solid 4, breakfasts are very good, we also dined with them, the restaurant is called Mediteraneo, buffet dinner for 18.5 euros, drinks are paid separately. There are Russian-speaking waiters. The hotel has Wi-Fi, there is a business center room at the hotel reception. We had a funny case, our English is at the simplest level. We asked at the reception to register tickets for the flight, the man at the reception said that this can be done in the business center, when we asked if it was close, he said that it was nearby, we didn’t see him anywhere when we left the hotel, passers-by didn’t answer our questions either they knew, they got to the nearest bank, the girls at the reception didn’t know either, but after several calls to their friends, they wrote the address and said that it was better to ask the taxi driver to take us to the address. We decided to return to the hotel and ask to use the computer, when we entered the hotel, everything was packed at the reception - another group arrived, and then we saw on the table with computers, in the same room at the entrance, a small sign with the inscription - Business Center, we laughed, of course, registered tickets for the flight and printed out boarding passes, it costs a little money, but before that we gave a couple of euros at the reception for information about the weather in Vienna, and he didn’t take money from us. Returning to the story about the rest: on August 12 we had a departure to the Algarve, we decided to take the metro, from the hotel in 5-10 minutes, you need to go down to the -3 floor, and go through the yards, then we arrived at the Oriente station, bought train tickets, left things in the storage room, and went to the aquarium, walked there - various fish, turtles, otters - living creatures are always happy. There is a funicular on the embankment, I went on it, it reaches the hotel in the form of a sail, then I walked to the Vasco de Gamma bridge, 17 km - the length of the bridge, I’ll add another epic right away: on the way back to Lisbon from the Algarve coast, we rode the bus through the Tagus River over this bridge. After taking a few pictures of the bridge and the embankment, I returned back. Then we went to the center of Vasco De Gamma, where we bought provisions for the trip in the hyper market and went to the station. The train travels to Lagos with a change at the Tunesh station. In general, we got to Lagos, where we decided to take a taxi to the hotel, in fact, it was possible to go through the Old Town, the road takes about 20 minutes, but I didn’t really want to carry things. Hotel Carvi is very nice, we were given a room on the first floor, there was a dining room where we had breakfast, the dining room looks like a kindergarten : ) - small tables and chairs, breakfast is very modest - sandwiches, coffee, tea, fruits, cereals. Whoever has no complaints - that's fine, at home, in principle, the same - coffee with a sandwich in the morning : ). The location of the hotel is just wonderful, to the beach - 2 minutes, the beach is amazing among the rocks. We bought towels and an umbrella near the beach, we could rent it at the hotel, later we saw info at the reception, they also sell sunscreen there. There are sunbeds on the beach under a canopy, but we didn’t even ask how much it costs, we lay on the sand, like most vacationers. August is the month when the whole of Europe rests, on the beach there were mostly Europeans of all stripes with families. In the morning at 9 o'clock there are few people, but by 12 - there is nowhere for an apple to fall. We dined several times in a cafe on the roof of the hotel, from there a wonderful view of the ocean, where you can order mashed potatoes (always was vegetable), pizza, hamburger, sandwiches, juice, ice cream, in general, a snack. For dinner, we mostly went to the Old Town, there are a lot of restaurants. The town has narrow streets, very colorful. We went to a cape with a lighthouse, 20-30 minutes from the hotel, you can get there by mini-train, it runs regularly according to the schedule right from the hotel. At the reception, they ordered an excursion to Seville - with the accompanying English-German language, in principle, they sorted out the main thing, besides, they bring to Seville, they indicate where which sights and shops for shopping, everyone chooses free time where it is more interesting for him to go, and appoint a place and meeting time for the return trip. For the tour we paid 36 euros each. In Seville, we went to the Alcazar, I climbed to the top of the tower of the Cathedral, walked along the streets of the Jewish Quarter, had a snack there and bought souvenirs. On the way back we stopped at the Plaza de Españ a. Even at home, they printed out the sights of Seville, but we didn’t need it, because they were all included in the tour. After a holiday in the Algarve on the coast (everything ends someday (((, we return to Lisbon. We took a taxi to the Lagos bus station, we went to buy bus tickets in advance. 4 hours by bus and we are back in Lisbon, there again we take a taxi - and our beloved Sana Malea. The last day was reserved for a forced march around Lisbon, we decided to walk to the center, turn a little to take pictures of the aqueduct - it is not far from the hotel, and then went towards the center, at the hotel reception they took a map of the city. We walked through the Eduarda 7 park, then went down to the embankment, took pictures at the arch, went to the Santa Justa lift, but there were so many people there that we didn’t go up, we passed Rossio Square, there is also a train station. Lisbon is very beautiful, walking around it is a pleasure. Then we went to the monastery of Jeronimos, we wanted to see it inside, maybe on the first visit to the indus. excursions examined it externally and the temple part only. It was certainly a test - the road turned out to be very long. Not far from the monastery there is the famous Pashtelaria De Belem, with their signature cakes, the queue is long there, but it moves quickly, I bought 2 cakes to take away and we ate them in the park, in fact, before that we bought the same cakes in Lagos in Spar , I didn’t feel a big difference, but it was cool to buy them in a symbolic place. Inside, Jeronimos turned out to be very beautiful, the architecture is amazing. Jeronimos began to build in honor of the conquest of India, after the return of Vascu De Gamma from his campaign, in 1500 and construction was completed in 1579. In general, we learned a lot of interesting things during our first excursion: it turns out that England received Indian territories during the successful marriage of their king , India was the dowry of the Portuguese princess, who could not get married for a long time (she was ugly), and it turns out that she also introduced the famous English 5-hour tea party. In general, once Portugal was one of the strongest states, wherever they sent their ships. When we were in Vietnam, we learned there that the Portuguese were the first Europeans to sail to Asia. Returning again to our Lisson trip - we took a taxi from Jeronimos, and back to the hotel. At the airport, they took all the water and juices (which we had in dry rations from the hotel - ordered at the reception), flew through Vienna - as mentioned earlier, we were lucky with the weather, it was dry and not very hot around 24, we walked around Vienna , of course, we went to drink Viennese coffee in Demel, returned to the airport in advance, walked around duty free, bought truffle caviar there (I used to buy it in Italy, I really like it, we didn’t find it in stores), Austrian sweets. Then fly to Moscow, and hello Domodedovo. Thus ended our Little Journey of Great Discoveries.