Lisbon, Portugal | The Escapades of Pookie and Allan

Lisbon is one of the oldest cities in the world and a very beautiful one.

We went on a bus tour around Lisbon with a local guide, seeing all the historic sites. We saw many monuments of people along the way and I couldn’t remember who all of them were. There is a monument of some Portuguese historical figure in every plaza.

Our first stop was the Monument of The Discoveries that celebrates the Portuguese Age of Discovery during the 15th and 16th centuries. The monument has Henry the Navigator at the helm, with 33 figures comprising explorers, cartographers, artists, scientists, and missionaries. In the distance we could see the 25 de Abril Bridge, which is a suspension bridge connecting the city of Lisbon to the municipality of Almada. The bridge is the sister bridge to the Golden Gate Bridge as the design is very similar. In the distance we could see The Sanctuary of Christ the King, a Catholic monument that overlooks the city of Lisbon with outstretched arms. It was modeled after the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro. The statue was built to express gratitude that Portugal was spared destruction during WW II.

We saw the The Jerónimos Monastery that was erected in the early 1500s and is classified as a UNESCO World Heritage site. We also visited the Tower of Belem, a 16th-century fortification that served as a point of embarkation and disembarkation for Portuguese explorers. It also is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The amazing thing about these buildings is they survived the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, which struck on the morning of November 1, The Feast of All Saints Day. The earthquake caused a tsunami as well as fires and almost completely destroyed Lisbon. There is something to be said about the architecture of these buildings for sure.

Many of the buildings are covered in beautiful tiles. These painted tiles are called azulejos and were introduced by the Moors. They are quite beautiful and are on many buildings throughout the city.

Juanjo treated us all to a delicious tart called Pastéis de nata, and he went to the only bakery that makes the authentic ones to get them for us. The tart is a flaky pastry filled with an egg cream. They were delicious!!

We did some more touring and then went back to the hotel and had lunch on the 8th floor overlooking the city. The lunch was delicious and included a large salad, a cod, egg, and potato dish that was outstanding, and a delicious custard dessert with cinnamon. It also included wine. All for 24 euros. We asked for bread and the waiter brought olives and cheese to eat with it. It was a wonderful culinary afternoon.

At 3:30 we meet our guide for a walking tour of old Lisbon, seeing many sites and we also took the Gloria Funicula up a 17.7% steep incline.

We saw the Church of Saint Dominic. The sacristy and altar survived the great earthquake, but in 1959, a fire ravaged the church burning the wooden ceiling and valuable paintings. The marks of the fire, particularly the black soot, was left on the church walls as a reminder of the fire. When we walked into the church, I gasped when I saw the devastation. It was eerie and powerful seeing the walls in the state they were in.

We walked under the Santa Justa lift – the elevator that takes you to the top of the hill if you don’t want to walk or take the tram.

We continued our walk on the sidewalks, which isn’t easy to do as they are made of tiles which are rather uneven and slippery. You constantly have to look down for fear you will turn your ankle. The sidewalks in the entire city are made of these tiles and most of the streets are cobblestones. Our guide said the street cobblestones are to keep the traffic from speeding thru the streets. When it rains, it is really slippery and between the sidewalks, the cobblestones, and the steep hills to climb and descend, it’s not a fun place to walk. But the city is so beautiful, you have to overlook it!

We had a light dinner at a restaurant and then it was off to bed.