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Published: March 8th 2020
What a wonderful city !
Brenda and I arrived @3 30 pm and were happy to find our hostel is in a wondeřul .location . We are just around the corner from the St Justus Elevator a block and a half from a major square where the buses trams and hop on hop off buses depart . That distance is filled with side walk (and in door) restaurants that feature Portugese foods. I have bee eating a fair amount of fish here as well as in Sri Lanka and will miss that freshness when I get home .
Our first day i remembered Susan telling me the free way to go up the elevator and avoid the 6€ fee. And up we went . What a great view of our part of the city ! . You may remember that I like to go to high places in order to get my bearings in a new city . To be able to see where things are in relationship to other things makes navigating a whole lot easier . It was so wonderful to see all the beautiful tile rooves and magnificent buildings . Our area ,bordering on Baixa/Chiado was rebuilt on a grid system after the earthquake so it is quite easy to get around ...and it is flat ! I think one of the few areas in the city that is flat .
That night we continued wandering about . Found a market near us that is there for 5 days. Today is it,s last day . Good food , excellent Sangria and picnic tables set up for people to sit and enjoy . We have done that most days . One day we bought our selves a picnic lunch , another day excellent soup and last night suckling pig sandwiches. Each we hve also treated ourselves to sangria made with red wine from Porto ...good stuff !Fish we eat at supper .
We ended up doing the hop on-off bus our second day . 24 hours actually and think it was money well spent . Lisbon is spread out a lot . It is a city of nearly 3 million people and that takes up a lot of space . We were happy to visit the Gulkinen Gallery and the Estella Church both a long ways from the center of town . The commentary was informative about what we were seeing and the Fado we listened to in between was lovely . The next morning we used the bus again to go out to the Belem tower which is a UNESCO site as is the MONESTARIO JERONIMOS .Both impressive structures. And of course we had to have a few pastries Belen is famous for . A warm custard tart in a crisp fillo pastry . It did melt in my mouth .
We have learned how to navigate the transit system . Using a vat card reduces the cost by about a third . So far we have used it on the tram to return from Belem , taken the train to Sentre yesterday (about a 40 minute ride each way ) and done the same to Caisai today.That cost @ 10€. More than reasonable.
Sentre was fascinating. Both the Pena Castle and the National Palace are remarkable places . The first is surprisingly homey . I could visualize people living there . It was initially a monestary but King Ferdinand and his 1st and 2nd wives made it a home . THE Park that surrounds it is huge and quite beautiful . A good place to visit .
Today we spent a Caiscai which is really a beach town/resort. . Very pleasant and a quieter place to spend the day...and the fish and chips were very good too.
Tomorrow will be our last day here . We plan to travel on Tram 28 and visit St Jorges Castle . I shall keep you posted .
Enough for now . Hope all is well and you have been able to find the blogs . I have my fingers crossed this one will make it to hour mailbox . Keep in touch ...
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Mo
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Lisboa
You have reminded us of our 2018 April visit to that lovely city. The Belem custard tarts were definitely the best. Glad you have navigated well and saved elevator money to spend on sangria.