Subways in Lisbon

Lisbon and Spain • March 2016 / #6

Lisbon-metro-mapStart here, with the Lisbon Metro map.  Our hotel was on on the Saldanha stop, where the red and yellow lines intersect, and it was a giant station.  In our few days in Lisbon, I think we came out every one of their several different entrances, always trying to make our way back.  We could access it very easily, but always were confused on the exit.

But the decorative surfaces!  One article, that has a wide range of photographs of the subways, notes that we weren’t supposed to take photos of the subways, but luckily I read that one year later.  We started keying into the decorated subways almost immediately (how can you not?), but really figured out what we were missing after our visit to the tile museum, on our third and final day.  Then it became race to see how many we could visit before we had to leave Lisbon.

This post is picture-heavy, so you may want to use speed-scroll to get through everything.  Believe me when I say I edited down the pictures by two-thirds!

Here are some of the stations we visited:

São Sebastião

Apparently this is designed to represent trees.  All I could see was quilt designs.

Lisbon Metro_São Sebastião-1 Lisbon Metro_São Sebastião-2 Lisbon Metro_São Sebastião-4 Lisbon Metro_São Sebastião-5a Lisbon Metro_São Sebastião-6 Lisbon Metro_São Sebastião-7 Lisbon Metro_São Sebastião-8

Oriente–artists from five different countries contributed to these tiled murals.

Lisbon Metro_Oriente_1a Lisbon Metro_Oriente-1 Lisbon Metro_Oriente-1b Lisbon Metro_Oriente-1c Lisbon Metro_Oriente-2 Lisbon Metro_Oriente-3A blurry shot, but I wanted to show placement of the next two images:Lisbon Metro_Oriente-3a Lisbon Metro_Oriente-3b  Lisbon Metro_Oriente-4a Lisbon Metro_Oriente-4b Lisbon Metro_Oriente-4c Lisbon Metro_Oriente-5 Lisbon Metro_Oriente-5a Lisbon Metro_Oriente-7 Lisbon Metro_Oriente-7a Lisbon Metro_Oriente-7b Lisbon Metro_Oriente-8 Lisbon Metro_Oriente-9I imagined it would be a challenge to create artwork that would be seen mostly in dark, underground passages, but this station was especially dark.  Maybe it was supposed to be moody.

Alvalade--evidently based on a story that I could not locate; however, the illustrations are fanciful.

Lisbon Metro_Alvalade_1 Lisbon Metro_Alvalade_2 Lisbon Metro_Alvalade_3 Lisbon Metro_Alvalade_4 Lisbon Metro_Alvalade_5a Lisbon Metro_Alvalade_6 Lisbon Metro_Alvalade_6a Lisbon Metro_Alvalade_overviewThis last shot was taken as the subway train was taking off.  We saw many stations from the windows of the moving train, not having enough time to get off and on.

Martim Moniz–a station near a plaza dedicated to martyred Christian soldier.  Apparently some of this is plastic on top of tiles, but it felt like tiles to us.

Lisbon Metro_Martim Moniz_1 Lisbon Metro_Martim Moniz_2 Lisbon Metro_Martim Moniz_2aChad was with us this day; this gives you a sense of the scale of these figures.Lisbon Metro_Martim Moniz_3 Lisbon Metro_Martim Moniz_4Loved the eye peeking out from under the helmet.Lisbon Metro_Martim Moniz_5 Lisbon Metro_Martim Moniz_7 Lisbon Metro_Martim Moniz_8 Lisbon Metro_Martim Moniz_8aRestauradores–We used this metro stop to go to dinner the second night, with Chad, near a street that had tons of restaurants, mostly tourist-catered, mostly B-grade.

Lisbon Metro_Restauradores_1They had a magnificent mural titled The Arrival, for when Portugal “discovered” Brazil.

Lisbon Metro_Restauradores_mural detail Lisbon Metro_Restauradores_2 Lisbon Metro_Restauradores_1Saldanha

The “artists Jorge Vieira and Luís Filipe de Abreu worked the theme “The Universal Human Characteristics” in individually distinct tile and stone sculptures,” or so the official webpage declares.  We just thought it was pretty funky.

Lisbon Metro_Saldanha_1 Lisbon Lisbon Metro_Saldanha_1a Lisbon Metro_Saldanha_1c Lisbon Metro_Saldanha_1d Lisbon Metro_Saldanha_2 Lisbon Lisbon Metro_Saldanha_2a Lisbon Metro_Saldanha_3 Lisbon Lisbon Metro_Saldanha_3a Lisbon Metro_Saldanha_4 Lisbon Metro_Saldanha_4b Lisbon Metro_Saldanha_5 Lisbon Metro_Saldanha_5aTwo random shots (I have no idea where they were from):

Lisbon Metro_random-1 Lisbon Metro_random-2And now, the final station, Campo Grande.  Again, from the official website: “Campo Grande station opened in 1993. Its walls are covered in painted tiles by Eduardo Nery, whose work  interprets the typical 18th century tile motifs known as figuras de convite or welcoming figures.”  They had an example of his work in the Tile Museum, and in an interview with him in the movie, he said he went over to supervise the installation of the tile in the Metro.  When one of the workers asked him if he was worried that they would install the tile wrong, he replied, “I’m worried that you will install it correctly.”

