Story#50
The night bus to Lisbon
The bus smelled of oranges because the man behind me had a crate of them. He offered one to every passenger who woke up. By dawn the whole bus smelled like a grove and nobody had slept.
Portugal
The oldest bookshop still trading, and the world's oldest demarcated wine region.
7 entries · 4 stories, 3 fun facts
Portugal at a glance
The practical numbers, before the stories.
- Capital
- Lisbon
- Currency
- Euro (EUR)
- Official language
- Portuguese; Mirandese recognised regionally
- Climate
- Mediterranean with Atlantic influence. Mild wet winters, hot dry summers, cooler and greener in the north.
- Best time to go
- March–June and September–October
- Time zone
- UTC±0 (UTC+1 in summer); Azores one hour behind
- Driving side
- Right
- Plugs and voltage
- Type C / F, 230 V
Worth knowing: Lisbon is built on seven steep hills. The funiculars and street lifts are public transport, not attractions.
Planning a trip to Portugal
A day-by-day itinerary, and the guides that cover the decisions you make before you go.
Bertrand in Lisbon's Chiado has been selling books since 1732 and holds the record as the oldest bookshop still in business. Port wine takes its name from Porto, although the grapes grow upriver in the terraced Douro Valley, which was the first wine region in the world to be formally demarcated.
At Quinta da Regaleira in Sintra, an initiation well spirals 27 metres down into the earth instead of rising. Elsewhere below: tram 28 at seven in the morning when it is simply a commuter service, and the night bus that smelled of oranges because the man behind me had a crate of them.
Entries from Portugal
Story#54
Tram 28 at seven in the morning
Everyone says tram 28 is unbearable. At seven in the morning it is a commuter service full of people going to work, the windows are cold, and you can hear the wheels complain on every corner.
Fun fact#69
Portugal's oldest bookshop
Bertrand in Lisbon's Chiado district has been selling books since 1732 and holds the record as the oldest bookshop still trading.
Fun fact#71
Porto gave port its name
Port wine takes its name from the city, though the grapes grow upriver in the terraced Douro Valley, the world's oldest demarcated wine region.
Fun fact#184
Sintra's palace has an inverted tower
Quinta da Regaleira hides an initiation well, a spiral staircase that descends 27 metres into the earth instead of rising.
Story#305
Nightfall in the Alentejo
The nearest streetlight was eleven kilometres away. We ate outside and by nine o'clock the sky had more stars than the guidebook had words.
Story#322
The tram driver's tour
The tram was nearly empty so the driver pointed things out as we passed, in three languages, without slowing down. At the terminus he apologised for talking too much.
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