(Can we eat now?)

Denis is very good when it comes to understanding metro maps and finding his way around so I usually leave him to it but as I would be on my own next week navigating Lisbon I decided to pay attention to where I would be going and to study the map last night. It wasn’t too difficult because I really like the names of the lines… well my version of the names… My own special name for the pink line is Vermillion, what a lovely word! For the blue line Azure, again, lovely word. For the yellow line, I think of the song Do you know the way to Amarillo… every night I’ve been hugging my pillow. Who would not be happy singing metro stations? And finally Verde and that’s the original name because I love green tea (Châ Verde). The actual names are Pink Line: Vermelha; Blue Line: Azul; Yellow Line: Amarela and Green Line: Verde

(Here comes the train)

So off we went to Lisboa this morning. We were testing out my commute for next week. We walked 20 minutes to the station and got the train to the Metro at Oriente which is on the Vermillion Line. We travelled to Saldanha and then changed to the Do you know the way to Amarillo… every night I’ve been hugging my pillow Line and got off at Rato (which funnily enough is the word for mouse, including a computer mouse!) then we walked to the hotel. We had left Ruby at the campsite in Vila Franca de Xira at 9am and arrived at the hotel where the workshop would be taking place at 11am… That would be a two-hour commute… might have to try something else.

(Can you see the stalls running along the wall on the right? And the communal tables in the middle)

After that Denis needed a treat. So we got back on the Do you know the way to Amarillo… every night I’ve been hugging my pillow Line, changed to the Azure Line and then onto the Verde Line and went to the Time Out Market. We had seen this good food market on a program called Somebody Feed Phil on Netflix and it looked like a good place to see and taste lots of different foods.

(The tinned sardine stall… but they had no sardines for some reason, lots of other fish though)

It’s very busy and there’s lots of choice. The food stalls are all around the walls and you walk around and pick what you want. You pay for it and you get a plastic thingy that flashes when your food is ready. While you’re waiting you find a free space at huge tables in the center. It’s a unique experience.

With all the metro lines memorised we’re ready to move on tomorrow and return to Lisboa next week, Mairead.