Exploring Lisboa (Lisbon) Nov 1 - Nov 6, 2012

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November 25th 2012

Published: November 26th 2012

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s v Tsamaya

Quite An Impressive Structure

The arch was built to commemorate the rebuilding of Lisbon after the great earthquake of 1755, but wasn’t actually completed until 1873. It is an impressive sight and even more so at night when it is lit up.

What follows is a short highly abridged history obtained through Wikipedia of this part of the Iberian Peninsula. Feel free to skip this paragraph if you are one of those who are still recovering from high school world history (sorry John).

Pre-Celtic tribes are the first to leave their mark on this part of Portugal. A number of burial mounds and stone carvings have been found in the area around Lisbon. Phoenician influences dating back to 1200 BC have also been discovered and it is believed the Phoenicians had extensive trade with the tribes along the Tagus River. Following the defeat of Hannibal during the Punic Wars, the Romans determined to deprive Carthage of its most valuable possession: Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula) moved into this area conquering and establishing many cities, building bridges and roads which still exist to this day. With the disintegration of the Roman Empire there were barbarian invasions; between 409 and 429. In 585, the area came under control of the Visigoth Kingdom. On 6 August 711, Lisbon was taken by Muslim forces. These conquerors, who were mostly Berbers and Arabs from North Africa and the Middle Easts built many mosques and houses, rebuilt the city

Night Time at the River's Edge

The first evening in Lisbon we of course walked to the water’s edge and could see the Vasco da Gama Bridge and the statute of Christ lit up for all to see.

wall and established administrative control, while permitting the diverse population of Lisbon to continue and grow. In 1108 the city was conquered by Norwegian crusaders on their way to the Holy Land as part of the Norwegian Crusade; however it was reconquered by the Moors in 1111. In 1147, as part of the crusade, knights led by Alfonso I of Portugal beseiged and reconquered Lisbon. The city, with around 154,000 residents at the time, was returned to Christian rule. As spoken Arabic lost its place in the everyday life of the city, many of the remaining Muslim residents were converted to Roman Catholicism by force, or were expelled, and the mosques were either destroyed or converted into churches. However even today the Moorish Castle which was originally built to defend Lisbon can still be seen atop one of the more prominent hills in Lisbon. The city became the capital city of the new Portuguese territory in 1255. The first Portuguese university was founded in Lisbon in 1290. During the age of discovery ships sailed from Lisbon to all points of the world. The trade the Portuguese engaged in brought great wealth and prosperity to the city making Lisbon one of

Castle on the Hill

The Sao Jorge Castle is an impressive sight with the lights on in the evenings. It was originally a Moorish castle but was captured by the Portuguese in 1147. In the 15th C the Portuguese Kings used it as a residence but much of it was destroyed in the 1755 Lisbon earthquake.

the major European cities. The earthquake, tsunami and citywide fire that occurred in 1755 dealt a major blow to Lisbon's position as one of the top three European capitals. As many as 50,000 people may have died in this one disaster and even to this day you can see the impact the earthquake has had on the development of the city.

Lisbon, the capital of Portugal and the largest city in the country, population of 547,631(Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of over 3 million) is the 23rd most liveable city in the world according to Lifestyle Magazine. As with all cities you get the good with the bad. The number of restaurants, cafes and entertainment abound but so do the number of homeless. We were often asked for money; however, when we refused we were never hassled. On the trams we saw warning of pickpockets but never had a problem or encountered anyone who did. At night we often walked the streets in the center city until quite late and never once saw or heard anything that made us nervous. The city appears to be slow to wake up with people stopping to get

The National Theatre

The Teatro National Theatre stands impressively at one end of the square which runs between the Rossio and Restauradores section of the city of Lisbon

their breakfast in the middle of the morning (9-10AM), places of businesses closing in the middle of the day for a couple of hours for lunch (12-2PM usually) and things slowing down some around 6-7PM but then everyone comes out in the evenings around 9PM and stay up through the early morning hours. This is very similar to what we experienced in the Azores.

