Day Thirty-one 14.4.05 William's Birthday eve. We decided to scoot down the coast to Lisbon for William's birthday. When we woke up the awning was dry. It began to spit whilst we were eating breakfast. We made a decision not to try and pack it up, but wait until the rain stopped. It took ages and meant that we headed off a lot later than planned. We took the motorway this time and messed up the toll, somehow we managed to go through the gate reserved for pre paid travel. When we got to the other end of the motorway we were told off (in a nice way) but we had to pay the maximum toll, good job we joined at the start of the motorway so it didn't make any odds. From the motorway we spied Obidos, it looks fabulous. So we will travel back to visit after Lisbon. Once we had the negotiated the traffic chaos of Lisbon centre we found a nice hotel on the edge called Vila Gale Opera. The good thing is it has underground parking so we can leave the van and all the gear safely. The hotel is situated right next to the Golden Gate style bridge, sounds cool but the room is a bit noisy with the traffic and train. We went off exploring in the afternoon, fortunately we had managed to come to Lisbon at the same time as Newcastle football team were playing Portugal. This meant that the city was full of lager lout away fans who were really noisy and vile. We went up the Elevador de Santa Justa which a lift that used to connect the Baixa quarter with the Largo do Carmo but now is just a tourist attraction. At the top is a small café, we found it full of away fans so decided not to stay long. Unfortunately the moment we decided to go down everybody else did too. There was only one lift working and no steps. It was a bit of a rabble and the drunk fans were being really pushy, a row broke out between a mouthy student and a fan. The lady operating the lift started ranting as well and it was all a bit of a performance to get off the elevator. We found a super fish restaurant in the docklands area in the evening and managed to avoid the fans, presumably the lost as they don't seem to be as obvious now.