PORTUGAL AND THE DOURO: Walking Tour of Lisbon 12/12/2013

LISBON WALKING TOUR

On this walking tour, our first real introduction to Portugal, we visited the Igreja de São Roque
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igreja_de_S%C3%A3o_Roque

This was quite a rich experience of gold walls and ornate statues and rich marble and tile as well as some representations of bodies in state. Collected here are some relics of the saints.
Saint Anthony was born in Lisbon and is well celebrated here although not the main saint of the city. Lots of cherubs in the displays, especially around Mary. It reminded me of the Goya chapel in Madrid.

Saint Anthony In Franciscan robe has been shown holding baby Jesus since the 17th century
http://www.americancatholic.org/Messenger/Jun2000/Anthony.asp

It was a great ceiling and choir loft.

Note the cherubs are in abundance.

This was our guide for the walking tour.

Here is a representation of the armillary sphere, a great tool for navigation in the early days.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armillary_sphere
This was the personal symbol of King Manuel I (1495-1521)

We had these views from the park where the painter set up his work. To get up this high, we took the funicular.

CHAPEL AND WATER

This is a great shot of the chapel and the water in the distance.

And here is the funicular, used for many decades now to help people get up and down the steep streets.

I liked this shot of a funicular all decorated for Christmas and used it for quite a while as my screen background.

We rode this lift up one of the hills. It was fun. Inside it was full of old wood. It has been around a while. The outside was decorated for the Xmas holidays. The one based on Eifel Tower design. This is very different from most of the architecture. It is called the Santa Justa lift.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Justa_Lift

PAINTER IN PARK

I liked watching this fellow set up his scene paintings of the funiculars and other buildings in this area. He was very fussy about how they were displayed. Had I had more room in my luggage I might have enjoyed having a funicular painting, but getting anything like this home would have been a hassle. We don't really need more wall hangings anyway.

BOOKSTORE

Elizabeth got a kick out of seeing the titles in this store by author's she recognized as famous to us in English. (A Sense of Meaning...I had just read it~~~E)

BREWERY

We took a bathroom break at one of the oldest breweries in Lisbon

http://www.cervejariatrindade.pt/trindade_english.html

Steps interior in a shop nearby.

This was a great stop over. There were some great tile here and it looked like a fine place to eat as well. This is the blurry swan photo I took.

BUYING FADO MUSIC

This truck was playing music in the street so we stopped and bought a souvenir, a classical fado collection sung by a woman singer. Pretty expensive at seventeen euros.

FROG PHOTO

I got a kick out of the frog theme in this Children's Museum banner.

HEAD IN LION

I liked this piece of fresco. No idea what the story is.

PASTRY WINDOW

I wanted to catch these two placing their pastry in the window of one of the pastry shops and when they saw me, they posed for the photo.

ALFALA RESTAURANT

I took this photo thinking this might be a good place to come back to eat. However, we never made it back.

WRITER SECTION

There are a few shots of the writer's section. It is was ONCE a gathering place for artists and intellectuals.

This café is a well known landmark in Lisbon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caf%C3%A9_A_Brasileira

This writer used to visit this coffee house regularly. So in bronze he is there this morning.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernando_Pessoa
Here are some of the thoughts he had over coffee.
http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/7816.Fernando_Pessoa

“Não sou nada.
Nunca serei nada.
Não posso querer ser nada.
À parte isso, tenho em mim todos os sonhos do mundo.”
“I am nothing.
I'll never be anything.
I couldn't want to be something.
Apart from that, I have in me all the dreams in the world.”

He invented a term for assuming another identity to write that is not really a pseudonym.
He called it heteronym
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heteronym_(literature)

Portugal's famous poet

http://www.answers.com/topic/lu-s-de-cam-es

Below is a Statue of poet António Ribeiro, the "Chiado", in the Chiado Square.

We ended our guided tour at this Rossio square which we had also visited the night before
http://www.golisbon.com/sight-seeing/rossio.html

We decided to walk down to the Tagus river. Here is the street going down to the river. It was a fine walk, and being near the water felt very good. Gulls played. The small waves washed in.

I was not doing very well this day, in a good deal of pain.

We walked down with shipmate Shirley looking for a place to eat, but by then I just wanted to rest along the river and then get back to the hotel area to eat at the place near there that we liked Quebra Mar.
We rested at the Praca do Comercio

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pra%C3%A7a_do_Com%C3%A9rcio

It was wonderful to rest my leg and listen to the gulls and the sound of water. A beggar dressed in very loose fitting, almost rags came around looking for handouts but was ignored. A Black couple talked near us and were interesting to watch. She might have been pretty, but had a funny gap in her teeth that just distracted me. We had our photo taken there. I don't look too happy in the one with just me.

I want to know more about the sculpture there as it was quite grand and had an elephant on the side. It was in part a monument to Joseph I of Portugal.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_I_of_Portugal

We sat a long while here watching a couple necking.

Elizabeth managed to capture the pigeons while trying to capture the lovers.

I see this photo often in browsing other Portuguese reports. I don't know what it is all about, but I'm certain there is a story there.

We went back by cab to save my painful walking. We went back and had lunch here.

QUEBRA MAR SEAFOOD RESTAURANT

I had my first grilled sardines and they were delicious.
In fact, as I edit I'm going to have one for breakfast.
We did not bring that back with us. We found them frozen up at Charlie's Fish store in Crystal River. Strange to go all this way to taste some more sardinas.
Margot and I used to love them in the festivals in Spain where they would do them on open barbecues.
The fish are cooked whole and one eats around the guts, but here at home I tend to clean them out once they are thawed.
http://www.dishbase.com/recipe_images/large/portuguese-grilled-sardines-12056020821.jpg

In tanks were large live lobster and some live shrimp swam with them. This makes it even more probable that the shrimp we see around area all local.
Lobster was there but was very expensive.