Bar hunting in Lisbon

I can't help feeling that a large part of my time n holiday for me is trying to find some run down sleazy bar to drink in. For the first couple of days here in Lisbon I couldn't find any decent bars, even when I searched around areas such as Rossie that my guide book assured me was the place to go after work for drinks. (I didn't spend all my time drinking I might add, but there are issues with the Internet in the hotel., which stop me telling the full story of my trip.)  There is beer available everywhere, but I don't see the point of drinking beer in a fast food cafe.

On Wednesday evening I took the metro to Cais de Sodre station at the end of the line. My guide book promised me this was the area to be for a wild night out. It had used to be a red light district, but was much smarter now. I thought it was worth a visit even though it could end up with me just getting a kebab and beer.

So I am on threat alert mode. I get off the train and walk to the exit of the station following the rest of the passengers. For some reason they have painted giant blue bunny rabbits on the walls of the station and this reminds me of the Wicker man film. I get out of the station and just see buses and tram stops and one small half closed bar.

I was disappointed. I walled around the half open bar and looked at the river. A Chinese guy was there and he asked me whether it was a river or the sea. What is this I thought, is this pub quiz night? I told him I thought it was a river and he said "but it smells of salt."

I then found a cluster of bars. There were some women wrapped in coats standing around some areas, which made me think that it was still a bit of a red light area. In fact one black women talked to me as I was wondering around. There were also a lot of single females walking around who looked like standard students, which me think it is a safe area.

I went into the British bar, because I wanted to drink a Duvel beer. I am not sure what was British about the bar. It didn't serve any British beer (ok it served Guinness) and no one in it was British. I finally decided it was British because they sell crisps.

After that I went to an Irish bar which was playing Johnny Cash. I drank a small beer. I noticed that many people were drinking half pints of Guinness, so I am just guessing they were probably not Irish.
So after my two drinks I headed back to the hotel. There were not that many people around.

 I did the same thing on Thursday night and there were even fewer people around