Lisboa em Grande

A view from Coelho Park (see below)

Yes, we had decided at Christmas break in Italy that we would concentrate on seeing Eastern Slovakia before we went elsewhere in Europe.  We took a cold trip to Banska Bystrica and Kosice (remember the blog post?) in late February to honor that pledge.  But then…we heard from a couple of friends that they had a wonderful time in Lisbon, and it seemed a shame that we had spent so much time in Spain without so much as putting a toe on Portuguese soil.  To make up for past mistakes, we broke with our intent to spend our remaining holidays in Slovakia, and forced ourselves to fly to Lisbon over Easter break.  That is our rationalization, and we’re sticking to it.

A day view from our flat

A night view from our flat

We arrived at 5 P.M. on Thursday and went to our apartment, a one-bedroom flat with a lovely kitchen and living area.  Alex(andre), our host, met us and led us to the fourth (fifth, by U.S. standards) floor; no elevator, so we felt right at home from the beginning. The view from the flat is spectacular.

See?

That first evening we traipsed down to the Mini Price Market to stock up on breakfast things and snacks.  When we say DOWN, we mean DOWN.  Lisbon, like Rome, is built on seven hills, but in Lisbon’s case the hills are steep and high.  If streets in Lisbon do not go UP and DOWN, then they probably got wiped out in the famous 1755 earthquake, flood, and fire that took out a goodly share of the central city.  When we walked, we exercised well, and we took public transportation a lot.  Of course, Lisbon is a big city, with a metro area population of nearly three million. 

Many Lisbonites, and most of the people in the rest of Portugal, observe the second half of Good Friday as a holiday, so we thought we would spend time getting acquainted with the city.  We set out fairly early and immediately got hailed on.  (In truth, the weather cooperated most of the time we spent there; the only other rain came as we queued up at the airport to return.)  If we had been clever we would have taken pictures; Alex said it had rained “little rocks” the day before, rare enough that he knew neither the English nor the Portuguese word for the phenomenon.  The skies gradually cleared as we headed down the street to catch the tram. 

Another view from Coelho Park

The castle, from across the valley

Along the way, a park dedicated to Eduardo Coelho (who founded Lisbon’s biggest newspaper) offered us wonderful views across the valley in between the hills (the part that took the heaviest damage in 1755) to the castle and cathedral.  From the tram stop, we took number 28 up into the historic area, The castle, Sao Jorge, overlooks the city from the other side of the valley than Coelho park, but in a much more spectacular way. First built by the Moors and captured by crusaders in 1147, Sao Jorge served the kings of Portugal until the earthquake and flood, and then in other roles until the early part of the nineteenth century.

Renovation began in the 1940s and it now serves tourists, cats, and peacocks well. 

Walk down from the castle through the winding, twisting medieval streets and encounter some peculiar diversions!

Central Lisbon, rebuilt after 1755, looks like many other eighteenth century European cities, with many of the same stores.

The Tower of Belem--watchtower, prison

The part of the city called Belem has a rich seafaring tradition; many of the fifteenth and sixteenth century explorers launched from there.  And most things are free on the Saturday before Easter! The church of Santa Maria de Belem is in the Monastery of San Jeronimo.

The explorers' monument

Santa Maria de Belem

  

The Moorish castle in Sintra

Venturing outside the city toward the Atlantic coast makes things change dramatically-- first, to Sintra,  a bit inland with another Moorish-built castle that provided a view of the coast and warning if enemies approached.   

Then along the coast past Estoril to Cascais to see what Portugal's Atlantic Ocean looks like.

 

Wildlife in Cascais

 

 

Most folks explore the central and historic parts of Lisbon and not much more.  We, however, went further.  The truth is, not much opens on Easter Monday, except for the huge Oceanarium (aquarium), the second largest in the world.  The Oceanarium stands as the centerpiece of Expo ’98 architecture, which dramatically altered the landscape of north Lisbon.  If you work it right, a cable car takes you there! The Oceanarium features all of the world's ocean ecosystems on several different floors.

Fearless underwater photographer

Penguins in Portugal?

We did return to a “see Slovakia first” agenda; as a matter of fact, this post comes from Strbske Pleso, or Strbske lake, on the edge of High Tatras National Park in Eastern Slovakia.  But that is a post for next time!