Public transportation in Lisbon is clean, efficient and affordable. This morning, J.J. and I took the metro from Baixa/Chiado to the Praça do Comércio located near the Tagus River. This was the site of the Royal Ribeira Palace which was destroyed by the great 1755 Lisbon earthquake. Subsequent fires and a tsunami almost totally destroyed Lisbon. Between 10,000 and 100,000 lives were lost in Lisbon alone.
Today, tourists walk around the completely remodeled square as part of the Pombaline Downtown.
Some good photo ops, but we will reserve our serious sight-seeing for this weekend. In the meantime, our energy and time has been spent on rectifying the stolen wallet situation. It is challenging to place long distance phone calls only to be put on hold indefinitely by the bank’s international specialists who repeatedly ask the same information each time one comes online. I would love to receive a communication from the bank asking about our experience. J.J. and I would be able to offer constructive feedback to improve their customer service efficiency.
Otherwise, all is well on our end. J.J. is also walking everyday increasing his daily mileage slowly. One of the benefits is that his back seems to be giving him less problems.
Written Portugués is perhaps 60-75% comprehensible but pronunciation is different from Spanish. I am maintaining my Duolingo daily Spanish practices and adding 3 new words a day in Portuguese.
Aloha -- Cathi
