We took a 4 hour tuktuk tour of Lisbon this morning due to shortage of time and plans for Sintra tomorrow which were cancelled coz Sintra is closed because of risk of fires. The tuktuk tour was a fantastic way of seeing all the most important parts of Lisbon without the need of climbing up and down the steep hills, and we probably would have missed doing a few things. That said, except a few view points, Lisbon honestly is such a let down. Nothing about this city makes me want to come back any time soon – and it was another of my bucket list city.
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We did quite a few day trips in spain too. Ranking my favorites in order:
- Setenil de las bodegas
- Segovia
- Toledo
- Zahara de La sierra
- Ronda
Spain cities ranked from top to bottom for me:
Granada
Seville
València
Madrid
Barcelona
A bad start to our last stop in our trip before we head home – Lisbon. First, got fleeced by the taxi driver from airport to hotel, and got charged nearly 75$ for a trip that uber said would cost 15$ (I should have checked at airport itself!), and then the hotel did not give us the room we booked. The email said a room with view of square – what we got was a room on first floor facing trash cans on the side of a hilly street with insane noise from the trams inspite of being clear in my email on what we booked and wanted. Very frustrated and disappointed. I miss Spain already and I can’t wait to get done with Lisbon. Fuck them.
I have had a meh or dislike reaction to almost all of “must-do” tourist stuff in Barcelona, but it’s when we step out of that zone the city is just magical. We have explored random neighborhood galore whose names I don’t even know but it’s just walking through them that Barcelona really comes out! What an incredibly well planned and gorgeous city. Just stay out of the crap tourist spots.
We are getting to park Güell at almost 12 today. Just sleep in kind of day for the kid. It’s ok. The old towns don’t excite us anymore. It was a chore to walk down the rambla and gothic quarter last night though the Chinese and Korean food we had was delicious!
I loved using “la Wash” laundry yesterday which was a 3 min walk to hotel. The entire place operated through an app so I had no need to carry my wallet or cash/coins! And for less than 10 euros we had our huge load of laundry cleaned and dried in an hour while we sipped on sangria in a bar next door!
My honest theory is that as you go more south and south in Europe people are a lot more friendly, happy and welcoming. I am sure the drab weather as you move north plays a part, while overall sunshine and warmth down south makes everyone nicer!
Since we traveled “light” laundry was necessitated. Laundry services – either self or dropoff/pickups are so convenient in Spain it’s unbelievable! Compared to the chaos and hardships we had in Switzerland last year, this was such a breeze. Even the interactions with laundry folks who barely speak English were so pleasant and helpful, I am just in gratitude.
I have had the paella in one of the best restaurants in the birthplace of paella (Valencia) and I still fucking hated it more than ever. Nope, paella is not for me. Thankfully rest of family feels the same too.