What happened to the tourism money? Why is the city of Lisbon being treated like this? This is the question I asked myself last month when I was in Portugal for 4 weeks. I was born in Lisbon, and I lived there until the age of 30 when I moved to Australia. I am very sad to say I have never seen Lisbon as bad as I did this time I was there.
I really don’t want to pass a horrible image of Lisbon. It is still a beautiful city and if you stick to the tourist attractions, you may not even notice some of the things I am going to tell you about. It is presentable for the tourists, although even for them, there is a lot to be done.
Unmarked roads, chaotic traffic and tuk-tuks
If you go to Lisbon and then think you made a mistake and you just ended up in Bangkok, I wouldn’t blame you. The city is noisy with tuk-tuks that take tourists everywhere. Nothing wrong with tourist tours, they are a great way of showing people the beauty of Lisbon. Just do it with a vehicle that belongs there and it’s part of the culture. A tuck-tuck certainly isn’t!
The Council doesn’t even maintain the city streets. Most of them are full of potholes, the lines are not marked making it difficult and even dangerous to navigate. The locals complain, but somehow they know how to navigate that mess, but think of the unsuspecting tourist who knows nothing about the city and see themselves in it.
Dirt, rubbish and weeds
If you walk through Belém or Rossio, you probably think Lisbon is reasonably clean. Now, step away a little and delve into the city’s residential areas and you will find a very different scenario. The iconic cobalt stones (calçada portuguesa), that appear in so many postcards and are one of the symbols of the city, have now 1m-high weeds growing in the gaps. One of the places where that was visible was Penha de França, one of the neighbourhoods of the city, where many tourists go.
The rubbish collection is also not done efficiently. You have places where they have recycling bins (Ecopontos). These are not emptied regularly, so they are full of rubbish, they smell and of course, attract flies and possibly rodents.
And the cherry on top
If all of this was not bad enough for the image and reputation of this wonderful city, what I am about to tell is definitely the cherry on top of this huge cake of corruption and neglect. They have 2 sewage treatment plants in the city. One of them is very close to the main train station out of the city (Sta. Apolónia). If you dare to walk through those streets on a hot day, like the ones you get in July, you are sure to have your stomach churning in disgust. The putrid smell spreads across the streets where ratepayers live and pay their taxes.
It’s unhygienic, it’s disgusting and shouldn’t happen in the middle of an European capital like Lisbon. It’s unacceptable!
So, what happened to the tourism money Mr. Moedas?
Last year, according to the Portuguese media, the Lisbon Council approved spending 4.5 million Euros for a stage, when the Pope visit the country. Four and a half million! On a stage!
What could have been done for the city of Lisbon with those 4.5 million Euros Mr Moedas? I have a few ideas of my own if you don’t mind. I am sure it could pay for repairs and markings in the city’s streets, better signage, and proper operation of the sewage plants, let alone move them away from the city altogether, just to name a few.
What about doing something for those who pay the rates Mr Moedas? Clean the streets, kill the weeds. If they see the neglect the city has seen lately, tourists will too. I saw of few in Penha de França disgusted at the fact they had to navigate streets full of weeds and dog poo. Yes, dog poo! Everywhere!
This is not the Lisbon I was born Mr. Moedas. This is not the Lisbon I grew up in, and definitely, this is not the European capital that I expected it to be. Lisbon is a beautiful city, full of history, full of natural beauty too. It is unacceptable that a religious event gets more funding and care than the city that hosted it and the people who paid for it, yes, including the tourists, of course, they pay too.
It is unacceptable that Lisbon is been abandoned the way it has. Lisbon does not deserve that, Lisbon is not dirty, Lisbon is not smelly, Lisbon needs someone who respects it and returns it to its former glory. I am sorry to say Mr. Moedas, but that is not you!