Covering over 2200km across Europe throughout July 2023, the first part of the TT's Pan-European Road-Trip headed to Portugal for the NosAlive 2023 Music Festival.

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NosAlive Lisbon has a reputation as one of Europe's best summer festivals. Located right on the beach at Algés in the Belém district on the western outskirts of Lisbon, the festival attracts international artists and performers from all genres. In 2023, the line-up included Arctic Monkeys, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, and Queens of the Stone Age as headliners.

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Thursday 6th - Saturday 8th July were NosAlive 2023 dates, and we took the best value, 3-day pass, priced at a remarkable €179 (=£160 approx). Next year's dates are already published as 11th - 13th July 2024.

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The Grand Tour started in Portsmouth on the Sunday evening ahead of the festival. We boarded 'Galicia', the Brittany Ferries service to the Biscay port of Bilbao in Northern Spain.  After an evening embarkation, it was a relaxing two-night trip, either side of a easy and thoroughly delightful, sunny day-at-sea. 

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We arrived at Bilbao early on Tuesday morning, and after speedily clearing through Spanish customs and immigration, we were on the road south and west towards Lisbon. Too far to drive in a day, we stopped overnight in the delightful university city of Salamanca. Although it was hard to find, we eventually checked in at our very comfortable hotel, the Hospedium Plaza Mayor, right in the centre of the old quarter of this historic city. That evening we found a great restaurant, enjoyed a super dinner, and spent time exploring the old city whilst often immersed in deep discussion!

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After a hearty breakfast the following morning, we headed out of the city across the plains of Extramadura towards the amazing Portuguese mountain village of Monsanto, just across the border - a not-to-be-missed, lunchtime break from the driving. It was certainly worth it to see houses and shops built amongst the huge granite boulders that comprised this hill-top, fortified, medeival settlement.

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Arriving in Lisbon later that afternoon, we checked in to our innovative, AirBnB accommodation aboard a yacht berthed in Bom Sucesso Marina at Belém, just a short walk to the Festival site at Algés Beach. The yacht was compact but comfortable, with everything we needed for our 4-night stay. After sorting out our kit, stocking up with supplies from the local supermarket, we enjoyed a restful evening meal at a very pleasant riverside restaurant.

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The Festival schedule had been published by now, with opening performances on stage commencing at 5:00pm each day. But with the more well-known bands performing later, this left us daytime on Thursday, Friday and Saturday to explore Lisbon. We made the most of it:

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THURSDAY:

• We explored our local district - Belém - which included a short drive to the huge Miraflores shopping mall to collect our Festival passes - very exciting!

• Afterwards, we visited the stunning Jéronimos Monastry, a UNESCO World Heritage Site just walking distance from home. It is an astonishing 16th century work of architecture founded by King Manual I in 1496. On completion a few years later, the whole complex was donated to the monks of the Order of St Jérome. It is now a public monument and an important part of Portugal's cultural identity.

• By late afternoon, it was time for food (we found a great restaurant in the Belém district), following which we returned to the yacht, put on our Festival hats (metaphorically speaking), and walked the 20-minutes or so to the main gate of the Festival Arena amaongst thousands of other festival-goers - it was a lively start to the evening's events.

• Once inside, we explored the Arena, figuring out which stage was where before settling down to enjoy Men I Trust, Jacob Collier and especially, Ibibio Sound Machine - a highly energetic band from Nigeria.

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FRIDAY:

• Time to head into town: Although we figured out Lisbon's transport system - catching a mid-morning tram into the centre of the city - working out how to pay for our ride proved more of a challenge. The ticket machines were unfathomable, and as we didn't know how to get a Lisboa Transit Card (or whatever it was called) - it was free-riding to town.

• Alighting opposite the legendary, Lisbon Time Out Market (later to deliver an amazing late lunch), we headed for the Asencor de Bica, a rickety funicular lift uphill to Lisbon's next level. Our tram was pretty trashed with graffiti but it was a great start to the day.

• We dawdled to one of Lisbon's most historic meeting points, the Praça Luis de Cameōs for a coffee (and a lesson in 'where's North?' and map-reading - ha ha) before working our way further uphill to the Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcãntara. This provided for a photoshoot of the stunning view east towards the Castelo de São Jorge and the Alfama district.

• Ambling back downhill towards the Rio Tagus and our late-lunch r/v at Time Out, we spent an hour in the church, and then the Museo, de São Roque, viewing an extraordinary collection of religious artworks and artefacts trying to gain an understanding of the religious history of the era. Close by, we admired the ruins of the Igreja do Carmo, a religious convent partially destroyed in the huge Lisbon earthquake of 1755. The remains of the building now house the Museum of Archaelogy.

• Lunch at Time Out was amazing, but soon it was time to head back home, grab a cuppa, and make our way to the Festival Arena for Friday's delivery of awesome music. We toured all the stages sampling a tremendous diversity of sounds - but of course the headline set by Arctic Monkeys was The Real Event - stunning. 

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SATURDAY:

• By now, we were settled into a routine: eggs and coffee for breakfast outside in the bright morning sunshine aboard our floating home; a tram ride into town, a late lunch at 'Time Out', home later and then a brisk walk amidst our compatriot 'festivalees' to the NosAlive Arena. Sadly, this was our last day although there were still plenty of sights and sounds to cram in.

• With a good deal of the old part of Lisbon still to see, it seemed unlikely that we would have time to explore further afield to other city localities such as the Barrio Alto or the Alfama and the Castelo de São Jorge. Hopefully these will be on the agenda for 2024's NosAlive Festival experience.

• So following our (free again) tram ride into town after breakfast, we walked along the bank of the Rio Tagus to Lisbon's stunning riverside centrepiece, the grand Praça da Comércio with the magnificent statue of Dom José I, King of Portugal in the 1750s. He was also known as 'The Reformer', notably for establishing many of Portugal's lasting institutions such as the Board of Commerce and the Treasury, and for widespread educational reforms to modernize the country.

• We left the piazza through the impressive Arco da Rua Augusta, strolling along the rua itself past the shops and cafés of this lower part of the city, towards Praça Dom Pedro IV. And there he was, atop a towering marble column, gazing out across the city towards the river. But wait, legend has it that the statue is, in fact, Emperor Maximillian of Mexico, who was assassinated shortly after the statue was completed in the 1850s. Unwanted, it was sold to the city of Lisbon at a knock-down price to be placed here, not least as the two monarchs were apparently much alike so the city governors assumed no-one would notice the deceit!

• We stopped for a coffee to soak up the atmosphere of this, Lisbon's central square, known more widely by residents as 'Rossio', roughly translated as 'common land'. It is reputed to be a focal point for the city's social and cultural life, so it's no surprise that Lisbon's National Theatre is at the top of the piazza. To get there, however, means crossing the wavy, black and white stone paving of the square - enough, perhaps, to make those prone to sea-sickness a little unsettled?

• En-route to Rossio we'd passed one of the several, anacronistic totems of Lisbon Old City, the Elevador de Santa Justa. This towering, iron-girder-framed lift was built in 1902 to take Lisbonites (mostly tourists now) from the streets of the city's lower level up to the residential and commercial areas above, thus saving a tiresome walk up the stiff gradients of the narrow side streets.

• After coffee (and a long discussion about classical music!) we walked on to the Praça do Restauradores dominated by a tall, obelisk monument which commemorates the liberation of Portugal from decades of Spanish rule in the 17th century. In addition to more crazy paving to admire, on the west side of the square stands the original, art-deco frontispiece of the Eden Cinema-Teatro building - its pink marble was glistening in the morning sunshine. Sadly, the cinema showed its last movies in 1989, and after some time derelict, the site was cleared and converted into a hotel and apartments. Thankfully, the magnificant facade was retained.

• At this point we were beneath yesterday's Miradouro de São Pedro, and ideally placed to take a ride on the funicular tram, the Ascensor da Glória, rising up the steep hillside to the very place we'd stopped for a photoshoot previously.

• But with late lunch beckoning, it was time to head back to the riverside for a salmon inside a chocolate burger-bun (yes, really) at Time Out, before hopping on the tram back to Belém for tea and a breather. A short while later, and for the final time in 2023, we headed off to the Festival Arena for Saturday's music: 'Queens of the Stone Age' were tonight's headliners - what a performance!

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SUNDAY:

• Time to go, very sadly. The TT would be heading off for a breath-taking drive across five countries of Europe, stopping off for a welcome diversion for a few days on The Italian Lakes before heading home. The TT's Festival Partner had a flight to catch back to London, and work.

• But after checking out of our delightful floating home of the previous four days, there was still time for a morning's trip across the Tagus to see the Santáurio de Cristo Rei, towering above the south bank to gaze across the river to the city on the other side.

• We parted company, quite emotionally really,  with the TT and pilot heading off to Caçeres in Spain for a first stop on the Grand Tour, and TT 's co-pilot and navigator taking the bus to the Lisbon Airport, and onwards (eventually!) by EasyJet to London-Luton and home.