Sintra

Sintra is an adorable medieval town about 40 minutes west of Lisbon. Its got an UNBELIEVABLE castle the "Pena Palace" with acres and acres of amazing gardens. From the terraces of the palace you can see all the way across Lisbon to the mouth of the Tejo River and the Atlantic. The palace was actually occupied by Portugues royalty as recent as 1910, when they had to flee the country because of the revolution. It was awesome!!!!!

walking up to the palace



the gates

the right side only

part of the right side and middle

a monument to the designer of the palace

looking out to the river

the Tejo River in the distance

view from a guard tower

looking down into the entrance

the Alligator Gate

really?

the gardens cover something like 212 acres

lavendar beds. . . smelled niiiiiice!

Palm garden

They have tree specimens from all over the world. This thing is some kind of a red cedar from the US that uses the ground to reroot itself and start a new upward growth. It was huge. There was also a giant Redwood.

flower and a fish

the lakes with medieval duck houses

Moorish Castle. I walked those walls!

Moorish Castle ruins. They date back 1000 years. The climb was ridiculous, but the views totally worth it.

Pena Palace from the castle ruins

Pena Palace

Ola!

Now I know how I got my sunburn

Pena Palace & ruins, just for some perspective

And since tonight is my last one in Lisbon, I had to choose between getting torn apart on Ginjinha (which would certainly result in my waking up without the little dignity & self-respect I have left) or spending more time in the Port Wine Institute. I went with the second option; and, discovered a new and delicious summer time beverage. . . White Port with tonic and orange slices. Oh it's good. . . it's very very good. I suspect I will be inhaling many of these during my next 2 weeks on the Algarve Coast.

3 words for this libation . . . De. Li. Cious!!!

The Alfama & Cascais

It rained its ass off until about noon today. That put a crimp in my plan to go to Sintra; it’s been rescheduled for tomorrow. So, after a leisurely coffee in my neighborhood bar, yes, I now have a neighborhood bar in Lisbon, I walked through the last big neighborhood, the Alfama. It’s the only neighborhood (could I use the word neighborhood one more time) that wasn’t destroyed by the earthquake, so it still has that medieval tangle of narrow streets. They also really really really like floral streamers; they are everywhere. History also still reigns in this part of Lisbon. When a woman’s husband dies, she wears black for the rest of her life; yup, saw some. I would do well as a widow here; black is my go to color! They also don’t seem to have private bathrooms or laundry facilities; communal baths are still common. Imagine spending your life in the shower flip flops we all wore in college. Nasty.

That's a lot of festivity

That's even more festivity

awesome terrace that looks out over the city and river

ooooh

aaaaah

flowers and such

Ok, I get all the streamers around the Alfama, but this, I have no idea. Take a closer look. . . there are a few of the seven dwarves hanging to the left of the window and a plastic leg with flowers sticking out of the top to the right. This might actually classify as swag!!

this square is a restaurant at night

more streamers and a random old woman on the steps. I'd take a load off too with all the hills and steps in this neighborhood.

you can NEVER have to many streamers in a Praca!

Gorgeous building at the bottom of the Alfama

I also took the train west to the beach town of Cascais. It’s a quaint and allegedly upscale resort town. There were lots of designer boutiques and Brits, posh indeed!

one of the beaches

tiled street signs

oceanside square

another beach

private residence . . .damn!

Bairro Alto, Chiado, and Belem

Yesterday, despite the weird stuff I saw, was pretty awesome. I spent most of the day on one of the hill neighborhoods of Bairro Alto & Chiado. This area is known for its Fado bars and Bohemian vibe. Its also got one of my new favorite places, ever. . . the Port Wine Institute. Its got about 300 different types of port for you to try. I only got through 150 of them. I really didn’t know if I was a fan of port, UNTIL NOW!!! Loved the stuff I tried. I also kept running into the same couple, first at the Port Wine Institute, then the convent ruins, and finally at this funky old café. They were using the Rick Steves book, too. Knowing they were probably Americans, I asked them where they were from. No doubt, Sarah was from D.C. and Mike was from Arlington. We had some drinks, shared info on the places we’d been, and went on our separate ways. Sarah left for home today; I may run into Mike next week on the Algarve. I had dinner at a restaurant that specializes in Fado, Portugal’s version of the blues. I didn’t understand a damn thing they sang about (most of it’s about loss at sea and shit like that), but the music was beautiful!

Elevador da Gloria. . . thank god for these funiculars!!!!

view towards the river

view over Lisbon

Miradouro de Sao Pedro de Alcantara, Bairro Alto

Port Wine Institute

Port, Port, Port!!!!

Largo do Carmo, outside the convent ruins

Convento do Carmo, ruined in the earthquake and never rebuilt. Its gorgeous!

Lisbon's cathedral. . .pretty much the only church that didn't crumble during the earthquake/tsunami/fire

Canto de Camoes restaurante for Fado, where I ate a traditional dish of pork chunks & clams. Odd, but pretty good!

Today I went to Belem, a suburb about 3 miles down the river from Lisbon. It’s the place that the royalty fled to after the earthquake/tsunami/fire of 1755. Word on the street has it, the first earthquake conscious building took place here; the royalty built wooden palaces instead of stone. It's really cute and has an AMAZING monastery, tower, and pastry shop. The only downside. . . it rained like crazy later in the afternoon. Not good when you don’t have an umbrella and are wearing a white shirt. I got my lunch for free ;-) Oh, and I saw a Starbucks. I realize that I’m not in Italy or France, but seriously?????

very cool south entrance to the monastery

inside the Monastery with the tomb of Vasco de Gama

black and white photo of the monastery

"faces of the new world" conquered by the Portuguese; these were carved around a confessional door.

awesome cloisters

Monkey gargoyle

Monk gargoyle

Kitty cat gargoyle

self portrait of me meditating in the cloisters. . . ha!

Cloisters

Monastary of Jeronimos

Monastery of Jeronimos

South Africa gave the Portuguese a giant marble map in the sidewalk to commemorate their taking over of the world. This is a sea monster the Portuguese explorers believed lived around the Cape of Good Hope.

part of the marble map honoring the winds the Portuguese DIDN'T think existed around the coast of Western Africa. They also thought the sun would burn the ships up. Ok. . .

another part of the map showing a Portuguese ship sailing towards more foreign lands they intend to colonize

25th of April Bridge and Lisbon's Christ Rei. The locals are more likely to call it Jesus about to jump in the river. Nice!

The Monument to the Discoveries. . . the Portuguese are not letting go of their Age of Exploration easily. Shame they couldn't hold onto those colonies and fortune.

Prince Henry the Navigator and some ass-kisser hanger on. . .oh sorry, I got him confused with all the Michael Jackson coverage on BBC World.

King Manuel I with his ever famous armillary

Tower of Belem. . . used to be in the middle of the river. It was the last thing sailors saw before an expedition and the first thing they saw if they made it back. . . awesome!

self portrait!

You've got to be f*cking kidding me. . .

Lunch = Seabreem with potatoes and salad, Yum!!

Pastel de Belem and cafe com leite!

Casa Pasties de Belem, open since 1837