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Published: August 25th 2016
Lisbon – August 22, 2016
Our day got off to a late start as we were tired from not getting much sleep due to the Fado music from the restaurant below going until the wee hours of the morning. Today our plans were to view the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum. Calouste Gulbenkian was an Armenian oil tycoon who gave Portugal his art collection or “harem” as he called it. His gift was an act of gratitude for the hospitable asylum granted him by Portugal during World War II. The Portuguese considered Gulbenkian an inspirational model of how to be thoughtfully wealthy as he made a habit of “tithing for art”, spending 10 percent of his income on things of beauty. ***
Arriving at the museum the first thing we did was tour the nice gardens. I saw these three turtles who looked like they were competing to see who was going to be king of the rock so decided to take their picture. When I asked them if I could take their picture, they said sure and poised perfectly. (See photo)
Once we finished touring the gardens we headed inside the museum. We
viewed several wings of the museum that had collections from many different areas and timeframes. The one I enjoyed the most was the Modern Collection as I liked the very large and beautiful furniture. (Sorry no pictures)
After finishing at the museum we decided it was time to have lunch so we headed to the El Corte Ingles and had a wonderful meal. Since it was getting late in the afternoon we decided to take the train back to the apartment and relax for a while.
Around 7:15 pm Harlan and I ventured out to walk some of the El Camino so we would have a few less miles to do on Wednesday, August 24
th our official starting date. Our walk took us past the Museu Nacional do Azulejo which is the museum of Portuguese tiles. We were able to get in 3.5 miles before it got dark. To return to the apartment we took a train from the Braco De Prata station back to the Santa Apolonia Station. As we were heading back to the apartment we stopped at this little restaurant and picked up a rotisserie chicken for dinner which was totally
delicious. Another great day in Lisbon.
(***Some my description of Calouste Gulbenkian are courtesy of Rick Steves’ 2012 Portugal guidebook)
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Ronnie
non-member comment
Love museums
Thanks for sharing this history and beautiful art. So glad you guys are taking in the culture and enjoying the city before your big adventure.