Day 3

Last night, we were at a local restaurant Maca Verde , just around the corner  from the hotel, which specializes in fish. It had great reviews and lots of awards. We started with Portuguese sausage and warm bread rolls (the bread everywhere is excellent), the sea bass was excellent, washed down with a half carafe of wine for €3 !! A huge shared  Creme Caramel and two coffees completed the meal. 

This morning a buffet breakfast was served at the hotel  which quite surprised me, as the Portuguese have a very strict Covid protocol. It had been table service the previous morning. All manner of goodies were available.

The numbers in the hotel appear very few. I think it is a new hotel as it doesn’t even appear on the tourist map!! 

Nearby is the military and maritime museums

After breakfast, having visited a nearby hairdresser for a cut and blow dry for moi (the best cut I’ve ever had) and a cut for CC, we walked along the Tagus, where to our amazement were beaches of fine sand on the river side, to catch a tram going to Cascais  (pronounced Cash Kaysh).  

Along the route, we noticed a newly moored cruise liner Sky Princess - there were people on board. 

Further along, the ferry terminal was ‘a thing of beauty’ with its tiled sections and beneath, individual boots selling tickets to various seaport along the coast. 

En route, we were amazed by the abundance of graffiti on numerous buildings.   It’s everywhere - on apartment buildings, station walls and abandoned artifices! 

 

We arrived at Praça Coércio, the largest square in Lisbon, which leads into Rua Augusta, its oldest street. 

Here we boarded tram #15 to Belém. It was from Belém that Vasco da Gama set sail for India in 1497 and returned a year later. The Mosteiro dos Jéronimos was erected on thanksgiving for the explorer’s safe return, which voyage heralded Portugal's Golden Age.  

On arrival, I visited the Bernardo Museum of Contemporary Art, a collection amassed by wealthy Maderian, Jo Bernardo. 

The entrance is a spectacular square, if poorly signposted, having alighted the tram at Centro de Cultural de Belém, I had to ask for directions 

The museum is well laid out as each period of the contemporary art movement is well explained. 

Not all the collection is on display at any one time, but I was gratified to see quite a number of works by Andy Warhol, one by Dali and Picasso but alas none of Francis Bacon’s works was on display. 

Andy Warhol:

                    Brillo Boxes 1964-1968



                          Judy Garland 1979

                     Campbell’s Soup 1965

             Liza Manelli and friends 

                    Liza Manelli 1980

Picasso was represented by 

                 Femme dans un fauteuil 1929

and Salvador Dali by 

             White Aphrodisiac Telephone 1936!  

Having quitted the museum, we crossed over to Mosteiro dos Jerónimos and visited the Church - a UNESCO world heritage site and Portugal's best example of Manueline architecture. 

Construction began in 1502, as a result of a vow Manuel made to the Virgin that he would build a Church if Vasco da Gama returned safely from India. 

The workmanship is so intricate - one wonders how it was ever achieved in this period. 

Inside the church is the tomb of Vasco da Gama (1468-1523).  

 



We quitted the church and crossed through the park to the Torre de Belém, constructed 1515-1520 to defend the mouth of the Tagus. Before the 1777 earthquake the tower stood near the middle of the river, today it is close to the shore. It is the only structure commenced and completed in the Manueline period. 

One can climb to the top but we’ve done enough climbing so we passed on this one and went to the station to take the train 

to Cascais. 

It was a picturesque trip as along the route the  train hugged the river with its beaches

On arriva in Cascais, we walked the pedestrian street to the beaches divided by rocky outcrops 

Cascais is a fishing port 

as well as a tourist hub. We saw three English pubs and thought the worst !! The truth is otherwise,  this is a high end resort illustrated by realtors such as Sotheby’s  and all the designer apparel shops are represented. 

We returned to Lisbon  by train and to the hotel by bus -  the public transport system is inexpensive, frequent and well integrated. 

On looking out the bedroom window, I see the two cruise ships, I had assumed were moored, had sailed!! 

Tonight, we ate at a pizzeria Casanova, across from the hotel, having had an aperitif at a nearby hostelry, while watching what we originally though was a queue of c 200  people awaiting entrance to a music venue, only to  discover that it was a queue for food and clothes being distributed by a voluntary organization.  However, we have this problem in Dublin also ... 

Tomorrow, we leave by train for Porto having had an enjoyable stay in Lisboa.