We were fortunate to find a pension in a very central location with the bus, tram and subway stations within shouting distance of our entrance. Upon arriving in Lisbon from Porto by bus (3 ½ hr. ride) we found that the station is well connected with the metro and train station. All we had to do was cross the parking lot of the bus station and the path to the metro station was well marked and short. Once we got to the metro station we found that you must buy a ticket from a vending machine that was all in Portuguese. Fortunately a woman from the metro was stationed at the machine and was helping anyone needing it. She worked the machine very quickly and we were able to buy a round trip ticket. Only

Massive Entrance

One of the entrances going into a new public space that has been recently developed in a historic building to help promote tourism as well as the gathering of people for special events.

concern we had was that we would have to do it ourselves next time. Fortunately we found that it was pretty straight forward and even in Portuguese we were able to work it out. Surprisingly we are finding that it isn’t too difficult to figure out the meaning of much of the Portuguese we see. We may not be pronouncing them right (Janice is worse than Bob at this!) but we can understand when it is written. As a side, Janice is getting to the point where she can pick up something in the grocery store and read many of the ingredients even when they are in Portuguese – not too bad for the short time we have been here.

We arrived in Lisbon in the afternoon so followed our normal pattern when we get to a new city – check into the hotel room, drop our things and get out on the streets to explore! Fortunately we were able to find a tourist information center where we obtained information on how to get around the city and of course a local map. Public transportation is very inexpensive especially when you buy a daily ticket for 5 Euros ($6.37).

Is It Fresh Enough to Eat?

We find that the people of Portugal definitely like to pick out their own seafood to make sure it is fresh before it is cooked.

This allows you access to all the subways, trams, funiculars and buses you care to ride in a 24 hour period. As Lisbon is built on a total of 7 hills, we figured it would be worthwhile in order to save some time rather than do it all by hiking. It worked out very well providing us quick and easy access to all parts of the city. We thought by visiting in November crowds would be much smaller, wrong! Apparently this was a public holiday for the Portuguese and neighboring Spain. Add to that a surprising number of Germans and Italians and we were constantly surrounded by what Bob calls "the thundering herds.” The restaurants are definitely set up for the tourists with menus written in Portuguese, English, Spanish and German. Fortunately for us many of the museums had signage and/or audio guides in both Portuguese and English. There is a very strong connection between the Portuguese and the British dating back to the Napoleonic wars. In fact almost all of the Port wineries are owned by the British. Add to that the fact that large numbers of British and Northern Europeans own summer homes in southern Portugal

Green Spaces

It is nice to see the amount of area kept as “green space” with plenty of places to walk and benches to sit in with of course lovely plantings.

and Spain and you understand why there is so much English spoken in this area.

One of the highlights of Lisbon is the Museum Nacional do Azulejo (National Tile Museum) which was recommended to us by the couple (Teresa & Luis) we had met earlier in Silves. It is housed in a 16^th century convent and is set up for all to visit. Included in the price of admission you received an audio set up that was more advanced than we have seen before. They also have systems in place for those that are hard of hearing or sight as well as braille for the blind and wheelchair accessibility. They are very proud of their ability to welcome all that wish to come to see their museum. The exhibits themselves covered all aspects of ceramic tiles – from the early beginnings of the use of tile with traditional designs to the modern use of tiles in artwork today. A gold covered chapel with numerous ceramic blue and white tiles is part of the tour. It was amazing to discover that the gold that covered the whole chapel was so thin it was only equivalent to the amount of gold

Daytime View

A day time view at Castelo de Sao Jorge which commands an excellent view over the City. Most of what you see is a result of restorations from the 20th century, but there is still lots of history to learn from when it was under Moorish and Portuguese rule.

in 4 coins! They didn’t say how big the coins were of course, but even with that it was very impressive indeed. Another highlight in the museum is a room that has a 36 meter (118 ft.) panel of tiles that depicts Lisbon before the great 1755 earthquake. We were glad that we had seen some of Lisbon before viewing this panel because we were able to see the devastating impact the earthquake had. If you ever make it to Lisbon and have any interest in tiles at all, you must put this museum on your short list of places to visit. We were glad we did.

The Igreja de Sao Roque (Church of Sao Roque) is very deceiving as the façade of this 16^th century baroque style church is quite plain and only upon entering are you overwhelmed with its interior of gold, marble and tile. If that isn’t enough to impress you, the Capela de Sao Joao Baptista (Chapel of St. John the Baptist) was constructed of amethyst, alabaster, lapis lazuli and marble with four mosaics on the floor which are so detailed they appear to be paintings. This chapel was originally built in Rome in 1742

Impressive Train Station

We wondered at first what this impressive place could be – the next day we found out that it is actually the Rossio train station – quite an impressive building.

for Portugal’s King Dom Joao V, and then after the pope held a mass in the chapel it was disassembled and shipped to Lisbon on three ships and re-assembled in this church. Needless to say, this was one of the most impressive churches we have seen to date (and we have seen a lot of churches). Fortunately this church is one of the few that remained mainly unscathed by the 1755 earthquake. As always churches are where you find the most outstanding artwork (both paintings and sculptures), elaborately carvings, decorated woodwork and stonework. The amount of gold and silver used in the churches clearly shows the riches that were once available from the wealthy of the time. Patrons provided much of the funding needed to build and decorate these churches. In return many of them are either buried in the church or honored by displaying their names or images.

