Lisbon, the capital city of Portugal is the westernmost large city located in Europe, as well as its westernmost capital city and the only one along the Atlantic coast. It is a hilly city but luckily we do not have to do a lot of walking or else you will see a lot of panting tourists around ;p
Our visit to Lisbon (or Lisboa in Portuguese language) was part and parcel of a greater Spain tour. We were there from 19-21 April 2011. It was during the time when Portugal was experiencing The Financial Crisis. The local tour guide was very polite and thank us for visiting their country and helped contribute to its recovering economy. Frankly that was the first time that I encountered a local tour guide with such humility. Most of the tour guides that I met over the years were mostly charming but proud. In rare instances there were some who were downright arrogant!
Our local tour guide highlighted the fact that there were historical links between Malays and Portuguese which resulted among others some borrowed words between the races. Words like "jendela" (window), "almari" (cupboard), "garpu" (fork), "bendera" (flag), "keju" (cheese) are some of Malay words borrowed from Portuguese language.They borrowed "nanas" (pineapple) from us. I'm sure there are many more but I can only remember that one ;p
We went to Cabo da Roca (Cape Roca) which forms the westernmost extent of mainland Portugal and continental Europe. On a clear day you can see the United States of America from there.. I'm kidding!! The cape was beautiful in spring with wild flowers everywhere. A must visit if you go to Lisbon :)
I've uploaded 194 photos for your viewing pleasure. You can access them at my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/mkhasha.n.travels/. Go to the photo albums.
Njoy!!
