Lovely Lisbon
Such a city!
It makes me rather sad that this beautiful capital is sometimes overlooked because it is truly stunning. It's a blend of so many European cities yet entirely unique.
But before I wax poetic, let me begin at the beginning.
On Monday we arranged the journey through a tour bus company based out of our hotel. We were totally ripped off price wise, curse you rude concierge man!
But fine, we were still going and woke up at the crack of dawn (5 a.m.) on Tuesday morning for pick up. After other stops, the bus finally jetted up north to the great city of Lisboa! Along the way our tour guide pointed out a few interesting sights, such as cork tree groves, Portugal is the number one supplier of cork in the whole world (who knew?) After about 2.5 hours we crossed into the city through the 25 de Abril Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in Europe.
Golden Gate copycat
Despite our bus driver's best efforts we made it to Jeronimos Monastery, a gorgeous example of gothic architecture. There were so many tourists we had to squish our way inside but once we entered into the enormous building it became much more open. It's incredible inside, huge stone pillars reach up into vaulted ceilings creating a sense of power and majesty. Due to their naval prowess, Portugal had a lot of influence and wealth back in the day and this amazing monument is excellent proof of their plunders.
It was near the entrance of the monastery that we saw the tomb of Vasco de Gama, who we all learned about in the 5th grade as the man who discovered the Indian trade route!
Directionally talented, unlike Columbus
We toured inside for a little bit more then went back to the bus, only to wait a while longer because it had gotten into an accident with a cab driver. This wasn't the bus driver's day. Finally, we made a stop at the Belem Tower, which was used to guard the port from intruders. Considering the fact it was built so it could blast other ships to smithereens, it was quite pretty for a watch tower of destruction.
We also saw the Monument to Discoveries, built to remember Prince Henry the Navigator and mark Portugal's place in navigational history. Laura and I went to visit the top of the monument and made lots of friends (not) with the school group that was touring at the same time, Portuguese boys aren't exactly subtle when they flirt. The view was worth the catcalls and although it was a bit hazy I got a better idea of the layout of the city.
The bus then took us through a little drive through the city and we were dropped off in the heart of downtown Lisbon. We had three hours of free time to explore and shop. We wandered though gorgeous streets of cobblestone and walls of brilliantly colored tile.
Sometimes I felt like I was walking through the streets of Paris but then suddenly we would run into something quintessentially Portuguese, like buildings covered in elaborate tiles or a random elevator. I'm not kidding, there is just this huge historic elevator in the middle of a street.
Santa Justa Historic Elevator
Where does it go?
We walked around some more and found the Lisbon Cathedral that was all in a tizzy because the Pope was visiting on Saturday. It was built on top of a mosque around 1147 and we were able to cool down inside the stone building.
Next we headed up a hill and found a gorgeous terrace that gave a great view of the Alfama district and bay.
Tan Turistas
It was incredibly hot out, about 90 and we felt like heading back to Rossio Square for a refreshment. Of course we got a bit lost in the streets but when you're walking amongst such beautiful buildings it's not an issue. There is seriously tile on everything, and it's usually quite elaborate and colorful.
This was on a park bench!
house o' tile
Back to Rossio Square we went and we found ice cream and shade in the lively city setting. I kept a look out for a bakery though because being addicted to sweets, I had discovered that Lisbon is famous for a certain pastry called pastel de nata. It's a flaky crust baked with custard in the middle and I just had to try it. I spied one just as we were heading back to the bus at an adorable bakery (founded it 1809!) and grabbed one of the little treats for the ride back. We departed around 4 p.m, back to the South and the Sea.
Love the pastry, love the poses
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