Getting to the city- the options

TAP Portugese  the national carrier. Most visible aircraft in Lisbon Airport.

The fin paint of each one slightly different.

As I mentioned we arrived in Lisbon airport  at 8 am on 6th August. The pane circled the city a few times waiting for a slot to land. Unfortunately I missed the the chance to see the city from the sky as we all had middle seats.

Our humble Vueling Aircraft- Budget Airline. 

Thankfully we paid less than the train fare to get here.

As Vueling was a budget airline  they didn't serve breakfast. So we had  breakfast in one of the airport cafeteria and then from a kiosk purchased a Vodofone SIM for Portugal; with a week's  data and voice plan for 10 Euros. It allowed 5 euro talk time with unlimited data usage. As Matt had roaming on his phone we were not looking for voice calls, rather a good data plan for our  phone's GPS.

 Our hotel, Holiday Inn Express  is located  in the city center close to  Campo Pequeno, a bull fight ring. The check in time was 12 noon. So armed with the new connection we called the reception to know if they would allow early check in.  A good number of  Europeans hotels allow it if the room is ready. So it is always better to check than waiting around with luggage for a few hours.

Hotel rooms in Lisbon are comparatively a cheaper by Madrid rates and unequivocally so, with regard to Barcelona's day light robbery.  We were able to get this triple accommodation for 105 euros per night( around Rs. 8500) - a steal by Indian 4 star rates. Shame on you Indian Hoteliers. Europeans with much higher wage and operational costs are kinder to us than you guys when the hapless citizens of your country stay with you.

We had to shell out 190 for Madrid and 240 for Barcelona. Barcelona  is a tourist hot spot. But this rate was accomplished with good amount of research over  a period of time in the web using bookings.com or expedia.com.  I also have to  acknowledge that  it was our own  yatra.com that offered me the Madrid booking, in Hotel Medodia, right next to Atocha Rail station for a considerably less amount than the foreign  sites, payable in Indian rupees.
                
Of course, for Lisbon  taxis are the easiest way to reach the city center. They are lined up outside the terminals, and even with luggage, it would only cost you between 10 and 15 Euros depending where you get off.
 
If you have  lots of luggage  you should perhaps opt the AeroBus which runs between the airport and the city center. A ticket may be purchased directly from the driver for €3.50. They run every 20 or 30 minutes and stop at important points in the city such as Entrecampos, Campo Pequeno [ our stop ], Avenida da Republica,  Avenida da Libertade,  Rossio, Praça do Comercio etc. where your hotel might be.  These places became familiar to me as we roamed the city the coming days.

We decided to take metro, to get the feel of the place. The only catch was that from the metro station we had to lug the suitcases over the cobbled streets for 10 minutes to reach the hotel. (More about Lisbon streets pedestrian area -which deserve special attention- later).
Thankfully we checked in, had a good shower and some rest; before we set out to embrace the city.

In most western cities the underground metros ply.
So to a new visitor to the continent, let me explain how to use the metro system.
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Getting Around Lisbon ..