TWO DAYS IN LISBON, PORTUGAL
Seeing as many neighborhoods as possible, enjoying garlicky bread soup, exploring a Medieval castle, and soaking in the gorgeous red-roofed city that is Lisbon!
Enjoy!
SOOOO late. But these are from October 18-19, 2014 when I was with Zach and my parents in Portugal! Here are the two days on Lisbon (other cities in Portugal are to come). These are also iPhone photos – but hopefully there will be more photos from travels soon!) A big part of the delay is I lost these pictures! But rediscovered them in a totally random folder on my drive. *Whew*
Tiny TAP Portugal flight from Sevilla.
Less than an hour in the air and we were in a new country!
Dropped our baggage at the hotel (rooms were not ready) and headed out to explore the historic buildings in an area called Belem.
You can see Belem on the left on the north side of the Tagus River. It’s a bit far outside the city center, we took a car.
Belém Tower! It was built in the early 1500s for military purposes.
It’s near a little bit of a sandy beach!
Zach wearing a shirt covered in industrial glue
Golden Gate Bridge? Same architect. Different location.
Walking up the coastline past this fun looking hotel/spa.
A Margem, a restaurant contained in a white shipping-container looking building.
And some grilled sandwiches for lunch.
Museu de Arte Popular. I think. 🙂
The monument for “maritime explorers”
This is a huge space that includes a few museums and a church with a gorgeous interior. The tomb of Vasco de Gama is here, as well.
View of the Monastery and the cloisters!
HUGE courtyard, gorgeous architecture.
Pasteis de Belem, aka pastry place nearby to get the infamous Portuguese egg tarts!
It’s chaotic. Know what you want before you get to the front!
Took our egg tarts to the park across the way
Relaxing in the hotel room for a little bit. The tiling on all the buildings is really hard to capture, but so many of the buildings in this old part of town are covered in colorful tile.
We stayed off of Praca Figueria at Grande Pensao Alcobia. Not a very…lively area in the evenings. Just as an FYI!
Wanted something different than tapas, so went to Gandhi Palace. One half was an Italian restaurant, and the other half was Indian. Genius.
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So yuuuum. A welcome change in food.
Ended the evening just walking around, seeing what was going on.
Some kind of run was happening nearby
Taking this little yellow trolley up to the steeper areas of Lisbon. The “Ascensor da Gloria”, connects up from the Praca dos Restauradores to Bairro Alto.
The view…just…so gorgeous! All the red roofs and you can see over to where the Castle is on the opposite hill.
I wonder how it feels to live in a beautiful place. You must also get desensitized.
Lovely narrow streets, in all kinds of grades of steepness.
A peek into Cervejaria Trinadade, formerly a convent. Built in 1294!!!!! (Destroyed) And rebuilt as the first beer factory in Portugal. They weren’t open yet so we just peeked.
Carmo Convent, currently in ruins. It’s a museum site, and next to it…
A metal elevator that takes you down to a shopping district
Passed by Cafe A Brasileira, to have some coffee and MORE MORE MORE EGG TARTS
This cafe was favorited by intellectuals and academics in the 20th century. Pretty cool.
Back in the main shops/restaurant stretch that head to Praca do Comercio.
A view from the Castle of Sao Jorge.
Exploring the ruins of the Castle. There are many layers of fortification on this hill top (it’s in a premium spot!) as early as 2nd century BC…but the remains of what is here is from the Moorish occupation of Portugal, and then the reign of King Manuel I (of the time period of Vasco da Gama). Many earthquakes damaged it, including one in 1755 that did severe damage.
This “layer” of Castle was built in the Moorish occupation of Lisbon.
Exploring the passageways and turns
This is Gandalf. He likes kisses.
Pretty amazing to think of the history that happened within these walls.
Parents chilling as Zeen and I explored the stairs and walls
Walking the winding passageways back down through the castle’s complex.
Winding roads means discovering many kitties
The lovely Arch of Rua Augusta.
Interesting displays of many kinds of design objects
Enjoying a lil’ cuppa on the lawn. It was magic hour, kids were rolling around on the grass. It was great.
My mom was so down for the fish
Acorda a alentejana (I hope that’s the right name), it’s a garlic, bread, yummy soup.
And I’ll have more pictures later of our day trips from Lisbon! And after…Austria. And after? Germany. So much more to share! I’m back on the ball.
Much love friends.