Rick and Marie's Travels: Portugal: Lisbon

Previous posts are archived at:

http://rickstrips.blogspot.com

Sept. 5th: Arrived safely in Lisbon and will have stories to tell and pictures to post as soon as our backpacks arrive. Air Canada assumed our bags wanted a different trip.

We took the Metro to our neighborhood, asked a local which way to Rue da Graca, and walked up the hill and past our apartment. At Graca Largo, we knew we'd gone too far and asked for help at a cafe and a barista directed us back the way we came, explaining in English that we wanted Graca street, not Graca Largo (i.e. plaza). We walked back about 300 yards, and sure enough, #26 (the door to our apartment) was wedged between two small restaurants.

Sept. 7th: We are staying in the Alfama neighborhood, the old part of the city. It's quite hip and set up for the cruise ships that dock at the bottom of the hill. Two arrived yesterday and we were inundated with tourists. As usual, just head down one street off the one with all the grot shops (i.e. tourist trinkets) and you're alone, enjoying a shady plaza or cooling off in a chapel/church not shown on the tourist bureau map.

Our place is on top of the hill with several viewpoints looking out over the river and city. The famous Tram 28 runs along our street and winds its way around and through the Alfama, a highlight for tourists and a necessity for locals.

Took a walk yesterday and it was hot, but it was fun winding our way through the narrow streets reminiscent of the Gothic area in Barcelona. Instead of trying to actually find something on the map, it's more fun to just get lost and see what develops. We have Metro cards when we really want to get to a particular place.

Our bags arrived today at 5:00PM, so we have our shorts now and can take a walk and better endure today's 95F (35C). Lisbon is having unseasonably warm weather this week, averaging 10 degrees or so above normal.

Sept. 8th: Walked up to our usual place for coffee and pastry and the manager noticed we had new clothes. He asked us where our bags ended up and we told him Frankfurt. "Once my bags went to Thailand while I was visiting New York City."

Another warm one today but cooler at 82F (27C). Took metro to Rossio for the "big i" (tourist information) and found out where to get the bus to Obidos (our next destination) and how to take the train to Sintra for a day trip. And then we wandered toward the river to Praca do Comercio (heart of Lisbon), enjoying the Rua Augusta Arch and the colonnade before making our way to the foot of the Alfama district, our neighborhood. Walked up the streets popping into several churches and ending our stroll at Largo da Graca at the viewpoint behind the monastery where you can see Ponte 25 de Abril, a bridge designed by the same person who did the San Franciciso Bay Bridge

We are relaxing in our apartment during the hottest part of the day and will take another walk when it cools down this evening.

Inspired by the elementary school children below, we headed out to see some of Lisbon's sights.

It's "Field Trip Friday" for this class.

Here are some pictures from our walk.

Street artist. She seamlessly moved just like

a mechanical doll from a music box.

Just liked this sign as we strolled through Baixa.

Rococo front on this building captured our attention. Around
every corner there's something cool we noticed.

Window display at Ale Hop shop.
The cow's head is on the street side
and the rest of it is inside the store.

Santa Justa elevator, a 19th century lift

that whisks passengers up the steep hill

from Baixa district. Lines were long,

but we wanted to walk back up to our

neighborhood and take in whatever

there was to see along the way.

Rua Augusta Arch, the symbol of a triumphant Lisbon rebuilt
from the ruins of the 1775 earthquake.

Rua Augusta Arch close up.

One colonnade of Praca do Comercio. This
18th century "palace" faces the Tagus River
and is considered the heart of Lisbon.

Sidewalk tiles in Baixa.

Lisbon train station entrance close up.

Lisbon train station entrance.

The next six pictures were taken here at the ruins of the
Belmont to Azurara Palaces (16th-17th century). The above
plaque provides the history of this place, but the cool part
is that today it is an open-air found art installation.

Belmont to Azurara Palaces art installation.

This message was constructed with wire.

Bela-sombre, a tree donated to Lisbon from Brazil. Gnarly roots!

Making our way up the hill of the Alfama district, our neigh-
borhood. I noticed and laughed at the graffiti behind the tourist
in striped shirt standing at the left corner of the facing building.

The tourist didn't even notice this message over his right shoulder.

Stepped inside Mary Magdalene to cool off.

Mary Magdalene ceiling.

See label below.

Ingreja De Santiago is the church where the pilgrimage begins from Portugal.

Looking out at the Tejo Tagus River from

Largo da Graca.

A mural across from our apartment. Ya, it's a

brain growing out of a book, and we think that's

a river of knowledge flowing from both.

