We are back to Lisbon.
Woke up around 7:30, had breakfast out of the leftovers of last night's dinner. Packed the bags, threw out the trash, packed everything we had into the car - with all the food and drink we were taking with us to Lisbon, the trunk was completely full.
The trip to Lisbon was uneventful. We took A8 - tolls and all - snuck into Lisbon and joined surface streets around Campo Grande, getting a nice view of the futuristic Sporting Stadium. Went through Campo Grande and the University District, down to Saldanha, where I missed the turn, so we wound up taking secondary streets through Saldanha and Arroios, eventually reaching our street and our building. Grabbed a parking spot right in front of our entryway, dropped off all our luggage and left Yuri and Tatiana there, while Olga and I took the car back to the rental place. The drive back took about 30 mins (traffic and all). Spent another 20 mins or so returning the car (everything in order, got a 6 euro voucher for gas for next rental through them - not impossible, since KlassWagen would up being much better run than our car rental place from last year). Took the shuttle back to the airport.
From the airport, went to the metro station, bought 20 euros each worth of trips, and took metro to Sao Simeon, where we went to El Corte Ingles - for the most part out of weird nostalgia, as in 2017 we lived around the corner. Bought a few small things (cheese, sauces) at the grocery store, discovered (FINALLY!) the Lisbon version of карамелевик in the grocery store's bakery (I swear they did not have it last year), although we were not hungry, so did not buy it - will do it during our next visit.
Rode the elevator back and forth for a while to refresh which floor contained what merchandise. After that, given how hot it was outside (over 30 Celcius), took the metro back to our place. Exited on Intendente, got home, took showers, had some rest, unpacked.
I attempted, once again, to fix the camera lens. Again - with no luck. The problem seems to be more serious than just "moisture on the contacts - dry them out and clean them, and things will go back to normal". I suspect, this lens is going to be hard to fix, in the meantime there are photos to take.
Around 5pm I snuck out and went to a couple of stores located on Rua da Palma: got some ice cube trays in a kitchen utensils store (really nice store, highly recommend it, I also got a couple of clay dishes for canned fix and olives). The real objective of the trip was a cheap Chinese textile store a few steps down from the kitchenware store - on our fist day in Lisbon I spotted several really cheap bags there that could work as camera bags while I am in town. Given that my camera bags at the moment are (a) a huge and heavy backpack, which is good for storage and transport, but is really bulky and inconvenient to actually carry around town, and (b) a small over the shoulder back, whose zipper gave up the day before, having a bag to carry the cameras was a bit of a priority. I bought two bags for a total of 9.50 euros. They are cheap, poorly made, and one of them is already missing a chunk of the zipper handle. But.... the bigger one fits my larger camera well, and the smaller one fits my Sony alpha 6000 just as well. Even if they only serve for the rest of the the trip and not a day more, this is a good way to carry around cameras - especially in Lisbon and other urban areas - and not telegraph to the world that you are tourist (although there are about 30 other ways to tell).
After purchasing the bags, sat at a nearby pasteleria and had my first pastel de nata (it was good). Then headed home where I found Olga and Tatiana ready to go explore the evening Lisbon. I joined them.
We went Rua da Palma -> Martim Moniz -> Praca de Figueira -> Rossio -> Rua do Carno -> Rua Garret -> Luis Camoes praca (with a small detour to confirm that the perfume store we found last year in Chiado was still there) -> Rua da Misericordia -> Miradouro de Sao Pedro de Alcantara.
At the latter (a park/obeservation point overlooking the central part of Lisbon), we hit some sort of a leftover from the World Youth Day party, with a DJ, a bunch of booths selling food and drinks, and a lot of people. We bought sangrias, vinho verde, and chased those with a glass of passion fruit juice and a passion fruit cocktail (pretty much - passion fruit juice, vodka and mint).
After a while, we decided to head home. We took Calcada da Gloria (a small street featuring the funicular tram going up and down) down to Restoradores, where Olga and Tanya had some coffee at the Banana Cafe (something Olga wanted to do last year, and we only got to experience at the end of our last day in Lisbon) at the end of Avenida do Libertade.
After the coffee (which according to Tatiana was really good), we crossed the Restoradores square, went past Hard Rock Cafe, and took Rua das Portas de Santo Antao (doors of St. Anthony?) - a toursit-heavy restaurant and small store row at the back of Restoradores - to Rossio, from where we took another shortcut through a Largo de Sao Domingo and Rua Barros Queiros to Martim Moniz, and from there - home.
At home, had another unsuccessful go at the camera lens, tried the bags with the cameras - they worked, and called it a night.
Steps. The phone is very generous at 18,525 steps for the day. The watch is somewhat more modest at around 16,500.
Alcohol. White sangrias at Miradouro de Sao Pedro de Alcantara were not fizzy, but were large, sweet, and refreshing. Not the best ones I had, but par for the course (they came from a large vessel and were poured using a ladle).
The passion fruit cocktail was nice - with passion fruit juice pretty much hiding any sign of vodka.
Next. We are taking a guided tour to the Almourol Castle and Tomar (Convento de Cristo).
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