Lisbon Day 4

Last night after dinner we took a walk along Liberty Avenue, a very wide French-style boulevard near our hotel.

This morning we took a segway tour of medieval Lisbon. It was more of an experience than on the segways to tour on Which We Could see anything or learn anything. But we had fun.

Here is a view of mommy and the rest of the group headed up one of the steep hills. We were glad we Were not walking at points like this. We did get to see a lot of the neighborhood but mostly just whisked past sites.

We did breifly stop at a scenic overlook with a nice view back towards the castle we toured yesterday.

After the segway ride, we went the museum of design and fashion, Which was fine but not that exciting. Then we hopped on the train to the town of Sintra at the very lovely Rossio station.

After the 40 minute ride to Sintra we got on the hop on hop off bus which made a circuit around the town to the various palaces. It was something of a summer resort area for the royals and nobles in the 19th century and there are many very elaborate palaces in and around Sintra. The bus loop turned out to be about a two hour drive, and the driver did not stop at many of the stops, so we got a nice driving tour of the countryside. We did stop for a 5 minute photo op at the westernmost spot on the European continent where we had stunning cliffside views of the Atlantic Ocean. 

Then the tour continued and the driver did stop to let us off to tour the Pena Palace. This cliff top 19th century palace was built like a fairy tale neo-Moorish style and was in a very elaborate garden with lots of follies and sculpture. Because the garden was on the side of the mountain, we did not walk around it much. But we did go through the palace Which had a lot or really decorative rooms in fantastic styles. Lots of faux finishes and elaborate decorations.

 After seeing the Pena Palace, we came back to Lisbon by train, had a nice Italian dinner, and returned to our hotel.

Lisbon Day 3

It is about 3:00 in the afternoon and after an active morning we are resting in the hotel room Really Mommy is napping and I am pretending to get some work done. Maybe after I send these picture to you all.

Before I get to today's adventures, here is one more from yesterday I couldn't download last night because my camera battery was dead. It is us in the cloister of St. Jeronimos Monastery.

We started this morning in Commercial Square, a huge plaza built after the 1755 earthquake. 

 

Once you pass through that huge triumphal arch you are in Baixa, the pedestrian area and center of the city. Its full of shops and restaurants. We ate there last night as well as walked around a bit in that area yesterday and today. Its between everything so we keep coming back to Baixa. Here is a view back towards the arch.

Then we started walking up the hill to the medieval part of Lisbon. The first stop was the Church of St. Anthony, which was built on top of the spot where he was born. We thought the Aresco's would especially appreciate this site. Below is a picture of the facade and of Mommy kneeling in front of the altar in the crypt which is allegedly the spot he was born. Apparently John Paul II kneeled on this kneeler and prayed to St. Anthony in 1982. So Mommy is in good company.

 

Right behind the Church of St. Anthony is the Cathedral, which had an early medieval Romanesque nave that hadn't been changed much in the subsequent centuries.

Then we hopped a tram the rest of the way up the very big an steep hill to the Castle of St. George. It was built originally in the 11th century by the Moors, expanded by the Portuguese kings between the 12th and 16th centuries when it was their main residence, damaged by the earthquake, and reconstructed in the 1930s and 1940s.  Here are views of the outside and inside of the castle.

And in one of the towers of the castle there was a camera obscura that using a mirror and two lens and a periscope gave us a 360 degree panorama of the city. A guide worked the controls and pointed things out. It was amazing how clear and focused and detailed the image was. We could see cars driving and people walking.

After that we took two different public outdoor elevators down the hill to Baixa, walked across that flat part, and took the 1902 Santa Justa elevator up the hill on the other side to the Ciado neighborhood. Here we had lunch and checked out the Carmalite Church, which was damaged severely in the 1755 earthquake and left as a ruin as a reminder. It was very dramatic. It has partially been rebuilt we think as well.

Lisbon Day 2

We had quite a day today. We slept until almost 10:00 and then hurried not to miss breakfast that lasted only until 10:30.  We left the hotel at 11:00 am and returned at 9:30 pm after a fun filled day of sightseeing!

We started the day by headed downtown by subway to commercial square, where we bought a 3-day lisbon card that gives us access to museums and public transit. We took a very crowded tram ride out to the western part of the city, called Belem. In Belem we toured the enormous and magnificent Jeronimos Monastery. The Order of St. Jerome was apparently just active in Spain and Portugal and was kind of a national thing here. This monastery was closely associated with the kings for centuries. Many were buried here and built parts of it. Their palace was up the hill behind the monastery. We toured the monastery, its huge church, and the very extensive and well done archeological museum which is housed in part of the monastery.

Here is a view inside the main cloister, that almost gives a sense of the size, but definitely shows the ornate carving. Its a late medieval building in the Manueline style - which was kind of Gothic but with lots of maritime motifs meant to promote Portuguese sea power.

In addition to the kings we'd never heard of who were buried here, Vasco de Gama's was also in the Monastery.

The monastery faced onto the river across a beautiful park. On the river was a huge Monument to the Discoverers built in the 1950s celebrating 500 years of  Portuguese discoveries. The photo above of the monastery and park was taken from the top of the monument. As was the photo below of the pavement in front, which had a nice map of the world inlaid in it. In fact, all throughout the city we've notice really amazing paving designs, every square an sidewalk is laid in different stone patterns and its all very pretty.

Then we walked along the breezy river's edge to the Belem Tower. A cute little fortress also in the Manueline style. It was used as a prison and had some canons I guess to attack anyone coming up the river. In this picture you can also get a sense of how wide the river is (very). This is the mouth of it looking out to the Atlantic beyond. This blurry picture also shows how sunny it is. Sometimes its so bright its hard to get a good picture. I climbed up the stairs to the top of this tower as well, but Mommy turned back halfway up because the very tight windy stairs made her a little nervous.

We returned from Belem around 5:00 and once back at Commercial Square in the City Center, we had ice cream in a nice cafe and then visited a museum called the Story of Lisbon. Its basically another city history museum, but privately run. It had no artifacts like the one we saw yesterday, but had an extensive audio tour in English so we learned more. There were also lots of videos and photos to help us visualize. We've noticed that the focus is definitely on the Age of Discoveries (under Manuel of the Manueline style) and the 18th century rebuilding after the big earthquake - then it skips to the 1974 revolution. Not much discussion of the 19th century and no mention of the dictatorship.

  

The countertop!

I picked up our new butcher block countertop today and Miran cut it down to size, sanded it, and screwed it to the cabinet. I put on the first coat of oil. We are thrilled with how it looks and that it is FINALLY here and the kitchen is done. Of course we can't use it for a week while I oil it every other day to get it ready. But we can admire it!

July Fun

So I haven't posted in over a month, but a lot has been happening. Particularly in late June July there was a lot of coming and going. Here are a bunch of pictures.

Miran celebrated his birthday and watched a lot of soccer:

The Andersons visited:

The Arescos visited:

I took a short trip to Staunton:

And Milada left for a 3 month vacation in Sarajevo: