Hotel Mundial could not be better placed for city exploration. The riverside, restaurants, open top bus tours, trams, tuk-tuks (if you like that sort of thing and, in this city, in these circumstances, I dont’) and shops are all within a hop, skip and a jump. That’s if you can get your bearings which, having tried to make the most of our short time in Lisbon by booking an early flight out and a late flight back, was not within our grasp. Luckily, about ten yards from the front door of the hotel, was a kiosk selling 24, 48 etc hour tickets for open top bus, tram, boat and funicular. We spent much of our exhausted first day sitting on the top deck of the buses, taking in the ‘amazing architecture’ as directed by our commentary, in a daze. but Lisbon is an amazing place, full of history, both acknowledged and (when it comes to empire) brushed under the carpet. Things to do; open top bus to get your bearings – funicular up to the top and walk back down through the very expensive suburbs, boat trip to Belem, Day trip to Sintra, the Pena National Palace and Cascais and the rooftop bar in Hotel Mundial. We packed a lot in our three days and it took a week to recover!!
PS. Lisbon is particularly good for South Asian Veggie food; my favourite restaurant was Veganapati especially the Mango salad and the sambar and chutneys
