Blogs from Lisbon, Lisbon & Tagus Valley, Portugal, Europe - page 7

Lisbon Day #7 We took a ferry across the Tagus to the Almada district. The river is about as wide as SF bay and so they have 4 different ferry lines that leave from Lisbon to go to the southern suburbs. We walked along the river in a derelict river walk where people were fishing and came up to a public elevator that takes you up 15 stories to an overlook restaurant. We have some wonderful videos. Tomorrow we sadly leave Lisbon after a week here. What a remarkable city. We go by high speed rail to Porto in the morning. It’s in the north and is Portugal’s second largest city. It’s supposed to be the Portland of Portugal right now, it was down and almost out but is coming back but still grungy. We’ll see. ... read more

We were up before the sun after a too, too short a stay in Jerez. The weather was absolutely perfect last evening as we ate dinner on the street about 2 blocks from our hotel. Nothing fancy, just beers and tapas of spicy potatoes, and something called Teta's Meatloaf that turned our to be mostly potato with little bits of ham. That wasn't enough but the weather and street scene was so great to just watch, we ordered a second beer and split a mini-hamburger, which was ridiculously small that I halved it with a fork. LC wanted to walk and stretch our his back and I went back to the hotel to pack us up for a 7:30 AM Private Transfer to the Seville Airport. Antonio was our driver. We had about a 1:15 ride ... read more

Today the group headed out to the Belem district of Lisbon. Our first stop was the Belem Tower. Rising out of the Tagus River, the Belem Tower is one of the greatest symbols of Portugal’s Age of Discovery. Apparently there is a statue of a rhinoceros coming out of the Belem tower, commemorating the Rhinoceros given as a gift to the King of Portugal. The rhinoceros was used for entertainment and when the King got bored with it he tried to ship it to Pope Leo X as a gift. Unfortunately, the ship carrying the rhinoceros sunk off the coast of northern Italy. The rhinoceros and crew died in the wreckage. After the Belem tower, we headed over to the nearby Discoveries Monument. The monument romanticizes the Portuguese exploration movement. On either side of the ramp ... read more

At the western end of Lisbon's waterfront, near the 25thof April suspension bridge, is an area of great historic and cultural significance called Belém. That is where ships departed for their great voyages of discovery, where defences against pirates were built, and where some of Lisbon’s most important historic and cultural sites and museums are located. They are all near the huge Empire Square, whose fountain contains coats of arms of the various colonies that once formed Portugal’s empire. Belém has three of Portugal's most important sites, the modern Discoverers Monument , the exquisitely-adorned Belém Tower, and the massive Jerónimos Monastery. These last two, built in the 16th century, are outstanding examples of “manueline” (filigreed stone-carving) trimmings; as of 1983 both are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Our tour only gave Margo and me three hours t ... read more

You all know those cliched rom-com moments? The one where the male lead - think Matthew McCona... I can't be bothered thinking of the spelling of his name, is bewailing his impending marriage to the female lead - think Kate Hudson - who at least has a spell-able name - usually with the phrase 'I'll never know the feeling of meeting another girl. The excitement of getting to know them, of learning all about them etc, etc'? You know those moments? Why does the man he is saying this to never say to him - 'Shut up - whenever you travel, whenever you discover a new city, you can have this feeling all over again, and you can have the joy of sharing it with Kate'. Because that's what happened to me this morning in Lisbon. ... read more