Some notes and pictures on your summer school area. Kathleen, Sarah and Tashira. I'm putting up this little web page to provide some pictures of the area you will soon visit. I am there now, and so I'm thinking of some of the 'daily life' things that may help you feel comfortable.
  The Pastelaria Cindarela is down the hill from ISCTE, on the same side of the street, almost to Campo Grande. It is a neighborhood restaurant. You can get soup, bread, fish, sandwiches, and snacks. Their fresh fish is pretty good---things like 'robalo' or sea bass, which is grilled. The place has TVs on, lots of people coming and going. Not too fancy. Dinner with soup and dessert might be in the 10 euro range.

And this is a very small neighborhood place on the corner of Av. Forcas Armadas and Avenida Cinco de Otubro. I had lunch there today---soup, sardinhas grelhadas (look in your tour book), coffee, and a soft drink for 7 euros with tip. Around the corner on Av. 5 de Otubro is the Hotel Vila Rica, a big business hotel---should you ever need the kind of things a hotel can provide.

There are nicer, homier cafes than either of these that are in the neighborhood. The two above get some of their business---from people like me, for example---because they are right on the main street and easy to get to.

Here is a shot of the outdoor cafe at ISCTE. It is closed today--its a holiday. The surrounding white buildings are the maid ISCTE classroom buildings.

Here's some pictures from a brighter day, early, before the cafe opens.

As I walked to my office after taking the cafe pictures, classes were changing. Looks pretty familiar, I think:

The Modelo is the grocery store (below) at the Entre Campus metro station. It is not a really large place, but has all the basics. A package of bread is about 1 euro, a liter bottle of mineral water is about 70 centimos, and a liter of laundry detergent is about 3.5 euros. I know because I just bought these things. There is a larger, somewhat nicer grocery up the street, toward the Roma metro station. It is a Pingo Doce store. (The Roma metro, by the way, is on a different line than the Entre Campus metro station. Roma is still a walkable distance from school---that might save you changing trains sometime.

Sometimes you can learn some Portuguese by reading signs---but sometimes the signs have too much English to teach you much!

Here's a shot of one of the more distinctive parts of ISCTE Edificio II, the newest of their buildings.

 

The pictures below is the Campo Grande park that begins at the intersection of Avenida Forcas Armadas and Avenida Republica, down the street from ISCTE. The intersection you see is a really busy traffic circle, and then the park stretches along Av Republica for a couple of kilometers.