Just back from Portugal

[EddieM]

You are entitled to your opinion and I have not actually been to Lisbon, but, out of curiosity, where do you live, Eddie?

England.

 

[EddieM]

We quite liked Lisbon, having Piri Piri chicken for tea tonight as it happens

Would have been ok with that, but not the utterly gross slop we found, best food place in Madeira is a place called McDonald's. That's not saying much.

 

[Mottie]

Been to Portugal 3 times. Lisbon twice (stopped there on a med cruise, got off and went straight into a Titanic exhibition!) and once to Madeira. Lisbon bit of a ****e hole with plenty of beggars. We were walking along that main river and saw a black mass ahead in the water which turned out to be hundreds if not thousands of fair size fish all gobbling up raw sewage being pumped directly into the river including sanitary towels, condoms and of course, turds. The locals were fishing nearby - I wondered if the fish were ending up in local restaurants. Yuk. Wouldn't go to Lisbon again but would go back to Madeira.

 

[EFLImpudence]

England.

Ok. No sh*tholes there.

 

[Brigadier]

Been to Portugal 3 times. Lisbon twice (stopped there on a med cruise, got off and went straight into a Titanic exhibition!) and once to Madeira. Lisbon bit of a ****e hole with plenty of beggars. We were walking along that main river and saw a black mass ahead in the water which turned out to be hundreds if not thousands of fair size fish all gobbling up raw sewage being pumped directly into the river including sanitary towels, condoms and of course, turds. The locals were fishing nearby - I wondered if the fish were ending up in local restaurants. Yuk. Wouldn't go to Lisbon again but would go back to Madeira.

Picking "catch of the day" in a local restaurant doesn't sound so fresh and appetising anymore........

 

[Mottie]

Would have been ok with that, but not the utterly gross slop we found, best food place in Madeira is a place called McDonald's. That's not saying much.

We couldn’t get sardines in Lisbon. Went to a restaurant recommended by the hotel we were staying at and ordered a local speciality, some kind of fish and it was cooked whole with the guts and bones still in it. And with boiled spuds. Practically inedible, too boney. At another restaurant we ordered some wine with a meal, they brought it up, opened it, poured it, it tasted nice but wasn’t what we ordered, it was a more expensive bottle. When I pointed it out, instead of letting us have it for the price of the bottle we asked for, they took the glasses back from the four of us, poured it back into the bottle and took it away!

 

[cwhaley]

I can only speak from having gone once around the Northern villages. Porto was good enough, but there is a lot of unemployment there and public services are a disgrace. The villages were often set in pretty landscapes but it hid many problems.

Work with a Portuguese girl from Lordelo (far North-West coast) and she said there are no opportunities at the moment. Aside from family she said she actually prefers Nottingham to home! One of the best things she said is how polite and orderly we are (in relation to public transport)!

 

[EddieM]

Ok. No sh*tholes there.

Plenty, there's a really big one called London.

 

[Mottie]

Picking "catch of the day" in a local restaurant doesn't sound so fresh and appetising anymore........

To make things worse, that was our second visit and after we had had our first fish meal!

 

[EddieM]

We couldn’t get sardines in Lisbon. Went to a restaurant recommended by the hotel we were staying at and ordered a local speciality, some kind of fish and it was cooked whole with the guts and bones still in it. And with boiled spuds. Practically inedible, too boney. At another restaurant we ordered some wine with a meal, they brought it up, opened it, poured it, it tasted nice but wasn’t what we ordered, it was a more expensive bottle. When I pointed it out, instead of letting us have it for the price of the bottle we asked for, they took the glasses back from the four of us, poured it back into the bottle and took it away!

I ordered a steak in Madeira, well I did get a steak true, not a very good quality one, anything else.... nah, just steak.

Anyway Portuguese wine is largely vile too.

 

[EFLImpudence]

Plenty, there's a really big one called London.

Exactly.

 

[EddieM]

Been to Portugal 3 times. Lisbon twice (stopped there on a med cruise, got off and went straight into a Titanic exhibition!) and once to Madeira. Lisbon bit of a ****e hole with plenty of beggars. We were walking along that main river and saw a black mass ahead in the water which turned out to be hundreds if not thousands of fair size fish all gobbling up raw sewage being pumped directly into the river including sanitary towels, condoms and of course, turds. The locals were fishing nearby - I wondered if the fish were ending up in local restaurants. Yuk. Wouldn't go to Lisbon again but would go back to Madeira.

Don't eat the scabbard fish FGS.

 

[Mottie]

Porto was good enough, but there is a lot of unemployment there and public services are a disgrace. The villages were often set in pretty landscapes but it hid many problems.

Actually, I forgot. We’ve been there too on the same cruise that stopped in Lisbon. I remember at the time, we docked in Porto, I walked out of the gates directly into a massive demonstration outside a local hospital. I joined in for 5 minutes but I didn’t really know what I was protesting about but it was my first demo!

 

[EddieM]

Exactly.

But it has food. Ate in an "irish" pub in Lisbon, such was the awful paucity of food choices.

 

[durhamplumber]

When I pointed it out, instead of letting us have it for the price of the bottle we asked for, they took the glasses back from the four of us, poured it back into the bottle and took it away!

Lol...top stunt..