Lisbon Life, not Lesbian !

Belem Tower Lisbon

Vasco De Gama came looking for spice rich India on May 20, 1498 and 500 years later, I went looking for Vasco De Gama in Lisbon.

Well he is almost everywhere there. From the Vasco De Gama Tower to Vasco De Gama Bridge to a Super Mall and a whole museum dedicated to his exploits.

Whatever, Lisbon is a very laid back city and very humane. Unlike most of Europe, it is slower and easier and simpler. The Portuguese are quite unique with their way of life and perhaps, this is the reason that its erstwhile colonies like Brazil, Uruguay, Macau, Angola, Goa,  Madeira Island etc etc have been very peace loving countries and were not in perpetual conflict.

One gets to see a lot of colonial intermix with many immigrants from former colonies of Portugal. Interestingly , the people in erstwhile colonies were allowed to be called themselves Portuguese. And no wonder, even today, people from Goa, India can easily immigrate to Portugal.

Lisbon is a small city for tourist and most people take the Hop on Buses. The Yellow variety allows you to use the Funculars , where as others you cannot use. Though one is told that yellow is slow with less frequency, but that is not actually the case.

Evenings and Night time is most lively in Chiado area , where you can pub hop till the wee hours of morning. Only recently they have come out of the law to close the pub by 2 am, otherwise the normal timing was 4 am.

Fado Restaurant . Fado is like a traditional folk song from a group which narrates the history of Portugal.
Well, for a foreigner without Portuguese language knowledge, it is actually a waste to visit one of these Fido Restaurants

Fado Restaurants are normally very expensive

My Wine and Meal in Fado Restaurant was around Euro 55 and the whole thing was not worth.
Best Avoidable

Focus on the Centre and you see the Fado Singer.

Nepali Restaurant, opened up by very enterprising Nepali Guys, who managed illegal entry successfully.

Interior of the Nepali / Indian restaurant

Then comes my Dal

Meal at the Nepali Restaurant 

Vasco De Gama Bridge. Total of 17 kms long and joins to another  island across the river.

Viceroys Buggies!

Bhopu! ( Horns)

The Sun Sometime Sets On the Portuguese Empire

The Naval Museum

Lisbon Tower

Veg Kibbehs in Vasco De Gama Mall

Food Court in Vasco De Gama Mall

Real Old Preserved Building sirsa 1400

Real New Complex 

Old Bazaar

The Oversize Flag costing the economy to borrow from IMF

Bikers Club

Bull Fight Complex

Portugal is a country of Soups and Salads

Museum

Tagus River

Ariel View of the City

Wishing This Was Mine

Tracks

Parking Is Full. 

Vaso De Gama Bridge

Nice Building

Old City Archietecture

Vasco De Gama Mall

Intelligent designing with Sky Open Roof. Only Day Light Floods Inside The Mall.

Exhibition Area

My Hotel

Nice Color And Design Pedestrian Shades

Oceneria Park

Carbon Free Public Transport. ( Tkt Optional )

Not So Nice Asian God's Museum

Brazil Explorer

Gran Melia - Jakarta

After a long time, I checked in at Gran Melia again last week.

Something is very unique about this hotel.  There has to be a special management team, which carefully reads all the reviews and then acts on the customer reviews.  Most other hotels simply give a lip service.  Two years back on one of my sojourns in the hotel, I wrote about Vegetarian food not on the menu as too many people were turning to vegetarianism .And voila, on my stay this time, there was a full page of veggie selections in the room service menu.

I ordered a Veg Lasagna and I must say, it was quite nice. Pic as below

Around $17, a little pricey, but worth the taste.

The other choices were Thai curry, Veg noodles , Fried rice etc. Though, the hotel could have well added Dal and Rice, Paneer and Naans as these were on the buffet.
Nevertheless, it was enjoyable.

The room size of around 42sq meters is quite nice and has been elegantly furbished with modern design carpets and very nice upholstery .

Makes more sense to take a room facing the front of the hotel. Side views face Buildings.

Cozy Bed

Gateway To Your Room.

Walk In Shower and Tubs Etc!

The Tower Of Melia

The best thing about the hotel is its Lobby. A very nice architectural marvel where the ceiling drops like a wind or a cloud of wood from the 8th floor to the ground floor. An extremely unique architecture, never seen any lobby of the best hotels in the world. Though, the hotel has not really used this as one of its USP.

 Look at the facade, where the ceiling drops from the sky to the ground. Awesome !

The Lobby with Water Globe

The location of the hotel is in the embassy area .  It has no shopping areas close to it and one has to drive atleast 10 to 15 mins to reach the Grand Plaza Mall or Plaza Indonesia or Semanggi mall. But if you are a good walker, then you can reach the Lippo Mart and Ambassador Mall, next to Hotel Manhattan in around 10 mins. There is another small shopping arcade on the same road as Melia, the Pasar Festival, hosting Fast Food and Slow food joints with Bowling alley. Concierge should help . Though as a hotel, it is well recommended as long as you get the right prices on net or a travel agent.

There is Indian food besides Indonesian, Chinese ,western and Japanese food in the buffet . The breakfast has a good spread and also has some Indian food, though of not very high quality.

There is a nice Chinese restaurant in the hotel and is worth trying.