A Microcosm of Lisbon Life on a Tram Ride

When we first arrived in Lisbon a couple of weeks ago, we didn't see much as I had my sprained ankle and we were busy organising things. We now returned to our wonderful little hotel there and were greeted again with port and Portuguese tarts. Just what the doctor ordered! After a good night's sleep, we were organised and ready to start exploring early the next day. We only had two days there so we tried to see as much as we could in that time.

The big thing to do in Lisbon is to ride the gorgeous old trams that trundle up and down the streets of this hilly city. There is one tram in particular, number 28, that happens to go through many of the areas of interest for tourists so riding this tram is a very popular way for tourists to get around. We had read that it gets very busy so we were waiting at the stop near our accommodation first thing in the morning. We caught the tram and rode it the four stops to the end of the line so we could turn around and ride the entire length of the trip from start to finish. Even though the same tram turned around here, we all had to get off and queue up again. While we were waiting a whole busload of tourists from another European country pulled up and joined the queue. Oh no! A second tram was waiting to go 10 minutes after ours. I don't know why they couldn't wait for that one.

We were almost first in line although a couple of old local guys with walking sticks went straight to the front and of course we let them in. We boarded the same tram that we just got off. We got great seats but my knees were sticking into the thighs of the lady in front of me and we had bags and bums in our faces from the large number of people standing - and this was just the first stop!

We rattled our way through the streets. It was such a great way to see around us. Some of the buildings were amazing.

Lisbon is famous for its tile-clad buildings.

We had great views but the people standing, mostly the organised tour people, would have seen very little and many of them stood the entire journey. Unfortunately for John, the tour guide stood right beside him and she gave a running commentary the entire trip. If we could have understood what she was saying we might have found it helpful but to us it was just noise.

At one stage one of the tour group men reached across in front of my face and took a photo out the window. There was no "excuse me" or anything.

We pulled up at a stop and three local middle-aged ladies waiting in line looked in horror at the crowded tram. All three refused to get on and glared at us. I get it. This is their local tram and they can't get on it as it's so full of tourists.

The lovely and very patient driver would pull up at stops if local people were waiting or drive past them if only tourists were waiting. Again, I get it. He had to consider the locals. They could choose to get on the crowded tram or not. I guess he just figured that the tourists could wait for the next one.

Every now and then the tram driver would call out for people to move back so new people could get on. The not very nice tour group men near us didn't move the entire trip, despite being asked multiple times.

The ride got more interesting as we wound through incredibly narrow streets. Our windows were down and I could have reached out and touched the walls of buildings so many times. A few times I put my head out to see something only to find there was scaffolding or a road sign or something that could easily have knocked my head off. They must get a lot of broken arms this way yet there were no signs telling people to be careful. We like that!

An old lady got on at one stage. She greeted the tram driver with a kiss on both cheeks then stood behind him talking to him the whole rest of the ride. At one stage she ruffled his hair (even though his hair was shaved). My guess is she was his grandma. Even though this is a city, it still has country charm about it.

At another point in the ride we pulled up at a red light on a very narrow road. John and I looked around, puzzled. There was no pedestrian crossing, no crossroad and no traffic except for a car that was stopped at the red light in front of us. To our surprise, the tram driver got out and spoke to the car driver who then turned around and went back the other way. We are still mystified about this. The tram driver returned and we sat for another few minutes at this red light in the middle of nowhere. Finally a tram came trundling past in the other direction. We think we had to wait because the road was too narrow for two trams to pass!

Lisbon is quite hilly and we saw one lady just get on at a stop at the bottom of a long hill and get off at the top. Makes sense to me!

A little further on, a local man boarded the tram. He took one look at the crowds inside the tram and started yelling in Portuguese. We could clearly pick up one word in his ranting - "tourists". The lovely driver asked him to stop but he would only stop for a bit then start up again. The man soon got off and the driver stood up and apologised, in Portuguese and English, to the people in the carriage for the man's behaviour. He said he was a crazy man. He may well have been but I still think he had good reason to not be happy.

Lisbon is suffering from over-tourism. It's not that there are the crowds here like there are in Paris or London, but all of Lisbon only has a population of about 800,000. Last year, there were 6.5 million foreign visitors to Lisbon. That's over eight times the city's population. So many of those tourists are riding the local trams, visiting churches and public squares and eating at local restaurants, making it hard for locals to visit these places themselves. Most of these visitors don't speak Portuguese which we've seen locals get upset about too. Portugal is a trending destination at the moment but that doesn't mean that it's all beer and skittles for those who live there.

