The gang at one of the beautifully lit up streets in Lisbon
We were lucky enough to secure some cheapie flights to Portugal so we went with Des, Jen, Stu, Yve, Kev and Di to the Land of the rising Peri Peri. Something they didn’t tell us when we got these cheapie flights was that we had to wake up at 4am to catch the flight. Apparently that’s already quite late, as the tightasses amongst us tend to wake up at 2-3am to catch flights around Europe. They also didn’t tell us that the other way we were saving money was to fly to Faro airport and drive 4 hours to Lisbon (because its cheaper to fly to Faro than to Lisbon). But in our new careers as missionaries, we were keen on any way to save $$ plus, there’s nothing better than a road trip with 8 of your good mates!
The first possible sign of trouble came at Faro airport at the immigration counter. Dessy couldn’t pronounce (or spell) the name of our hotel, Floriescente (or something, I still cant work it out), so in the end we all wrote different things on our immigration cards.
‘You’re staying where?’ asked the Immigration Officer
‘Um, we are staying at the Florist Centre’ we stumbled
‘The what?’
‘Um, The Floriade….in Lisbon?’ we ventured
‘Oh, Lisbon – okay go through’ Phew, deportation averted.
Striking a pose at Pena Palace
Sunset at Castelo Sao Jorge - simply beautiful (the sunset that is!)
In Lisbon, we were greeted with Peri Peri and Portuguese Tarts as far as the eye could see (of course, they just call them ‘tarts’ in Portugal). Despite only eating this and seafood, for some reason, whenever Dessy burped it smelled like cabanossi – it was like a deli in the car!
Tarts galore - yummo!
Wherever we went, people kept thinking we were Japanese, even when we stuck Stu, our token white guy up front. Later on we realised it was because Chez kept saying ‘Arigatoo’ to everyone instead of ‘Obrigado’ (‘thank you’ in Portuguese).
At night we would keep ourselves amused with tournament 500, charades (ask Kev to show you how he does ‘genie’) and a game called ‘Ying Hai’ (let me know if you want to find out how to play this – its absolutely hilarious!).
In our final few hours in Portugal, we remarked how Dessy’s sixth sense for dog poo hadn’t kicked in. Our faith was restored when we saw Dessy with bird poo all down his back - unfortunately, Jen’s chin became collateral damage.
All in all, a great trip with great friends - we love you guys!
This massive Jesus statue stands looking over Lisbon and is modelled on the one in Rio. During the war, the residents prayed that their country would be spared. This statue was built in memory of how Jesus answered their prayers and would continue to look over them. Its a breathtaking sight as you drive into Lisbon.
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