After checking into the hotel and dropping our stuff off we went on one of our three walking tours. First stop was a ride up the Elevador da Gloria, a cable car like they have in San Francisco. As you can see by the picture it goes up a big hill. And as you can also see Leanne is walking up the big hill. They were doing a week long maintenance on it. As luck would have it the work started the day before we arrived.
The walk up the hill was worth it as we were given a great view at the top.
I decided to check my book and see if there were any more hills to climb.
There was a Port tasting shop at the top and we rewarded ourselves with a glass of Portuguese Port. We really don't care for Port, but people say its better in Portugal----Nope it wasn't better.
After the Port fiasco we were off to find a place to eat.
Lots of small streets like this and we soon found a nice place for lunch. Leanne had grilled Cod and I had a Pork and boiled potatoes. Nothing great but it was better than out pick of the Port wine.
From there we went to church--not to pray just to check it out. The church had many side alter's and this one was built in Rome for the Pope to say a mass at. After the mass it was disassembled and shipped to Lisbon. The guy who sold this idea must have made his yearly quota for alter sales. Its the most expensive alter in Portugal
And it also has some really weird alter's there. There were about four of them that were covered with baby's. Not sure what the reason for it, it was creepy to look at.
And the last creepy thing in this church is when people died. The just pulled up the boards under pews and put the dead people in them. This pictures shows three burial spots. When the plague arrived and they figured it was not a good idea have they body's under there feet anymore.
A local guard near a museum, (I took this picture for our single female friends)
This church was destroyed in the 1755 earthquake. Someone decided that instead of tearing it down they would leave it up as a reminder---and sell tickets to go inside. So for the last 260 years people have been coming to see the inside. We didn't go inside
We did have another great view near it. They tile the side of a lot of there buildings to keep them cool in the summer and warm in the winter. The blue building is tiled.
Our second walk for the day would start at the Praca do Comercio.
(Some times Lee or I will be reading the guide book and come upon words neither of us can pronounce. We just say "bla bla bla" and keep talking .)
This is the main square in Lisbon with a statue of King Jose 1--good to be the king.
They do a lot of things with tile and stone as you can see by the street. A friend of ours collects rocks I couldn't get a black one loose so i hope shes satisfied with a white one.
I forgot to mention the pastry, they have a lots and lots of pastry.
Might as well go to another church, some are just beautiful
and some are not. This one made it thru the 1755 earthquake but was never fixed. It was very dark inside and had nothing of beauty at all. Some of the corners of the marble alters were broke off and never repaired.
Some of the corners of the marble alters were broke off and never repaired.
Lee saw this little statue sticking out the side of a building. No real reason at all for it to be there.
Day 2 Palace's or its good to be the King.
Today we visited the city of Sintra and two Palaces the first was Queluz Palace
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queluz_National_Palace
Built in the 19th century it was called the Portuguese Versailles.
The ball room
music room
The Palace chapel
Along with the palace chapel there were smaller alters through out the house.
There were three bedrooms about this size
and then another alter
This is the hall of ambassadors or throne room
another alter
the kings chamber
this is the ceiling in the queens chamber
A view of the gardens
Another section of the garden, the blue tiles area is a man made river.
Next stop was in the town of Sintra for lunch.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sintra
Lunch was good but being it was raining when we got there we did not walk around much.
I'm amazed with the wet walkways that Leanne and I didn't slip and fall.
Leanne told me not to walk behind her because if i was to fall i would take both of us out. Made sense to me.
From there we went up the mountain to the Pena Palace.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pena_National_Palace
Originally started as a chapel in the 15th century it was converted into a palace in the 19th century.
This is what it looks like on a sunny day.
For us it was a rainy day so the view wasn't as nice.
It was another place that looked like something you would see at Disney world.
I wondered if Mickey was around the corner
An entrance way to a courtyard, nice was to greet people. I bet the kids loved walking thru this door.
The inside was a maze of rooms, this is the dining room. We were surprised at how small it was.
And of course there was the palace chapel.
This room had very ornate furniture. Leanne liked the statues of the birds. I couldn't fit them under my coat so we left them there.
At first it looks like wicker but its wood.
This is the kings bedroom. The bed and furniture was nothing special but the walls and ceiling were amazing.
Lots of copper in the kitchen.
more toys for the kitchen.
The sun must be coming out i can see it shining on the top of my head.
After a long day of tours we decided we needed some refreshments. A little white, a little red and of course we should try the local sparkling wine. We passed on the Port, once was bad enough.
Day three, Another walking tour and a trip to a monastery.
The walking tour would take us up by the Castle of St. Jorge and then back to the waterfront.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A3o_Jorge_Castle
Like i said it was up to the castle, this is what som
e of the steps looked like.
And this is the statue of St. Jorge near the main gate. We decided to pass on going in because all you were paying for is the view. As we walked farther we were able to get a view for free.
The entrance to this house shows how tall the Portuguese used to be.
Another tiled house
If you want to see tile this town is the place to go. This mural was on the outside wall of a church.
One of the many trolley lines
and the trolley car
And a look at our free view. There building the area at water front to handle cruise ships.
From this point we walked down to the water front. Mostly just walkways with a few single lane roads.
We made it back to the main square in Lisbon and took a trolley to the town of Belem to see the Jerónimos Monastery. Started in 1501 and took 100 years to finish. The tomb of Vasco da Gama is in the church.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jer%C3%B3nimos_Monastery
Everything about this place is big. This is the walk way around the Cloister
A view of the Cloister
A prayer room,
Another walkway around the Cloister, this one has the confessional doors on the right.
A view of the inside of one of the confessional's.
My door was closed.
The church was very impressive and huge,
Another view
After a trolley ride back to the main square we went back to our hotel for a break. There is a pool (to cold) and bar on the roof of our hotel. Leanne was able to get a nice picture of the castle we walked to.
We only had the morning to see things on our last day so it was going to be a trolley ride. This one would take us around the old part of the city.
Waiting for the trolley.
As you can see there not new, but they go pretty fast. Well, at least the guy who was driving ours.
A view from the trolley.
This is the Santa Justa lift. With all the hills in Lisbon it was decided to build and elevator to elevate some of the walking. This is the first elevators built in the city. There are newer ones thru out the city
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Justa_Lift
This square has the most elaborate stone work of the city.
Well i think it does.
Great trip to a very enjoyable city.
1 comment:
I loved seeing Portugal with you guys. The tiled buildings were pretty and smart. Sorry to hear about the Port.
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