Day 5: Ponte 25 de Abril

Rich had made arrangements to meet up with an old schoolfriend who now lives in Lisbon, so Bob and I said we'd walk across with him, and then occupy ourselves while they went for lunch,

It was about a three mile walk but as I was suitably coated in suntan lotion today, I was perfectly happy walking in the sunshine. My first half dozen Extras are all pictures of the streets that we walked down, and you can see some evidence of a recent festival.

Once we arrived in the area where Rich was meeting Mike, we found a nice place - a collection of bars and restaurants - to settle down in and, after he'd had a beer, Rich set off... only to return a few minutes later with Mike!

Well, it should be no surprise that the friends of one's good friends turn out to be lovely people themselves, and the four of us happily went for lunch at a place Mike recommended before we set off for a walk.

And I was delighted by where we ended up as it gave a great view of the Ponte 25 de Abril, which I'd seen when we were walking yesterday but it was too far away to get a decent shot. There are loads of interesting facts for you to find out about the bridge, and they're only a Google away, but the one I will transpose here - because it's my favourite - is that it was originally named the Salazar Bridge, but the dictator for whom it was named was overthrown on April 25th 1974. Power to the people!

And in the evening, we sought out some more of the bars that Bob and Rich had (accurately) identified as being worth a visit. My favourite was called the Foxtrot, and I'd like to come back and take the Minx there one day.