Lisbon, 2007

Portugal is the bit of Iberia that isn't Spain. We visited in early March and loved it. It was once a very important port, about as far west as ports came in Europe, and grew wealthy on exploration. In 1755 an earthquake and tsunami levelled the place. The city reminds me a great deal of San Francisco, and not just because of the occasional earthquakes. Lisbon also has an orange suspension bridge, hilly streets and antique trams, and is situated on a peninsula near the sea. Again, it's a lot like San Francisco, but a bit more Mediterranean.

Andrea at Praça do Marquês Pombal, which was near our hotel. The statue on the monument is Pombal, the man who after the 1755 earthquake redesigned and rebuilt the city (albeit not single-handedly).

Metro sign at Praça do Marquês Pombal. The metro system was pretty convenient and serves much of the city, though we had to use buses and trams for some parts.

We were impressed by the mosaic stone sidewalks on Avenida de Liberdade. Only in Europe do you find such things as large mosaic sidewalks.

The Estação do Rossio is a beautiful train station in the city center built in the Manueline style of architecture, a distinctly Portuguese style that blends gothic and Renaissance elements.

The Moorish horseshoe-shaped doors to the Estação do Rossio. The stone was cleaned to a beautiful off-white relatively recently.

The castle sits atop a hill over the city.

Many streets are decorated with picturesque lanterns.

Near the Baixa (center of the town) rising up to the Chiado (a hillside neighborhood) is the Elevador de Santa Justa, which saves a lot of walking uphill. It was built by Raul Mesnier de Ponsard, who was a student of Eiffel.

A closer view of the elevator's ironwork.

Another view of the Elevador de Santa Justa (taken the next morning).

The view from the top, looking over the Baixa. To the left is a bit of the castle, then the twin towers of the facade of the cathedral, then along the river the arch rises above the Praça do Comercio (of which more later).

Rossio square from from the Elevador de Santa Justa.

View from Elevador de Santa Justa.

Andrea on Elevador de Santa Justa.

On the hill near the elevator is the Igreja do Carmo, a church that was partially destroyed in the earthquake of 1755. A service was running during the earthquake, and unfortunately the roof collapsed. It was left as a memorial, and today contains a museum.

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This street is Rua Garrett in the Chiado, the old town near the ruined church. This was one of several happening areas.

Many of the streets had tram tracks on them, which reminded me of cable car lines in San Francisco. Aptly enough this street is called Calçada Nova de São Francisco, and it's in an area called the Baixa. The Baixa is the area that was planned after the earthquake, and was one of the first examples of a planned urban area in Europe. Grid streets, grand avenues.

The focal point of the Baixa is the Praça do Comercio, a square on the river that was once a major commercial hub. It was similar in size and location prior to the earthquake as well. This is the rather large triumphal arch leading from the Baixa to the square.

An arcade runs along the north side of the Praça do Comercio.

Another view of the arch (taken the next day).

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Praça do Comercio.

Up the hill from the Baixa, opposite the ruined church, is the Sé, Lisbon's cathedral.

It design is Romanesque and spartan, like a castle.

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I liked that the steps into the Sé and the columns around the door connected in a geometrically pleasing way.

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The door.

Someone was filming something inside, so we caught it illuminated with unusually bright lights.

In the cloisters of the Sé are excavations that have uncovered some pretty cool things. There's scaffolding and information near the excavation for visitors.

At the very bottom are Roman sewers, above which are Roman streets, near which are later Islamic buildings and a medieval cistern. There is even an area where Iron Age remains have been discovered. So people have been in Lisbon for a long time. In fact the name may come from Allis Ubbo, which means "Safe Harbor" in Phoenician (or so Wikipedia says).

The cloisters. The arches are from a previous building and do not match up with the current walls of the apse of the building.

A room in the apse of the Sé.

The Sé is in an area called the Alfama, one of the city's oldest neighbourhoods (as evidenced by the pre-Roman findings in the cloisters). Like many areas of Lisbon it is alternately run-down and charming, with many buildings decorated with tiles like this one. The tiles look a lot like the bathroom variety. In fact, they might be bathroom tiles. Also omnipresent throughout Lisbon is the drying laundry, hung on the front of buildings.

After sunset we had dinner up on the hill near the cathedral and could see the entire Baixa, including the Praça do Comercio at left. Ar right is the Ponte 25 de Abril, the bridge that looks like the Golden Gate.

The next morning.

The castle, visible behind this statue in Praça da Figueira, rises above the city and is easy to spot most of the time.

In the Baixa ...

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We took a tram to Belém, a part of town somewhat west of the other areas of the city. There are some great things to see in Belém, including a monastery called the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos. It's a magnificent building, and is considered to be the epitome of the Manueline style.

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Inside the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos.

Guess who's in the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos. That's right, it's Vasco de Gama! I was very surprised to find him there. Vasco was of course famous for rounding the Cape of Good Hope, reaching India in 1498 and becoming the commander of the first ships to sail directly from Europe to India.

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The cloisters of the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos. The entire building was only barely damaged in the earthquake of 1755, but fell into some disrepair. It looks to have been recently restored. The stonework is beautiful.

... to prove I was there.

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The other famous sight in Belém. is the Torre de Belém, a tower built in the harbour to guard the city from invasions from the sea. It was paired with towers in other strategic locations.

Andrea at the Torre de Belém. Much of the shallow coast has been reclaimed as land, so the tower is no longer out at sea.

Torre de Belém on a beautiful day.

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Easy targets.

The Ponte 25 de Abril from the Torre de Belém. The bridge was deliberately modelled on the Golden Gate and was originally called Ponte Salazar, after Portugal's dictator. It was renamed after their independence day.

A view out to the Atlantic.

Back in the Chiado district in the city center.

This is the Elevador da Bica, a funicular railway.

We stopped at the famous Café a Brasileira in the Chiado. The old men stand at the bar and have a cup of bica, an espresso-like coffee. People on the continent often get coffee at the bar because it is cheaper than when you order it sitting down.

To further explain the coffee situation, these are a galão and a bica, which we tried the next day. Again, a bica is an espresso-like coffee. (In fact I strongly suspect it's espresso. I couldn't tell the difference.) A galão is coffee with a lot of milk - the word literally means "a gallon," though as you can see it's a mild exaggeration. It might be condensed milk because it was very sweet.

The custard pastries are a Lisbon specialty called pastéis de nata. They're quite good. In the ninteenth century they were invented in Belém, not far from the monastery.

A beer to round off the day. This is Cervejaria da Trinidade, built on the site of a former monastery.

The Cervejaria has decorative tiled walls.

The Chiado at night, with the castle in the distance.

Rossio square from the Chiado.

Rossio square at night, with the ruined church on the hill.

We had to sample some port while in Portugal. The nearer glass is an LBV, a vintage style of port, while the far glass is white port, which was surprisingly good.

The Baixa Chiado Station. The metor stations were mostly clean. We had heard that some have beautiful tiles, but most of the stations we used didn't.

We took a tram up to the castle the next day.

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The castle has a handy outdoor urinal nearby, in case you feel impatient.

The view from the castle is extraordinary.

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A stitched-together panoramic view.

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I pose in the castle.

Afterward we walked down into the Alfama. This is a pano view of Sao Vicente de Fora, another old monastery, as well as bits of the Alfama.

One sight we missed (though I spotted it from the plane before we arrived) is the ninteenth century aqueduct, which extends across a valley just northwest of Pombal. Despite not having time to visit it, we did see its likeness on every water access plate on the city streets.