When you see the installation, you’ll know what he meant:

Lisbon Metro_CampoGrande_4man Lisbon Metro_CampoGrande_3woman

Lisbon Metro_Campo Grande_1 Lisbon Metro_CampoGrande_2 Lisbon Metro_CampoGrande_3 Lisbon Metro_CampoGrande_3a Lisbon Metro_CampoGrande_3b Lisbon Metro_CampoGrande_3c Lisbon Metro_CampoGrande_3d Lisbon Metro_CampoGrande_3e Lisbon Metro_CampoGrande_4 Lisbon Metro_CampoGrande_4a Lisbon Metro_CampoGrande_4b Lisbon Metro_CampoGrande_4c Lisbon Metro_CampoGrande_5 Lisbon Metro_CampoGrande_6 Lisbon Metro_CampoGrande_7 Lisbon Metro_CampoGrande_8 Lisbon Metro_CampoGrande_8a Lisbon Metro_CampoGrande_9 Lisbon Metro_CampoGrande_10 Lisbon Metro_CampoGrande_artist

IG Hands Collage Lisbon

While we loved all the subway tiles and decorations and pictures, and subways can get us places quickly, we missed traveling above ground in the trams, and by walking around.

Hairdryers and Toiletries

Lisbon and Spain • March 2016 / 2

I’ve decided to organize this trip by topic, as I’m bored with the chronology approach, and also because I realized that often, when I scan others’ blogs for info about locations, I want the dish on the details.  So, since I’m a woman, and I’m writing this blog, the first post is around the creature comforts that make me happy: a good hairdryer and good toiletries.  Why?

LisSpainAirTravel_1Because we travel very light.  This is it: a smaller-sized Rick Steves travel bag and a handmade type-writer-fabric carry-on for: the computer, last week’s newspapers I always plan to read, the iPad, chargers, empty water bottle, gorp, pashmina, pillow-that-blows-up-and-goes-around-my-head-for-sleeping, and for this trip, my pouch of embroidery.  So, no room or weight for a hairdryer and only the skimpiest of toiletry supplies.  I know I’m not going to outer Mongolia, so I can expect some comforts when I arrive.

Olissippo hotel_3 First stop was Lisbon, and the Hotel Olissippo Saldanha Hotel was great, with a great hairdryer and high-quality toiletries, as well as marble, marble, marble everywhere.  The hairdryer was on a shelf, not attached to the wall, so I had a longer cord to dry my medium-length hair.  I’ll be writing general info on the hotels in another post (have to rate those beds!) so look for more details later.  I also post on Trip Advisor quite regularly, with more photos and details there. Olissippo hotel_6Olissippo hotel_4Body wash and shampoo were combined into one, but we also had bar soap, shower cap, comb and nice bathrobes which remained mummified in the corner the whole time we were there.  It was really nice that they didn’t have the whole counter taken up with coffee maker, and gee-gaws holding all the toiletries like the American hotels (what is up with that?).

LIsSpainSevilla_4New town and new hotel: Hotel Amadeus in Sevilla and the bathroom hairdryer is one of those things on the wall, with a curly cord which works okay.  Not great, just okay.LIsSpainSevilla_10 LIsSpainSevilla_11This is it for the toiletries: packets of gel, weensy bars of soap, that when I open fall to pieces in my hand.  The tiny shelf is loaded with their stuff and apparently I can purchase the shell soap dish, according to the price list on top of the a/c  unit in the bedroom.  There’s lots of stuff for sale here: shell dish, accent pillows, pictures.

LisSpainCordoba_4The hotel in the next town, Cordoba, was a pretty snazzy place, as apparently the Queen and King of Spain had stayed at the Las Casas de la JuderiaLisSpainCordoba_4aThey had a nice hairdryer, mounted on the wall, and it beat all the hairdryers in terms of output: heat and blower strength.  Just thought you want to know how I grade these things.  They also had the arrangement that it only works if you are holding the button down, something I’d seen on our last trip, which flummoxed me at that time.  I’m used to the button being a “cool-down” button, but no. . . it has to be held down to get the hair dryer to work.

LisSpainCordoba_5aThis is to show you the floating shower floor, a unique feature.  No drain at all, but just a slab of marble with about a 1/2″ clearance all around, so the water flowed over the edge and out of sight.LisSpainCordoba_15Comb, shower cap, body wash, lotion, bar of hard soap for washing hands at the sink.

LisSpainGranada_1Now we are at Granada’s Hotel Leo, and we are roughing it: no marble anywhere.
(I’m kidding, of course, about roughing it.)LisSpainGranada_2But what they lacked in fancy stuff, Hotel Leo made up for in Capitol-C Clever.  I wanted to swipe the shampoo, but I knew the packaging wouldn’t make it.  But that shower cap came home with me.LisSpainGranada_3Yeah. I can see the drain.

