Day 3 - Enjoying Lisbon

So, here’s the scoop on sleeping on a small city street. We closed our double door (which cut out street noise remarkably well), however, because of the lights that were shining on a theater just across the street, we couldn’t tell  what time of day or night it was. When the theater show let out around midnight, things got a little noisy, however, we were so sleepy it really didn’t matter. Basically, with a couple of interruptions , we slept around 10 hours.

We woke up all refreshed at 7:oo and headed down to breakfast. As it turns out, our B@B is also a small restaurant and the food was really good! We enjoyed egg and ham casserole, bacon, French toast, rolls, cheese slices, yogurt, and pineapple slices, along with orange juice and coffee.

Then out we went for the Alfama stroll. This area was the sailors’ quarters that dates back to the age of Visigoth occupation (6^th- 8^th centuries A.D.) It was a bustling district during the Moorish period, and eventually became the home of Lisbon’s fishermen  and mariners. The Alfama’s tangled street plan is one of the few features  of Lisbon to survive the 1755 earthquake. They were designed this way specifically to frustrate invaders trying to get to the Sao Jorge Castle, an 8^th century bastion, first built by the Moors.

A word about the great Lisbon earthquake. On the morning of All Saints Day in 1755, while most of the population was in church, a tremendous underwater earthquake occurred off the Portuguese coast. The violent series of tremors were felt throughout Europe as far as Finland. Two-thirds of Lisbon was leveled. Fires, started by cooking fires and church candles, raged through the city, and a huge tsunami blasted the waterfront. Of Lisbon’s 270,000 people, it is estimated that 90,000 perished.

After visiting and enjoying the ramparts of the castle, and having our picture taken by a Spanish couple (the woman was from Greece and said we should visit next year), and Ross taking their picture, we meandered through the labyrinth of streets, enchanted by the architecture, lace window panels, parakeets in cages suspended from window frames, numerous cafes, bakeries, produce stands, and small clothing shops. We both loved the smell of wisteria and honeysuckle which filled the air. Whole sides of old buildings are covered from top to bottom with tiles of Moorish looking patterns of blue, yellow and white.

During the evening, we went to a Brazilian place and had rice, sausage, a small chicken leg, a slice of beef, rice, salad, black beans, and a fried banana. It was so good! Then it was time for a long evening stroll by the Rio Tejo (we probably walked about 5 miles) and saw all kinds of fishing boat, riverside restaurants, shipping companies, sea gulls, and fish. It was a delightful day for sightseeing as it was overcast and cool. After this, a nice dish of ice-cream topped with caramel sauce finished off the day.

Sao Jorge Castle

Ross & Linda in next to castle

Overlook of Lisbon from castle

Typcial back yard in Lisbon's old section