This mural represents the Carnation

Revolution on April 25, 1974 when

the army overthrew Estada Nova

(New State dictatorship), and
restored democracy to Portugal.

The skinny door wedged between the two restaurants leads
to our apartment, a two-story walk up.

Another view of the 130 year old building we're staying in.
The window directly above the tile mural is our living room.

Sept. 10th: Yesterday we took the train to Belem and wandered along the Tagus River, found the cafe famous for the tasty Lisbon egg tarts, enjoyed a delicious grilled sardine lunch, took a tram to the Alcantara District where we found LX Factory, and finished our long day of walking and gawking with a train back to the Alfama district and home.

Here's a look at some of what we saw on our walk Saturday.

Took pictures of some cool homes on a walk up to a view
point in our neighborhood.

Entire front of a three story houses are decorated with tiles like

these. Blue is traditional, but we've seen green and brown, too.

And here's the view of St. Jorge Castle and the Tagus River.

Ponte 25 de Abril Bridge from same neighborhood view point.

We heard a grinding sound and looked out our window and
watched this guy sharpening knives for the restaurants below us.

So, the bike is transportation and power for his grinding wheel.

Art down a side street in Belem.

The famous egg custard tarts sold here. We did NOT stand
in line, because the tarts are ubiquitous. It's a cool story
about how they were developed. Check it out at:

http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20120110-the-
battle-for-lisbons-best-pastry

The Discoveries Monument was constructed to promote

national self-confidence and honor the great Portuguese

explorers. Henry the Navigator stands at the bow of this

ship-shaped monument.

The Tower of Belem has a Mooish influence and Vasco da Gama

was supposed to have slept here on his way to discovering the

trade route to India.

Liked the mix of the old and new of Belem Tower with grain
elevators and cranes in the background.

After walking the three miles it takes to get to Belem Tower, The Discoveries Monument, and back to Belem, we sat and had a delicious grilled sardine lunch. Followed that up with a tram ride to the bridge (ya, the San Francisco twin) and jumped off under it hoping to find a cool place two Dutch 20-somethings told us about. It's called LX Factory and we found it! Here's a little history I found about its revitalization:

It’s in the year 1846 that a thread and fabric Company called “Companhia de Fiação e Tecidos Lisbonense”, one of the most important manufacturing complex in Lisbon’s history, set in Alcântara.

Today this urban fragment, kept hidden for years, is now returned to the city in the form of LXFactory. A creative island occupied by corporations and professionals of the industry and serves as stage for a diverse set of happenings related to fashion, publicity, communication, fine arts, architecture, music, etc., attracting numerous visitors to rediscover Alcântara through an engaged dynamics.

And here are the pictures we took as we wandered in and around LX Factory.

Former industrial buildings now house restaurants and galleries.

Love the Dr. Suess-esque influence.

LX Factory entrance/exit.

Massive pillar of Ponte 25 Avril.

Cool tiled building across from LX Factory. Note windows below.

Catching the train back to town.

Alice in Wonderland's White Rabbit in Metro.

The image is repeated across the entire station.

Really fun and appropriate. The mural must be

at least 30 feet tall.

Because today is Sunday we made plans to:

have coffee and a pastry at our local cafe
take the Metro to Marques de Pombal (honored for directing the rebuilding of Lisbon after 1755 Lisbon earthquake)
stop and walk to Eduardo VII Park to the monument of the April 25th Revolution (aka Carnation Revolution) designed by Portuguese sculptor João Cutileiro.
walk through the new El Carte Ingles mall on our way for a
stroll around Palhava Park and then
make our way down the Liberty Avenue (the Champs Elysees of Lisbon), and then
decide if we'd had enough walking. (Turns out we had, so when we got to Restauradores where the "big i" is we caught the Metro back to our stop [Intendente] and walked up the hill again through the maze of streets to Rua da Graca and home). Our street is at the top of the Alfama District and it's flat in our neighborhood, but getting here is always a climb unless you take a taxi or try and take Tram 28, the famous 1930's tram tourists and pickpockets love.

We prefer the walk.

It was a relaxing Sunday and the following pictures are in order of the above bulleted items.

Top of Eduardo VII Park at Carnation Revolution monument.

Fantastic views from here.

El Carte Ingles mall.

Orange juice stand across from mall. Liked the
design of the building behind it.

Lady sitting with her dogs at the entrance of the mall. The
one on the right is quite interested in a pigeon just beyond
its reach.

