A sedate tram tour of two hills in Lisbon

The Yellow Bus tour on the tram was much more sedate than the tours on the buses.   It was also the coolest day, which was just as well given our long wait in the sun, for the tram.

It was a public holiday, the President's public holiday, celebrating the Proclamation of the Portuguese Republic, when the Republican Party overthrew the monarchy, and Portugal became a republic on the 5th October, 2010.  

And the President's speech in a square, a few minutes walk away from the Terreiro do Paco, the square by the River Tagus.  And the start and end place for the tram tour.    Of course the tram tracks went past the square where the speech was taking place, and the road was closed to traffic.   

We, like many other people did not know this, so we queued up, and waited, together with the worried Yellow Bus attendants.    After some time standing in the sun, the attendants told us they were rerouting one of the trams.    They counted off the required number of people for the seats in the tram, and took us to a street corner a short distance away, where we waited again in the sunshine.   The attendant, who was getting very stressed by this stage, told us the tram was not far away but could not get past a car that was badly parked.  

After a total of an hour and a half we gave up, and went off in search of lunch.   It was midday, and we were parched, not having any water with us, and hungry too.    We managed to find a very popular little sandwich place, where we ordered water, orange juice a delicious sandwich and a coffee, and felt much better.

Then we caught the tram we were meant to catch two hours beforehand.   On our way back to the square we saw it moving as we crossed the street. We walked quickly back to the corner, where the attendant, who looked very hot and bothered by this stage, was waiting with a few people from the original group plus a few other people.   How lucky we were to have gone for lunch instead of waiting for that tram.   

So we boarded, feeling refreshed and relaxed.

The trams in Lisbon are very small, single bogey ones, as the streets on the two hills are very narrow and twisty.    The Yellow Bus trams will only allow sitting room only, so it is very pleasant to travel on one.  But the public transport trams are always packed full of people.   A haven for pickpockets apparently.

The Yellow Bus tram.

Our driver was fantastic, and very humorous.  So we had our ear phones for the English commentary, and extra information from the driver.   He also drove the tram smoothly too.

We first went up the hill to the Alfama district, which is the ancient area of Lisbon.   It was also once the poorest area too, but no more, with its trendy shops and cafes.

And what a steep climb up, on narrow streets, winding around the old buildings.   Very picturesque.

There was no way we wanted to walk back down those narrow slippery cobbled footpaths, especially as we would be competing with hundreds of other tourists.   Plus cars.  And having waited so long for the tram we were on, we were also unwilling to get off at any of the stops, have a look around and then catch the next tram.    So we stayed on, and just enjoyed the ride.

A photograph of the Cathedral with a cruise ship behind it.

Then down onto flat ground again, the Baixa area, and then up the hill on the other side.    Not quite such winding streets, but still challenging slopes.    

We stopped outside the parliament building.   Impressive.

We stopped for 15 minutes outside the Basilica da Estrela, but unfortunately it was closed.   Our chance to see inside at least one church.

A beautiful tiled building.

And too quickly we were back at the Praca do Commercio.    A truly lovely tour, very sedate and peaceful, in a tram that ran on rails.  No zipping in and out of traffic.   Great.

And finally, Walter got his tablet back today, although it took two forms plus an email, for the Lost Property company to respond with a telephone number.    A very happy man.