Wish you all a very nice trip to my city for your RIAI annual conference in Lisbon. Enjoy the city and the weather wich is quite warm...

Where can someone find more information about the RIAI annual conference in Lisbon?!

Call 00353 1 6761703.

Does anyone else feel that the cost of this trip is not only prohibitive but (almost) scandalous?

I don´t know what is the conference agenda and it´s cost but maybe it is worthfull considering the chance you are having of visiting some good architectural projects in a planned trip...

"We are an island nation and have been isolated from Europe blah,blah..."

.... is a phrase we hear all the time when it comes to making excuses about the lack of European influence on our way of thinking on urban projects, the built environment planning of large scale infrastructural projects etc. i.e. one Tram car to be parked(commencing yesterday) outside Goverment Buildings for 3 days only then to vanish for 3 to 4 years, this type of crack would be laughed at in Europe.

No sence sitting in some hotel in Dublin looking out the window at the fruits of their own edevours (or the single Luas tram) for 2 or 3 days - exposure to other influences / insitu projects (especially successful ones) is a must. Well done to who ever choose Lisbon.

Someone here seems to work for the Portugeuse tourist trade.

Someone(M???? K????)here is very shy and maybe should travel a little more

MK, have you ever been in Portugal / Lisbon? no? i guessed so... why don´t try to know a bit more about the place and find out is these people are right or not?... http://www.archforums.com/NonCGI/wink.gif

I lived in Portugal for 6 months, in Lisbon to be precise. Saw all the expo buildings, Siza's pavillion was very impressive, didn't like that oil rig thing aquarium. Fabulous beach, Carcavelis I think. Went out in Bairo Alto, good spot to get mugged, not me personally but two others with me. Travelled all down the coast, through Alentejo, saw the Roman ruins, Henry the Navigators School etc, thouroughly enjoyable,Lagos, Moorish town, narrow winding streets, Sagres beer. Beautiful country, & relatively inexpensive. Lisbon is one of the best cities I have ever visited, Nice golden gate bridge,but not as good as the real thing.

then MK you have to tell you I´m sorry about what I said... I´m glad you enjoyed the experience.

[This message has been edited by Rita Ochoa (edited 07 November 2001).]

The wonderful Vasco de Gama bridge...one of the longest in the world!

Yes the bridge is beautifull, 9Kms long, highway speed limits... but unfortanly not as used as it was we were thinking it would be. The purpose was to improve the cahotic acess´s into Lisbon but it doens´t work like that. It´s to expensive to cross it and it´s placed to far away from the main cities / houses of those who work or study in Lisbon...

[This message has been edited by Rita Ochoa (edited 08 November 2001).]