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. 

Day 2 - Lisbon

It was rain in Spain in October, snow in Dallas and NYC in January and now rain is forecast for early afternoon!! 

It was dark last night when we arrived so we could not admire the river view. This morning I opened the curtains to reveal the view of the River Tagus 

The sky looks threatening - a cruise ship moored on the river, I wager. The cruise  industry has been heavily hit by Covid. 

We adjourned to the restaurant for breakfast - not the usual Continental but serving eggs any style - Eggs Benedict - my favourite. The orange juice was excellent as the oranges, the waitress informed us, were from a particular region (whose name I can’t recall), selected for their high concentration of juice.  The bread and pastries were delicious. 

Well fortified for a long day of sightseeing, we walked up behind the hotel into the Alfama. In Moorish Times  it was the grandest part of the city but as Lisbon expanded the Christian nobility moved out and it was left to the fishermen. It’s a labyrinth of streets where one can lose all sense of direction!! 

We passed a portion of the old city wall. 

As we progressed through the Alfama, street art abounded everywhere .

- the latter advertising a small local restaurant. 

One local artist was busy painting a street box 

Churches abounded - as befitting a Catholic country. 

Note the Tuk Tuk above - the only European city I have seen them in 

We trudged on up steep lanes followed by brief stretches of level streets. 

Our destination was Martin Muniz, the square from where the famous 28 tram, built in England in the early twentieth century, resplendent in polished wood and chrome, commences it journey through the Alfama to Baixa and on to the city centre. It traverses some of Lisbon’s narrowest and steepest streets. 

Midway to the 28 Tram terminus, we were able to pick up the tram. In the height of the tourist season this would not be possible, such is the demand. If you should find yourself unable to board the 28, take the 25 whose route is almost identical. 

We took the train going towards the river, thinking it did a loop but alas no, we had to vacate this train and board another which took us up through Alfama  and Baixa to the terminus at Martin Muniz, where even on a dull March day a queue had formed for Tram 28. 

As we walked from here to the wealthy part of Lisbon, the Chiado, we passed Elevador De Santa Justa. I’m reliably informed that I used it on my last visit  to Lisbon 31 years ago!!! I have no recollection!! Raul Mesnier’s , a disciple of Eiffel constricted the eccentric building in 1902, which whisk you 32 m to a platform high above Baixa. 

On we walked to Rua Augusta 

             The street scape facing the sea

The arch displays figures such as Vasco the Gama, the Portuguese explorer who sailed around the Capf of Good Hope and on to India. 

                     And facing inland 

Arriving on Rua Garret, we visited the most famous of the old style Lisbon coffee houses, Café Brasileira, opened in 1905. The terrace is very popular but the interior is a joy to behold, polished wood and the most extensive display of pastries, including the famous and utterly delicious Pastel da Nata. 

Outside is a sculpture of the famous poet, Fernando Pessoa 

Nearby is another old Lisbon café, Benard, often overlooked because of its proximity to its neighbour. 

Beautiful squares abound 

Praça Do Comércio by the river looks up the oldest street in Lisbon - Rua Augusta.  

Our final call of the day was to Castelo Sao Jorge, originally a Moorish Castle, later a palace and prison, now boasts Lisbon’s best viewpoints. En route we passed Lisbon Cathedral Sé, built in 1170, on the site of a previous Mosque to commemorate the reconquest of the city from the Moors. As we wound our way up steep streets. 

a request for directions from a local, eased our journey by informing us that around the corner in a supermarket was a lift that would bring us further up the hill. It was some relief from the long, steep climb!! 

Arriving at the Castelo, we were rewarded with superb views of the city. 

The most visited tourist sight in Lisbon, once the site of a walled city that stretched to the river.

The Castelo is so vast none but an aerial photograph would do it justice 

I climbed and walked the ramparts 

 

 In 1147, it was besieged by the the Crusaders, who together with King Alfonso 1, captured the city after 400 years of Moorish rule. The Portuguese kings lived in the Castelo until the sixteenth century, when they moved to a new palace on on Praça do Comércio. It was refurbished for Expo 98. 

There is an interesting exhibition hall detailing the Moorish way of life 

We can blame the 16th century explores for introducing smoking to Europe!! 

As we left the Castelo, it was raining heavily so we took a bus down to the river and from there a taxi back to the hotel - again a superb transport system. 

To Lisbon

We arrived at Dublin airport to chaos. There was a queue of about 300 people to scan the boarding passes prior to joining the queue for security - 50 minutes estimated time to clear!!  So lengthy was the queue that the entrance between boarding pass scanners and security queue had to be closed twice on my watch. I was so concerned at the thought of missing our flight that I omitted to take a photo as proof!! 

 

As usual not all security booths were open in spite of the monstrous queues! What’s new with the DAA - let the passenger wait ....... I have seen security queues lengthy in the past but nothing like today. I have travelled the world and have never experienced an airport so badly run as Dublin - it’s as if the passenger doesn’t matter!!  

When we eventually cleared security, we walked through the Duty Free en route to our plane - which just happened to be at the furthest gate!! En route, we heard constant announcements that masks were mandatory but yet at least 50%  of passengers were not wearing a mask. 

On boarding, the foreign gentleman in front of me was not wearing a mask. The steward asked him to put on his mask. He replied that he hadn’t one and was told that he could not fly. When in his innocence, 

(Ryan Air),  he asked if one could be provided, he was informed that none was available and when he asked if he could go back and purchase one, he was told there was no time. I proceeded to my seat.  I don’t know what the resolution was!! 

At the outset, there are multiple reminders to wear masks and that it must cover your nose but after food was served, mask wearing slipped .... On our descent into Lisbon, the staff came around to remind passengers - there is I believe, unlike Ireland, strict rules on mask wearing  in Portugal. I’ll feel safer there than mask abandoned Ireland. 

We arrived at 19:40, having left at 17:15. Having quitted emigration, we made our way to the airport’s metro station. Within minutes a train arrived and we were quickly whisked to the end of the line where the Azul (Blue line) brought us to Apolónia metro station - the old railway station 59 metres away now converted into a luxury hotel.  Portugal is a poorer country than Ireland yet it has an amazing metro system as we talk and talk, plan and plan but Metro north  is still ‘Pie in the Sky’!! €1.50 from 10km airport ;  €45 taxi fare ( no metro) from Dublin airport. 

It was 21:00 as we arrived at the hotel. It had been raining all day but mercifully it had stopped as we quit the station, on the short walk to the hotel. Having checked in, we were upgraded to a room overlooking the river Tagus. The hotel’s corridors are spectacular as are the rooms. 

We adjourned to the hotel dining room. The kitchen, true to its origins, sports the names and platforms of its former destinations. 

where as it was late, we ordered a main course but were treated to a starter of tuna mayonnaise wrapped in cucumber and topped with cod’s roe together 

                       Note the gold cutlery 

with excellent bread with garlic butter 

The main courses - veal for CC and pork belly with mashed potatoes, rich in butter, together with onions and pears - delicious!!

In fact as there were few in the Dining room,  two chefs  prepared our meals - never before have I had a chef  to solely prepare my meal!! A bottle of Portuguese wine by the famous bottler Dão completed an excellent meal.