Lisbon was a really a nice city. The people were so friendly and nearly everyone spoke English quite well especially the younger Portuguese. The weather was pleasant with high temperatures around 60, normal for Lisbon in December, and only about a half day of light rain during our week there. The old central city is very walkable with many interesting shops to browse and of course lots of good bakeries and roasted chestnut vendors (about $2.70 for a bag of about 12). All the sidewalks and plazas are paved with alternating small black and white tiles – the white tiles are local limestone and the black local basalt. And Lisbon is also famous for its many buildings with beautifully tiled outsides. Interestingly, much of the old city is relatively new for a European city having been totally reconstructed after the devastating 1755 earthquake that destroyed about 85% of the city and killed tens of thousands from collapsed buildings, fires, and a tidal wave. That earthquake was one of the largest in recorded history.
The metro (subway) and tram system were very easy to use for taking longer trips and cost about $4.00 for a round trip. We used the metro one evening to go to El Corte Ingles a couple of miles north of our hotel and used it one morning to go to the aquarium on the northeast side of Lisbon. El Corte Ingles (“The English Cut”) is a huge department store with stores in nearly all the major cities in Spain and Portugal. It was fun to browse their large book store, toy section, home section, and grocery/gourmet store. Of course in the book store 95% of the books were in Portuguese with only a few titles in English or Spanish. As far as the aquarium or Oceanarium, it was claimed that it is the second largest aquarium in the world. We did enjoy the Oceanarium, but we were skeptical of the size claim and have noticed that several aquariums claim to be the largest or second largest. Besides the metro, the tram was convenient for going to Belem several miles west of central Lisbon. The tram is an old street car system that runs on rails and is powered by overhead electric cables. It did take some help to learn how to use the ticket dispenser on the tram but the conductor was friendly and helpful. Belem has several interesting sites including the Monument to the Discoveries and an old fort guarding the entrance to the harbor; these two sites are often shown in any program about Lisbon. But we were there primarily to see the Maritime Museum which was full of beautiful ship models as well as artifacts from Portugal’s nautical history. Belem is also where Portugal’s national dessert was invented. It’s a small custard pie called a nata and is very good.
While in Lisbon, we also took two day trips. One to see the Royal palaces around Sintra and another to the small city of Evora with side visits along the way to a cork forest and also the site of some 6,000-8,000 year old stone monoliths reminiscent of Stonehenge. Winter is a good time for guided tours since you get almost a private tour. We were the only couple on one trip and there was just one other couple from Australia on the other. Near Sintra we saw Pena Palace which looks like a fairy tale palace built atop a hill on the site of an old convent. In Sintra itself we toured Sintra Palace whose most distinctive feature is two tall tapering kitchen chimneys. Sintra was a summer retreat for the king and queen to escape the heat of Lisbon. The higher altitude meant cooler temperatures. Naturally the aristocracy wanted to be near the king and queen and so built many nice houses in Sintra. A side benefit of the trip to Evora was leaving Lisbon via the 24th of April suspension bridge at the mouth of the Tagus (Tejo) River and returning over the many miles long Vasco da Gama bridge. The 24th of April bridge is so named after the date of the overthrow of the last dictatorship. The Evora trip did have a side trip to see a cork forest and we learned a little about harvesting the cork. The bark is stripped part way up the tree trunk but not enough bark to kill the tree. The year is painted on the trunk to indicate when the bark was harvested. The bark regrows and can be harvested about every seven years. In Evora we also visited a chapel whose walls, arches, and ceilings were covered with old bones – very creepy. But the best part was ending up in a wine, olive oil, and cheese shop for sampling some of each.
One morning and part of the afternoon, we took a walking tour of Lisbon and spent some time in the Alfama district which is the oldest district of Lisbon, spreading on the slope between the Saint George Castle and the Tagus River. It was not as damaged during the 1755 earthquake so still has the labyrinthine streets and walkways. We stayed very close to the guide since it would have been difficult for us to find our own way out! We spent a good part of our last day in Lisbon walking up to the Castle of Saint George which is about two miles by walking from our hotel. Thankfully there was a free seven story elevator as we started up the hill to the caste that we could take to avoid the hardest part of the climb. Central Lisbon has several elevators and funiculars since there are several hills. The Castle and its grounds had great views over the old city and the Tagus River including The 24th of April Bridge. An anecdote is that the Castle is home to many cats and peacocks. We met a fellow from Brooklyn that was feeding the cats and had been living in Lisbon for years - he really enjoyed the climate. Shortly a tourist from the Bronx stopped by and we talked a little. Ironically the Brooklynite told the fellow from the Bronx that he had never visited the Bronx. One of the neatest parts of the Castle was its camera obscura. This was a round room about fifteen feet in diameter with about a six foot white convex disk in the center. An image from a periscope on the roof could be projected onto the disk and focused by moving the disk up or down. The image was magnified by the lens system, and the periscope could be rotated and tilted to show different sites in Lisbon. The guide gave a quick visual tour of Lisbon via the camera. It was also enjoyable to “walk the parapets” of the castle to paraphrase Mel Brooks in “Blazing Saddles.”
Our trip to Lisbon was very enjoyable. Our days started with a hearty breakfast at the hotel’s breakfast buffet. Then we typically went out for our grand adventure of the day which included day trips to Sintra and to Evora, a walking tour of Lisbon, trips to the Oceanarium and to Belem, and walking up to the Castle of Saint George. Then we would typically return to the hotel after grabbing a coke or snack along the way. We always tried to be at the hotel between 5 and 6 PM for the complimentary glass of port or moscato and peanuts in the lounge area. In the evening we would usually walk down to the old city and stroll around, visit shops, and buy a pastry from one of our three favorite bakeries... It seems that we were forever running into a group of students from a local medical school that sang songs, danced a little, and asked for donations. And in the afternoon or evening we would have to also have a bag of roasted chestnuts. Supper was often a sandwich although we did have two larger dinners. We never felt insecure any place we went although we didn’t go into any “seedy” areas. We were warned though to beware of pickpockets especially on the trams which can get crowded. The pickpockets are hard to identify since they can be dressed as tourists or businessmen or other. We did see a fair number of beggars – maybe one every other block in the center city – and almost every church had one at the door.
Regrettably, we didn’t come close to seeing everything we would have liked to in Portugal, but we did get to talk with some of the Portuguese and learn their perspectives on their economy (bad but probably has bottomed), the European Union (more good than bad), and the Euro currency (bad idea to have joined). Regrettably, as in so many places, the youth have little faith that they will get much from Social Security and feel like politicians are incompetent – imagine that. Portugal itself is actually one of the oldest independent countries in the world having been established in 1139. Today it has a population of about 10.5 million and Portuguese is about the 6th most spoken language in the world thanks mostly to Brazil. Portugal is very proud of its history of navigation and discovery and especially of Vasco da Gama who was the first known European to sail to India. Lisbon has a Vasco da Gama bridge, a Vasco da Gama mall, Vasco da Gama Avenue, and more. An armillary sphere is part of the Portuguese flag and a caravel is part of the symbol of Lisbon (Lisboa). The Portuguese language is similar to Castellano (Spanish) but sounds quite different with lots of “sh” sounds. It does sound lovely but it was difficult to make out many words. The grammar and vocabulary also has some differences and so we could only read about 50-70% of written Portuguese. Most Portuguese could understand Castellano.