One day we took one of the trams out to Belem which is 6 km west of the center of the city. This area is well known as a tourist destination as the Tower of Belem is shown in many of the advertisements for Lisbon. This Tower was built in

An Elevator to Join the City

The Santa Justa Lift opened in 1902 and is 138 feet vertical iron neo-gothic structure originally powered by steam, but converted to electricity in 1907. It helped connect various important regions of the city and continues to do so today. Not only used for transportation it provides an ideal observation platform at the top level.

1515 to act as additional fortification for the entrance to Lisbon by the Tagus River. The decorated carving of twisted ropes and knots emphasis Portugal’s nautical history and are quite common themes in the Manueline style of architecture. The tower dominates the view here as it is 98 feet high and is 39 feet wide. It was used as a fortress until 1558, but has also been used as a customs house for collecting taxes from incoming ships, a prison and a barracks. Close by is the Monument to the Discoveries which is designed to commemorate the Age of Discovery which was made possible through the navigational skills of Prince Henry the Navigator (1394-1460). The carvings on the sides of the monument show the importance given to Henry and Vasco da Gama, but also to writers, painters, poets, travelers, mathematicians, navigators, sea captains, missionaries and royalty of the time. On the ground there is a wind rose made of marble with a map of the world. This was donated by South Africa and marks the main routes and discoveries made by Portugal. It is impressive showing the extent of the discoveries made by the Portuguese from the nearby Azores in

Yes, they have Starbucks

Yes, this is the real Starbucks complete with Starbuck coffee prices. With the ability to get an expresso for less than $2 at other cafes , it was surprising to see that this was a busy place

1427 to the far away South Pacific islands of Palau in 1525. It is important to note that most of the other nations of the world depended on Portuguese pilots trained by Henry the Navigator. To give you some idea of the wealth that was brought back to Europe by these explorers when Vasco da Gama returned to Portugal after a trip to the Far East he had three ships filled with trade goods. In his cabin he had a small chest filled with pepper; the money brought in by the sale of this chest covered all the costs associated with the three ships, crew and insurance (yes they even had insurance back then) for the entire expedition.

The third major site to visit while in Belem is the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos (Jeronimos Monestery) which was commissioned by King Manuel I to honor Vasco da Gama’s discovery of a sea route to India in 1498 and the samples of gold that he discovered. The construction of the monastery and church began in 1501 funded with money obtained from a 5% commerce tax on trade from Africa and the Orient (equivalent to 150 lbs of gold per year) providing the

Great for Small Alleyways

We used tuk-tuks in Thailand when we were there – we were surprised to see them in Lisbon and with the same name, tuk-tuk!

architects the ability to expand their designs. The funds received from pepper, cinnamon and clove did not go into this project but went directly to the Crown. Even without this income, there was plenty to go into this project as can be seen when visiting here. Vasco de Gama, King Manuel, Luis de Camoes (poet that wrote about the explorations of Portuguese navigators) and many others are all buried here.

If you visit on Sunday entry into the Monastery and Belem Tower is free which was a nice bonus. Even without that it is well worth the trip.

While in Lisbon we planned to meet up with Vanessa whom we met while on Terceira in the Azores. She is a student at the University of Lisbon, however, on the day we had planned on meeting her, Bob was not feeling well so unfortunately we had to cancel. We were very disappointed, but we will be flying back to the US through Lisbon so are planning to meet up with her at that time. She and her father were so very giving of their time to us when we were at their home; we definitely want to have a

Clotheslines in Small Places

We noticed what looked like sticks on this building – looking closer we found it is a clothes line that you are able to stretch out into the alleyway. Hopefully everyone does the wash on the same day!

chance to return the favor and hopefully take her out for a meal.

We had originally planned to return to Lagos on Monday after spending 4 days in Lisbon, but we had heard that Sintra which is close by was an interesting place to visit. We figured what the heck, we are retired and we really didn’t have to be back to the boat on any particular day so extended for another night at the hotel and went out to visit Sintra. We will share our photos and comments about our trip out there in the next blog entry.

Hope all of our American friends and family (in the US) had an enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday. Best wishes to you all!