The tour group all got off a few stops before the end of the line and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. A bit of fun banter went around the tram between both the locals and remaining tourists which was lovely. We reached the final stop with smiles, feeling like we'd just experienced more in one tram ride than we often do in days. We thanked the driver for the truly wonderful ride and he apologised again for the "crazy man'. He didn't need to. The whole experience was wonderfully entertaining and enlightening.

We looked across the square and saw the queue for the next tram returning back along the same route. I feel so sorry for the locals.

We recovered with a coffee and hot chocolate in a cafe then walked across the square. On the other side we could see Indian men handing out food from a table set up on the edge of the square. Curious to see what it was, I had a peek. The men immediately offered us some some, saying it was free. With mouthfuls of delicious food we learned that they were Sikhs. Every Sunday they hand out free food to people who need it. The Indian Sikh community donates money for this cause and the women get together and cook the food up. We felt a little guilty taking the food but they were rapt that we were interested in what they were doing. We got chatting to other Indians eating. It was great!

We had another experience on our first trip to Lisbon with a Sikh, only this time he was our Uber driver. I'm not sure how we got onto the subject of religion but he explained a fair bit about it. They are strong on being kind to others. They meditate a lot and he swears that his grandfather has honed his mediation skills so much that he can levitate sometimes! Many leave their hair uncut and wear a turban but our driver didn't as he didn't see it as being essential to his beliefs. Many are vegetarians. It was a really interesting discussion. We also discussed the philosophy of cricket.

Lisbon is built on seven hills and a castle stood at the highest point. We later tried to get into this castle but the queue was ridiculous.

We felt that we walked up all seven of those hills! We climbed up.......

and up.....

....... and up!

The views from the top were amazing.

I guess there had to be a cruise ship somewhere!

I loved the street art in Lisbon. It was everywhere. There was everything from huge murals that adorned the sides of buildings to stunning artwork to graffiti. 

An artist cleverly incorporated real greenery that was growing in cracks in the wall into this tree painting.

This artist is apparently well-known. He uses found materials to make these huge 3-D images.

There were many examples of pictures created in the blue and white Portuguese style on buildings.

We saw such a variety of tiles!

Narrow roads and laneways in the older part of town called Alfama were fun to explore. We had to step into a doorway to let this car pass!

Exploring "Pink Street". Someone cleverly thought to paint the road pink and it's now a well-known eating and drinking area.

You've got to love a country where you can drink in the streets. You would never see a sign like this at home!

The architecture was very pretty.

On one particularly steep street, special trams built on an angle took people up and down. They were mostly full of tourists. I had plenty of time to watch them as John had his hair cut nearby.

These old-style cars hung around waiting to take tourists on rides. Weirdly, there were also heaps of tuk-tuks taking tourists around!

One thing we've noticed about Portugal is that it's generally very clean. We've also noticed that if we are walking around and need a rubbish bin, there's usually one very close by!

On our second day we walked along the river bank. It was a Sunday and everyone was out enjoying the area. We came across this huge sculpture. It was clearly supposed to be dedicated to those heroic men (in Portuguese eyes) who set out in their boats to discover the world. 

This old tower was some sort of ancient arrivals station for sailors.

Nearby was this amazing church. The attached monastery was massive but was unfortunately closed that day.

In pride of place inside the church was the tomb of one of Portugal's great explorers, Vasco da Gama. 

The festival of Saint Antonio runs for most of June. Banners and streamers were strung across streets where people would eat and drink at nights while music played.

At 7pm or so, when we were looking for dinner, most of these places were only just setting up so we didn't get to join in, however we felt it was mostly family affairs anyway. Those that sold food generally only sold sardines or local sausages. Instead, we enjoyed hanging out in the many small public squares where beautiful old kiosks served wine and snacks to people.

We really enjoyed visiting Lisbon. There was so much to see! It's a lively city with a lot of history and where people still maintain old traditions. On the other hand it has many modern bars, restaurants etc, only they're often located in buildings that are often many hundreds of years old!

We'll be back her again one day for sure!

Heather and John