On Day 2 we ventured out walking and soon negotiated with a TukTuk driver to go on a tour and help us climb those hills. It was fun and he was great. We saw more in 2 hours than we would have seen all day. Pedro our guide shared the beauty of his city and his culture… we entered beautiful churches, skipped lines, saw awesome skylines and stopped for delicious treats. He even took us to see an artist painting the beautiful Portuguese tiles that are so famous and covering so many buildings here …..all while we listened to the history of Lisbon.
He took us to the neighbourhood that he grew up in, and a secret little neighbourhood that is tucked away behind a big church and you can only access by walking (or TukTuk). He took us to a tiny little chapel high up on a mountain where women go to a special chair where they sit and pray for less pain in childbirth. Pedro is so proud of Lisbon that he made us fall in love with it too.
The next two days in Lisbon, we walked and visited all the highlights we had on our list. I’ll list them here and then just share a few of the 1000 pics we took along the way. The tower of Belem, the Monument of the Discoveries, the Time-Out Market, Tram 28, Bridge 25 de Abril, the Acquaducts of Lisbon, the Monastery and the Cathedral of Belem, a tinned sardine store (they are works of art), and the Carriage Museum of Lisbon. It was sunny and warm; we ate ice cream and more pasteis de natas, we people watched and enjoyed this beautiful city. We saw some wonderful sand sculptures and listened to many street musicians. Jim visited with a fisherman for 10 minutes, and neither spoke the others language and they still shared fishing stories- We walked over 18 kilometres in two days. (Many of those going up or going down)
Jim has a board meeting on our last day here – because of the time difference it will be 2 till 10 instead of 9 to 5 so we toured the last place on our list we hadn’t seen yet. – The Castelo de São Jorge and the peacocks that live there. We got up early and went up the mountain. There was no line – we walked right in. By the time we came out there were probably 200 people in line. The cruise ships had come in and the tour buses had arrived. We headed for home at 1:30 and I got caught up with laundry, packing up and blogs. Perfect. Off to Porto on the 11 o’clock train tomorrow morning.
You so make me want to go there! Such history and beauty at the same time.