Lisbon

Lisbon

As Portugal has always been on my list of things to do, Carien and myself decided last year – now or never!  After a three hour flight from Amsterdam, I arrived in the vibrant, colorful city of Lisbon…  I bought a book about Lisbon after that weekend and the introductory paragraph in the book said it perfectly:

Steep climb!

“Elegant and picturesque, with its squares, little streets, colorful districts, and grand monuments, the historic centre of Lisbon is an enchanting place where the atmosphere emanates history and culture…”

We set off the Saturday morning to explore…  I was still in my “moon boot”, and Lisbon is known as the city of rolling hills J  We did a lot of walking, but it was SO worth it…  After making our way of numerous steps and steep climbs, we firstly stopped off for a coffee and some “custard slices” (the signature desert in Lisbon)…  From here we headed off to explore the Sao Jorge Castle…  The castle is situated on the top of a hill, overlooking all of Lisbon…  It was the city’s first defensive structure – and it’s history dates back to before the Romans…  We spent quite a bit of time exploring the castle ruins and walking through the gardens...

 

From here we made our way to the centre of town, where we explored the main square…  The Praca do Comercio, is an exquisite square in the Centre of Lisbon…  It is made up out of a lot of little café’s, all overlooking the ocean J  At the beginning of the square, is the triumphal arch – really beautiful…  This arch took 118 years to complete…  One thing which is evident in all European cities, is the amount of detail going into the architecture…  We walked along the ocean, in search of the Bairro Alto area – which we found out later was in a total other direction J  After our extensive walking, we returned to the square and had a lovely lunch overlooking the water… 

After lunch we walked along the shopping street to get to the Santa Justa Elevator…This is one of the most unusual landmarks I have ever seen!  It is 32 meters into the air – and from the top you can see a breath taking view of the whole of Lisbon.  The Sao Jorge castle, ruins of the Camo church (the ruins of the church was left like this as a reminder of the earthquake on November 1, 1755), and this elevator also connects two of the main areas – Baixa and Bairro Alto with each other…  We took some awesome pictures from the top!  After all this exploring, we went for a nice warm cup of coffee at Starbucks…

Triumphal Arch

Praca do Comercio

Santa Justa Elevator

Camo Church

Coffee time!

Carien was in Lisbon for a day longer than me, and on her one day exploring, she came across this magical little port place…  Portugal is known for the production of Port…  We ended our day exploring with a port tasting at Port Wine Bar…  A cute, cosy little bar, where you sit on wine barrels, and the tables are also made from wine barrels…  We asked if it would be possible to be a port tasting, and the waiter said that we could only choose one port, and receive that as a drink.  Carien then started asking questions, and wanted to buy some port…  The guy started performing – taking all of the different kinds of port, and giving us a private tasting J  Was really something!  We ended up buying some port to take home with us…

We ended the night eating dinner on a deck, overlooking the whole of Lisbon.  We found the restaurant per accident J  Everyone was dining inside the restaurant, and we decided – it being 8 degrees (which is WARM compared to the weather we were having in Amsterdam), we would eat outside…  The waiter brought us some blankets, and it was the perfect end to a very busy day! 

On our last morning in Lisbon, we got up and made our way to the Bairro Alto area.  It was a VERY steep climb up a hill…  This yellow tram is the transportation which takes you up the hill…  We were brave and we walked out the hill ourselves J  This is usually a bustling area, but due to the fact that it was Sunday, all bars and restaurants were closed.  We ended up having some tea in a garden…  Both Carien and I bought a book of Lisbon, and on our way back to our hotel – on the way back to the airport, we accidently stumbled across the most famous cafe in Lisbon (in the Chaido area)!  We took some silly pictures with the statues in front of the coffee place, and had some coffee and the signature custard cake (speciality of this place) before leaving for the airport… Was really AMAZING!

Really a BEAUTIFUL city, full of colour, great food and friendly people J  I really feel blessed of having the chance to experience this!