At the bottom of placard listing everything we could visit
in the park was this arrow suggesting we make our own way.
Guess what we decided?

The amphitheater is a good place to hang.

Or there's always a quiet, shady spot.

Stopped for a bit of fortification before heading back.

Beginning of walk from Eduardo VII Park down Liberty

Avenue, the Champs Elysees of Lisbon.

Want to be friends?

While chatting on the phone she carried her
Yorkies across the intersection where...

...they sat patiently for me.

Within 100 meters from Eduardo VII Park, we encountered
a flea market running the entire length (3/4 of a mile) of Liberty
Avenue. Some new artist's stuff, but most of it wasn't.

And the buildings lining Liberty Avenue are
pretty handsome.

Most Metro stations are this nice.

This sign means we're about 1100 feet from our place.

Nice door but not ours. Keep walking.

Last set of stairs.

Almost there.

The tourists love packing themselves into Tram 28

for a ride through the Alfama and Baixa districts.

The pickpockets enjoy this too.

Notice the tram is on the flat and that means we're about 25
feet from our front door.

We ended Sunday with an amazing Tapas and octopus salad dinner followed by espresso and tarimisu at one of many neighborhood restaurants. Life is good.

Sept. 12th: Yesterday, on our last full day in Lisbon we took a 40 minute train trip to Sintra to gawk at the Park and Palace of Pena, a 19th century summer palace for Ferdinand II; the Palace of Sintra, a summer and hunting retreat for the royal family and repeatedly renovated from 1261-1521; and a 8th or 9th century Moorish Castle atop one of the mountains.

This fortification overlooked Sintra and surrounding valley and acted as a watch tower to protect Lisbon during the Moorish period (700-1100 CE).

Okay, so that was the plan. We got off the train, along with a 1000 other tourists, and were surrounded by swarms of folks hawking sight seeing tours to all of or some of the castles of Sintra. We stepped around a corner of the train station and talked to an attendant from the "big i" and discovered we could take a public bus (really nice motor coach) up to the Palace of Pena, the Moor Castle, and back down to the heart of Sintra to the Palace.

We caught the public bus and got the lay of the land in a hurry. Sintra, like Monserrat Monastery outside Barcelona, is suffering from excellent PR. It's simply packed with people. By the time our bus climbed the narrow switchbacks to the top and Pena Palace and its park (where we could see a long line up for entrance tickets), we'd made our decision.

Yep, we stayed on the bus and rode back down to Sintra where we leisurely strolled through the village, found a shady small plaza behind a church that provided vistas over the valley, used the WC at the Palace of Sintra (the white one with dual chimneys shown below), and basically enjoyed looking at public art and a day out of Lisbon. We had a fantastic al fresco falafel lunch off the main square and away from the hordes.

You'll see in the pictures what I mean by "the hordes".

So, without worrying about queuing up to pay again to look at how the rich and powerful used to live, something we've done in the past of course, we made our own way, walking and gawking at what was available far from the madding crowd.

We ended our day with an evening stroll and an omelette dinner at a neighborhood cafe. Next stop—Obidos.

The hordes.

Just one car and bus after another.

Main plaza in front of Sintra Palace.

Across the street where the gift shops and restaurants are and
everyone jostles along.

Sintra Palace.

Mudejar window frames of Sintra Palace.

View from Sintra Palace steps.

View into Sintra Palace courtyard from Mens' WC.

Close up of courtyard from WC window.

Door of church we walked behind for views
of Sintra where the locals live.

Valley below Sintra.

Somebody's backyard.

Close up of backyard. Looks restful.

And directly below me is somebody's garden...

...and laundry.

And once we come out from behind the church, we're
greeted by even more people.

Now, where was that cork handbag?

Alternative tour to the tuk-tuk, public bus, electric convertible
smart cars, segways....

Public art along the promenade from Sintra
Palace to Sintra village center.

Wonder how many people have done this. Yep, the Moors were here.

Juice anyone?

Sintra Palace, of course.

There's more going on in Sintra than sight seeing.

Sintra municipal building.

Moorish Castle/Fortification—8th or 9th century.

Check out the name (see pick below)
of this building in Sintra square.

Fantastic falafel lunch.

Metro message says to protect your bags.

Next metro train "home" arrives in 2:50 minutes. We are really
impressed at the efficiency of the transportation system in
Lisbon. All the trams, busses, intercity and metro trains are
networked so we swipe the same card upon entering any of
these modes of movement. Amazing! Clean and timely and
forgiving for tourists who might not get on the right train.