A quick tip on public transport in Singapore – use it ! We were quoted $54SGD for a taxi to the airport… our bus to get us to the MRT to avoid the rain cost us $0.11 AUD… yep that’s not a typo….and then the MRT was a fraction of the taxi fare – we needed all the $$$ we can save given the cost of our four drinks in Raffles 😂.

For this trip we are flying Finnair and so our hub is Helsinki, which meant we had about five hours at the Helsinki airport. Flying into Helsinki at dawn was simply beautiful and we can’t wait to come back in six weeks to explore a little, by then I expect that we won’t see snow.

Wow is my first impression of Lisbon, flying in I was struck by the symmetry of the place. I was lucky enough to have a window seat and I guess the word I would use to describe it would be panoramic! About 505,000 people live in this maze like city which has a bit of a French vibe about it. The Portuguese and French have had quite the love/hate relationship over the years much like many in Europe.

We were able to use the metro to get to our accomodation, it was pretty straightforward and inexpensive (in fact we were gifted with two tickets from a guy who was leaving Lisbon which was an unexpected bonus). It was a hilly trip on cobblestone roads and paths with our suitcases and so it was a relief to arrive in our home for the next few days and really wonderful for us to catch up with the advance party 😃. We are staying in a home stay in a lovely part of Lisbon, right in the centre with lots of fabulous places to visit close by on a quiet road.

For dinner Dave consulted Foursquare and found a great restaurant called The Decadente and it was really yummy. It is a place I would highly recommend, described as uniquely modern Portuguese the food was fresh and varied and hit the spot. We had a great waiter Miguel who humoured the six of us and provided us with excellent recommendations from the menu and a winning white wine!