Saturday March 13

On Saturday I continued to explore Lisbon. My primary goal was to climb up to Castelo de Sao Jorge and explore the neighborhood around the castle known as Alfama.

The climb to the castle was difficult but worthwhile for the view of the city below. When attempting to buy an admission ticket, the "kind" young clerk asked if I wanted the senior discount. Apparently my age is showing. In the picture below you can see the waterfront and the arch where I was yesterday.

 

 

The view below is pointed back towards my hotel district. The green area in the middle of the picture is part of the Marques de Pombal monument. Which was also the name of my hotel



 

I took the picture below because I found it fascinating how people had built right onto the walls of the castle. The area on the right with the red roof was an enclosed patio-like room. In the middle of the picture you can make out the cover on their hot tub on the terrace below the patio room. And further to the left on a terrace below is their actual residence.

the castle was the Moorish royal residence until Alfonso Henriques, Portugal's first king captured it during the crusades during the 12th century. Not sure how the captured the castle. They certainly didn't sneak up on it because one can see for miles in every direction. And the walls themselves look impenetrable.

 

 

In the pictures below I have tried to capture some of the churches one can see from the castle.

 



 

 

 

And peacock

 



 

 

 

This is one of my favorite views from just below the castle, through the church, and out to the sea.

 



 

This is a view down one of the stairwells in Alfama. Alfama is Lisbon's oldest district characterized by medieval and Moorish alleys that are best explored by wandering and getting lost. My iphone wasn't even helpful. I had scouted a place for lunch on trip advisor and spent a few hours trying to find it only to discover it was under water. a pipe had burst.

This medieval villa was for sale right next to the restaurant where I did eat lunch.

Ate outside overlooking the tourists as they walked by. Notice the angle. There are no flat surfaces in Lisbon once you are a block from the sea. Loved the little restaurant. Waitress came over and asked me what language I preferred in about seven different languages from Dutch, German, Portuguese, French, English, Italiano, and Brasilian, which the Portuguese natives claim is not Portuguese. I chose English and she asked me two questions: meat or fish? and white or red wine? That was the extent of the menu. I chose the meat because I had a seafood feast last night. It was delicious.

Below are two pictures of the medieval cathedral of Lisbon. there was a baptism going on while I visited. You might also not some of the vehicles outside. They referred to these as tuc tucs. They were basically vespas with a back seat. A popular means of transportation among many of the tourists. I stuck with walking.

 

 

Dinner on Saturday was great. I actually posted a review for the restaurant on trip advisor, which I never do. I thought people should know about it and trip advisor didn't list it among the best steakhouses in Lisbon. And I thought it should be!

 

Returned to Rome on Sunday. Thankfully an uneventful trip back to campus.