Paris escape : Lisbon

To escape the dreary winter, I managed to spend a couple days in Lisbon (warmer than Paris).
For me, part of traveling is not only the destination, but also getting there (by plane). I am sort of an aviation enthusiast. Wanting to log in different airlines, I managed to get a ticket on Aigle Azur (a French company with few choice routes in Europe and Africa) and TAP Air Portugal. I flew on the A321 on both legs (from and to Orly, the ‘other’ Paris airport).

Flying into Lisbon could be an amazing experience. The airport is so close to the city (indeed, you could take the airport bus to the city in very little time and when your plane land and on the runway, you could see apartment buildings just behind the airport fence). Lisbon is physically beautiful with its hills and bay (water everywhere)…reminds one of San Francisco or Sydney really….reinforced by the bridge (The 25th of April bridge…..visible as you land) that instantly make you think of the Golden Gate bridge in SF. In fact, the shape of the bridge is more like the Bay bridge to Oakland, though the color is like the Golden Gate. Once we landed, it was clear that we are in the home base of TAP with the plethora of both narrow bodies for European routes and heavies (A340 mostly) for its south American routes painted in TAP colors. Aigle Azur was nice. The A321 was in a good condition, the seats were comfortable and we got free munchies and drinks.
Lisbon airport is tiny by Paris standard, but you can’t beat the convenience of its proximity to the city. I was supposed to meet a friend for dinner…and made it from the airport (on the airport bus) to his house in about 10 minutes.
We had dinner in a traditional Portuguese restaurant (no English spoken here)…and had a wonderful calamary main dish (with potatoes and some kind of beans) but was impressed mostly by the dessert, pear soaked in red wine (called drunken pear). After dinner, we went to Bairro Alto which is the ultimate Lisbon night life quarter with its many bars….Unlike Paris, the atmosphere seems to be a lot relaxed with less ‘attitude’. Still don’t know how people manage to go up and down the steep hills after all the drinking that could be done in Bairro Alto.


The next day, I strolled around the city admiring the colors of the buildings (they remind me of the colors of the south of France, definitely more colorful and bright compared to Paris. Many have cute Romeo-juliet like balcony that had I had a fan handy i would have whipped it out and called out Romeo ou maybe seeing that we're in Portugal Roberto dramatically). Later, I took in the wonderful museum of modern arts in Belem. There is a monastery nearby that was unfortunately closed for the day when I got there, but I managed to admire its beauty from the outside nonetheless) The day finished with the famous Belem pastry (could be bought in a bakery that everyone knows about as the line must have extended towards the center of Lisbon !)

Lisbon is much cheaper than Paris (for drinks, food and cigarettes)….it is also much smaller of course (and as far as natural beauty, much prettier too), and though I enjoyed my trip very much, I guess living there would make me miss the real ‘city life’ (anonymity and the big city feel that you get in NY, Sydney, London and Paris).
The gay guide lists a number of parks as cruising areas in Lisbon (but always with a warning, and indeed a number of them actually had male prostitutes rather than guys just cruising e.g. Edouardo VII park), but there are many gay bars (in Bairro Alto, Principe Real and Chiado), cruising clubs and saunas in Lisbon (see : http://www.golisbon.com/practical-lisbon/gay.html). Everyone told me about the best (gay) club called Lux (a cab ride from Bairro Alto) that I fortunately did not manage to visit. Last but not least, gay marriage is legal in Portugal, unlike in France (that recognizes only unions rather than marriage per se).