Moving on: We were so un-impressed with our hotel in Madrid that I can’t find ANY photos of it anywhere in my stuff.  Good thing because on the first day the hair dryer quit after 35 seconds–it overheated and the automatic shut-off switch kicked into gear–and so they had to bring me up one from the front desk: an old-style wall-mount hair dryer which I perched precariously on the edge of the sink while I used it.  The rest of our stuff had to be put in the well of the bidet, as there were no other places anywhere.  It was basically a hotel for students, but the location was great.  And the last place. . .

Hotel Praktik Bakery_2

. . . was Barcelona.  This is the bathroom in Hotel Praktik Bakery, a walk-through affair with the shower and toilet in separate stalls to the right, hairdryer on the wall to the left of the sink, and it was a pretty good hairdryer.Hotel Praktik Bakery_7This place is compact, but comfortable, and it was a place that gave us plenty of room for our toiletry bags and what-nots in the bathroom.Hotel Praktik Bakery_8Best lotion of the trip–I brought home all the bottles they’d give me, cramming them into my one-quart toiletries bag.  When I use this, I think of our perfect trip to Lisbon and Spain and it makes me smile.

Itinerary for Portugal and Spain 2016

Lisbon and Spain • March 2016 / 1

Mar. 11, 2016 • Friday
Leave Los Angeles at 3:10 p.m. on Lufthansa

March 12, 2016 • Saturday
Arrive Frankfurt, Germany at 11:05 a.m. the next morning
Change Planes. Connect time in Frankfurt, DE (FRA) is 2 hours 15 minutes.
Lv. Frankfurt at 1:20 p.m. on TAP Portugal
Arrive in Lisbon, Portugal at 3:25 p.m
Total Travel Time: 16 hr 15 mins.

LisSpainAirTravel_13March 13-16 • Sat, Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed (a.m) • Lisbon, Portugal
Hotel Olissippo Saldanha
Av. Praia da Vitória 30, Lisboa, Portugal

March 16, Wednesday • Travel to Seville
Leave Lisbon at 8:10 a.m. on TAP Portugal
Arrive Seville, Spain at 10:20 a.m.
Flight time: 1 hr. 10 mn.

SevillaMarch 16- 18 Wed p.m., Thurs, Fri am • Seville
Hotel Amadeus
Calle Farnesio 6 y calle San Jose, 10
Barrio de Santa Cruz, 41004 Seville, Spain

March 18 Fri p.m. Travel to Cordoba
Leave Sevilla (Santa Justica Train Station) at 12:50 p.m.
Arrive Cordoba train station 1:35 p.m.

CordobaMarch 18 Fri • Cordoba
Las Casas de la Juderia
C/Tomás Conde, 10, Cordoba, 14004 Spain

March 19 Sat a.m. Travel to Granada
Leave Cordoba at 11:27 a.m.
Arrive at Antequera-Santa Ana Train Station at 11:55 a.m. (in the middle of nowhere)
Leave Antequera-Santa Ana Train Station at 12:15
Arrive Granada 1:30 p.m.
Overall travel is 2 h. 3 min. (1 hour of it is bus)

GranadaGranada Saturday March 19 afternoon-Sunday afternoon March 20
Hotel: Room Mate Leo
C/ Mesones, 15 18001 – Granada, Spain

March 20, Sunday—Visit to Alhambra Nasrid Reservation @ 9:30 a.m.

MadridMarch 20, Sunday Travel to Madrid
Leave Granada “train” station at 2:45 p.m
Arrive Antequera-Santa Ana Train Station at 4:00 p.m.
Change from bus to train in Antequera-Santa Ana Train Station
Leave Antq S.Ana 4:23
Arrive in Madrid 6:40 at Madrid Puerta de Atocha [Madrid P.A.]
Metro to El Sol station near our hotel

March 20-22 Sunday-Monday • Madrid
Hotel Victoria 4
Calle de la Victoria 4
Puerta del Sol, 28012 Madrid, Spain

BarcelonaMarch 22, Tuesday • Travel to Barcelona
Leave Madrid (Madrid P.A.) at 5:30 p.m.
Arrive in Barcelona (Sants) 8:40 p.m.
Take Metro to hotel

March 22-25, Tuesday to Saturday am • Barcelona,
Hotel Praktik Bakery
Provenca, 279, 08037 Barcelona, Spain

March 26, 2015, Saturday
Leave Barcelona, Spain at 6:00 a.m. on Lufthansa
Arrive Frankfurt, Germany at 8:20 a.m.
Change Planes. Connect time in Frankfurt, Germany (FRA) is 1 hr. 50 min
Lv. Frankfurt at 10:10 am on Lufthansa
Arrive Los Angeles, CA at 1:50 p.m. and try to remember where car is
Total Travel Time is 15 hr. 50 mins.