...........The last time I was in Lisbon was about 20 years ago also. I remember it as a city with soul.
I got to know Lisbon quite well back in 1973 (Sept - Dec) when I worked for a geophysical seismic survey crew using a chartered Norwegian vessel registered out of Bergen, Norway. Lisbon was the home port base for operations down there, my first real job and as it turned out, they flew me down too early to join the crew so I spent a week in an accomodation unit with a swimming pool in Estoril going to the beach, casino etc. Once I joined the scientific crew we had many visits back to Lisbon for equipment repairs, bad weather and even when a yank on the magnatometer crew who went beserk because his boss wouldn't pay him more, took a fire axe and tried to smash his way into the instrument room, finally subdued and locked in a cabin. Wherever we worked there was always a land based administrator who would provide cash advances in local currency against our pay. I recall he was an Irishman named Ted Tuite, who on our other travels would pop up in Oporto, Carlos de la Rapita, Malta, Bergen, Orkney and Shetland Islands, Falmouth and Al Khobar Saudi Arabia.
Whilst most of my work colleagues never got further than the port bars and prostitutes (our chief mechanic went home to his wife in UK on leave with a dose of clap from a little hussy he met in a bar in a short tartan skirt I recall - must have been a bit embarrassing for him) I would go off on long walks to explore all over the city by myself - it was a time of massive student / left wing demonstrations against the government, and I witnessed several encounters with riot police, tear gas etc. I remember at the end of a long tree lined boulevard climbing up to a vantage point that provided a fantastic panoramic vista of the city, possibly here?
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I also got off the main streets nd travelled through some quite poor neighbourhoods, but never felt threatened in any way despite travelling alone at a relatively young age - everyone was very friendly I recall. Good exercise climbing up and down numerous steps.
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The seafood and white wine were fantastic I recall