A Walk Around Lisbon's Waterfront

This post is a little late, dating from two weeks ago. I arrived in Lisbon at 8 am and was immediately taken on a trip around some of the sights of Lisbon by my host, focusing on the Tagus waterfront. This largely pictorial presentation records what I saw.

Torre de Belem and the nearby war memorial guarded by soldiers ... though the wars in question were largely colonial.

Ponte 25 de Abril, or repliica of the Golden gate.

Monument to the Discoveries, led from the front by Infante Dom Henrique de Avis, Duke of Viseu (aka Henry the Navigator).

Gardens surrounding the Mosteiro da Santa Maria de Belem, aka as the Jeronimos Monastery. The monastery is one of the most prominent examples of the Portuguese Late Gothic Manueline style of architecture in Lisbon. It was classified a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with the nearby Tower of Belém. And it now houses two museums: the Maritime and National Archaeology museums.

The elaborate front entrance.

Photos of the elaborate interior.

Cloisters, with their decorated ceilings.

Interior displays in the museums: the first picture explaining a victory over Napoleon during the peninsula campaign, and the second recounting a mid 19th century constitutional crisis.

The monastery's kitchen showing the lovely blue traditional tile-work.

AS

A Tale of Two Bridges

The Tagus estuary is very broad and poses a bridging problem resolved in two innovative ways - upstream a very long, but low, structure - about 15 km long and one of the longest in the world; and downstream a reincarnation of the golden gate suspension bridge. My travels took me across both and I enjoy travelling across such imposing structures.

Montemor-o-Novo

Another gorgeous castle in Portugal. The pictures, I think, speak for themselves, so excuse me the addition of text.

AS

Arraiolos

Whilst in Evora to deliver my address, I took a lovely trip through central Alentejo to the town of Arraiolos with its castle dominating the landscape. This was, in the past I gather, frontier territory disputed by Spain and the Moors. Well, now it is peaceful and attractive. The journey was through open rolling country browning off as summer approaches and we saw lots of hay cut in the fields to keep livestock alive through summer. This is the opposite of northern Europe where hay is cut as winter feed.

When we arrived in Arraiolos, we found an interesting medieval market. The stalls included a spice market - though not as grand as the one we saw in Istanbul. However, the stall-holders had an interesting take on the medical properties of the spices - have a look at the second photo and spot the diseases treated! There was also a group of medieval jousters.

The district is known for its carpets and tapestries. I bought a small one of the latter for Dot ... she doesn't know it yet

Again look at the blue-edged whitewashed walls typical of the region in the above picture and the narrow alleys. These emerge in the following photos.

But the jewel in Arraiolos' crown is the large castle perched high on craggy rocks looming over the town.

AS

A Brush with St George

The last thing I suspected in Lisbon was to explore a castle named after England's patron saint, St George. However, that's the way it turned out one gloriously sunny and hot day. I had completed my appointments in Lisbon and decided once again to explore a part of the city I didn't think I had previously visited and the castle beckoned. So I took the subway into town after first having spent 20 minutes trying to figure out how to use the ticketing system.The system was, I found, quite efficient and cheap to use.
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By the time I reached the centre, I knew that I had a very steep walk ahead but I didn't know the exact route. So I ambled around the attractive centre to get some visual clues, which I eventually found. Given Portugal's recent economic history, I thought the centre might be a bit dilapidated, but the converse proved true and the bustling streets were full of up-market shops attended by often well-, perhaps over-, dressed people. I felt a bit inferior in my usual outfit!

I ploughed through several rather large and opulent squares, marred however by a large number of much less fortunate beggars huddled on the ground - not a good advertisement for the economy.

Then there was the climb up to the castle through streets like this one lined with tourist traps. I found the cobbles very uneven and a little hard on the feet.

I was also expected something of an ersatz castle, but it turned out to have three rather lovely features. First it was a real castle with impressive ramparts, massive walls and all the other things one would expect from something dating back 9 centuries. Secondly, it was perched high up over the city in an eminently defensible location. Thirdly, this gave it many impressive views. Perhaps, fourthly, I should add it had a lot of small leafy portions that were lovely for exploring and sitting - like this one below. By the way, if the bridge in the background is familiar, you're right. It has a close cousin: the Golden Gate in San Francisco! Same designer; same construction company.

You saw this square earlier from ground level. It was even more impressive from up on high.

The green corridor in the middle here is one of the most impressive avenues in Lisbon - its answer to the Champs Elysée.

Three more impressive views of the ramparts.

And a rather nice church.

Not to mention a lot more battlements to climb.

Another attractive local inhabitant.

And when I called it time to descend, I took a different route only to discover some easier ways up!

In particular I liked this tuk tuk which the Portuguese must have borrowed from Bangkok!

By the way, when I got to the docks at the bottom of the hill I found myself looking a rather familiar ship. It was the Cunard liner Queen Elizabeth. That might explain why I bumped into quite a few POMS on this trip - and especially at the English language show at the Camera Obscura up at the castle.

AS