Saturday in Lisbon

After breakfast we wandered down to the river and eventually up to the Alfama for lunch at O'prego, another favorite restaurant of ours. There are so many good and reasonably priced restaurants in Lisbon, but it's especially fun returning to a favorite. And here are some shots from our today's wandering.

This cafe is behind our hotel down a curved street we hadn't
walked along until today. We both had excellent and cheap
coffees. We'll return tomorrow. So long Baire Gare Cafe!

Note the shuttered building to the left and the one where
Padaria do Bairro Cafe is. We've noticed this throughout
the Baixa district. I'm guessing that by next year the building
on the left will be gutted and renovated like many of the older
buildings in this district.

Walking toward Tagus River and

Commerce Square.

Commerce Square was built on the site of the Ribeira Palace
that was destroyed by a tsunami in the 1755 Earthquake. This
square faces the Tagus River and its proportions are typically
18th century in design. In other words, mammoth.

A guy was working on sand sculptures at the river. He had this
sign posted on the railing overlooking where he was working.

Don't know if these are rhinos or mythical creatures, but the

next morning we walked down to the river again and asked

him, and the sculptor said they are tigers.

Santa Justa elevator from the other side.

Hey look, Christmas window dressing.

Time for some street shots on our
wanderings around the Baixa.

Occasionally you pop out at the top of a stairway leading up
or down to a plaza. Oh, and look, there's St. George's Castle.

It's what's for dinner.

This building is across the street

from this guesthouse.

It looks as if there's nothing here
on this little street up & off Rossio
Square, but there's all kinds of work
being done on apartments with cafes,
restaurants, guesthouses, and yes,
families living in this quiet street a
minute's walk to one of the busiest
squares in Lisbon.

Santa Cruz do Castelo is below
St. George's Castle and we loved
it the other day when we found
it accidentally via the "Good
Health" stairs and escalator so
we returned on our way up to
the Alfama where we'd have
lunch/dinner at O'Prego.

Along the walls of this side street, the same one as this guy
carrying groceries walking toward us, are these black and
white photographs of folks from the neighborhood.

This is the Palace Next to St.
Christopher, an exterior shot this
time. This is the Palace that has a
placard describing the renovations
its undergone since the 15th century.

And this is what I presume is St.
Christopher's, because the palace
is next to it. The church, as you
can see, is getting a facelift.

The elevator goes down as well. 

The tapas here is fantastic and it was really hopping at lunch.

A little nosh to start our luxurious tapas feast.

When in doubt start with some-
thing simple. We didn't eat the
bread of the pork ribs and sausage
tapas; it was just too much.

See what I mean? Last year the
sampler had 12 smaller portions,
but now, they served 6 larger ones.

Eight French women were having an animated and serious
conversation. Politics may have been involved.

Urban art is everywhere.

Iconic scene: #28 Tram with Lisbon Cathedral.

Canned Portuguese fish and shellfish are renowned, so we
finally broke down and purchased some at this specialty store.

Okay, so now where was that pastry
shop we walked past this morning?

Ah, right where it was earlier.

A good way to cap off a large lunch/dinner (i.e. linner).

Around 6PM we heard a marching band so we investigated and the next three videos show what we found. When we returned to our room we got online and found out there's a military parade at 10AM recognizing 100 years since the WWI Armistice Sunday morning.