Lisbon

After safely escaping the bus terminal, I headed out with my trusty map of Lisbon. For the first hour or so, I thought that the weather was going to be a bit cooler than Madrid. Lisbon is on the water, after all. It quickly heated up to at least the mid-90s again, though. There were ice-cream and popsicle vendors everywhere. And judging by the people on the streets, they were making a fortune. Everyone had some sort of frozen treat. I have yet to wear my jeans since I have been here, and I don't think that I will break them out any time soon. (Plus, my jeans wouldn't fit in here. In Southern Europe, the guys wear tighter fitting jeans that stop just below the knee. Mine go all the way down to my shoes. How embarrassing.)

To start my day in Lisbon, I went to the Castle of Saint Jorge. I had it on good authority that this was among the best things to see, and I wanted to make sure I saw it first. The Portuguese metro (very handy and nice) didn’t get especially close to the castle, but I took it to the nearest station. I surfaced in a very beautiful plaza, but I had lost my bearings, so I was looking for street signs or some indication of where the castle was. After spinning and walking around for a minute, I finally figured out in which direction the castle was. (See picture below.)

Up. I am not sure how I had missed a giant castle in the sky, but I laughed and set off. This was my first of many long walks in Lisbon, but it was well worth it. The castle was an older one – the kind that you first imagine as a kid, and it was beautiful. It also offered great views of the city including the mouth of the Tagus river and the famous pairing of the 25 de Abril Bridge (big and red much like the Golden Gate) and the monument to Christ the King (statue of Jesus much like Christ the Redeemer in Brazil). By the end of the day, I had seen this pair from at least half a dozen sites. Enjoying it, I walked around the castle for a while before continuing on to see some other attractions including a few plazas and Lisbon’s famous yellow trolleys.

I also visited a very cool cathedral. I have a feeling that I will be seeing a ton of cathedrals on this trip, but this one seemed a bit unique in that it looked much older and less polished. It had a historic feel to it. It also had some very cool ruins within its walls in the back.

After taking in all the people, plazas, and popsicles of the main part of Lisbon, I took a tram a few miles West to an area known as Belem. Belem is also on the waterfront and features a variety of museums and monuments. I toured a beautiful monastery, walked through parks, and took pictures of the Discoveries Monument. But my favorite site was the Tower of Belem.

The Portuguese built the Tower of Belem as a defense tower and part of a system to prevent ships from advancing up the river. It looks much like a castle, and it is very cool. I saw the creepily small prisoners' quarters in the lowest level (claustrophobia barely in check), and I walked all up a tiny, never-ending spiral stairway to check out the many floors. Clearly, this structure was not intended for as much traffic as it now enjoys. Two constant lanes of traffic up and down that stairwell makes it pretty hard to navigate. The inside lane on a spiral staircase doesn’t offer much footing, either. It was definitely a fire hazard.

Before leaving Belem, I stopped by a famous bakery to try a “pastel de belem.” Apparently, they are very famous. The place was so busy that I had to duck into the Starbucks next door (surprise) to take this picture. It’s basically a pastry with custard in it. I’m not a huge pastry guy, but it wasn’t half bad.

That pretty much wrapped my first day in Portugal. The next day, I went to Fáááááááátima – which I will detail in the next post. But I intentionally came back from Fátima by 6:00 because Reed and I (with the help of the wonderful woman of the hostel) had gleaned that there was a bullfight at that time. Apparently, the website was wrong. We did get some cool pictures of the outside though. The security guard told us we couldn’t get the good shots of the inside. But the combined effect of only one security guard, a long curved hallway, low little gates, and a quick, defiant hop brings you the following picture.

At the end of the second night, Reed and I had some tapas at a Portuguese restaurant. It was a tasty place. I introduced Reed to a few Portuguese foods (linguiçia pictured below). Then Reed took me to a fancy bar where he introduced me to a glass of Portuguese port. Reed knows his way around wine. It was mostly beyond my comprehension, but it was a nice experience nonetheless.

And that was Lisbon. I really liked this city. It is somewhat like Madrid, but everything is a little bit more rustic. It's also on the water with great weather - which reminded me of Sydney. I don't think enough people make it out to visit Portugal, and Lisbon would be a great city to add to many trips. From there, we took a train to Lagos (later post), and I’ll detail my half-day trip to Fátima next.

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More pictures of Lisbon: