I arrived in the city of Lisbon last night. My first impressions riding in through the city were positive. Big impressive buildings, monuments and open courtyards. But after the first three hours wandering the streets I started to dislike the place. Perhaps it was because of the wanna-be-gangsters fresh off the boat from Africa or the 20 Moroccans trying to sell me every drug conceivable or maybe it was too much of a change from the sleepy little town I had left from? Either way I got s*** on the liver right from the get go. Nothing for it but a good nights sleep and another try in the morning. Little to my knowledge, my room was facing the doors of an apparently busy nightclub for the future hearing impaired. Nothing for it but Valium. Say what you want but that stuff has got it's place. Like my dad says about such things (namely booze) "a good slave but a horrible master". My good slave pulled me through and I managed a solid 12 hours sleep and woke determined to make a go of this city. Straight out the door this morning and up the very steep hill to the remains of a moorish castle to check out "some old stuff". The views from up this hill are pretty incredible. And the further from my living quarters I moved, the more pleasant Lisbon became. I am putting it down to the casual, friendly attitude of the Spanish town I left behind. Anyway I'm over it and Lisbon has taken on the the atmosphere that it is famous for. I still get offered to buy drugs at every turn and I can't have a smoke without some rude little f*** demanding one but I'm ok with it now. Did a big walk up and around the hill that I did yesterday and enjoyed it a lot more. It's amazing what a good sleep and a change of attitude is capable of doing. Speaking of differences between Spain and Portugal, the first and most noticeable is the temperature. A good 8 degrees I would say, cooler. You notice it on the ride in. Pretty much as soon as you cross the border a cool breeze hits you (Just got offered hashish again as I write this) and it becomes more prevalent as you head towards Lisbon. I am having a meal in a bar with a terrific view overlooking the city and the waiter is obviously not allowed a beer at work (very un-European and he has stashed his beer on my table. It's funny to wait for a lull in his duties and race over to my table and slug down half a pot before dis appearing at light speed to serve another table. Class act. Doesn't seem to affect him any. The first beer I thought was on the house and I drank it. I thought he was going to cry. Lisbon is a great place. It is a drunk man with no cash in his pocket wearing last seasons Gucci. Would I come back. Yes but I would spend more on accommodation and stay a little further away from the action. So with that in mind, I head north up the coast tomorrow. Not sure exactly where yet.