Joel left the boat in the early hours... We got up later, ate breakfast, backed our things, and planned to take the bus at 11:00 to *Lisboa*. Loading the small dinghy with Claudia’s travel suitcase and my backpack, climbing aboard, and slowly winding our way back into town. Good bye, Tartaruga! Good bye, sailing! (Phew!)
On the way back we saw were we had gone wrong yesterday night... After the first post, we turned too far to the right, taking another arm and doing a big half-circle instead of going straight for our boat. Oh well...
It turned out that the 11 o’clock bus was full, so we took the bus at 12:15, idling away our time in that famous café, drinking *bica*, water, and eating Portuguese *pasteleria* – first four different pieces, and later four pieces again, but this time our favorites: a ball of almond pastry filled with the sweet egg-yolk-sugar mix the Portugese call *doce de ovos*. Yummy! And after all the pastry, we were prepared for the long bus trip.
The bus cost us €14.50 each and took us until 5 or 6 o’clock, I can’t remember any more. Anyway, the sun was still up, so we were able to calmly look for a hotel. The book suggested the lower end of *Avenida da Liberdade*, esp. the area at *Rua da Glória* or the area around *Praça da Figueira*.
The bus arrived at *Arco do Cego* again, just like on the first day (2003-07-01). We walked to Saldanha and took the Metro to *Restauradores*. The metro costs €0.65 for every trip if you buy single tickets, and that is what we did for most of our stay in Lisbon.
From *Restauradores* we walked to *Rua da Glória*. On the way there, we saw a sign for a *Résidencia* on the 4th floor of a building, and I left Claudia by the entry with the bags as I climbed the stairs. It turned out that they were renovating or something – only a few kids lived there amidst the paint and the wooden planks. So on we trodded. Five minutes later we decided to try the *Residencial Verginia* on *Rua da Glória*, somewhere on the 2nd and 3rd floor of the building. The room was €30 a night and it looked clean. No toilet but a little shower built into the corner and toilets on the same floor – it was ok, and we decided to stay for the three remaining nights.
Later that night, after some rest, taking a shower, washing our hair – finally clean again! No more water saving! We went out for dinner. On the way here we had already seen an Indian restaurant called *Indian Curry* and I had decided that we had seen enough sea-food – enough grilled fish, *arroz marisco*, or *açorda de gambas* – I wanted naan, dahl, paneer, and mango chutney!!
We ended up in the restaurant *Jaipur*, also on *Rua da Glória*. The restaurant was in the cellar of the house, and crammed full with Portuguese and Indian or Pakistani people, and so we fully enjoyed an extended meal. Yummy! And cheap, too, for Swiss standards. We were stuffed, and it cost around €30 for the two of us.