This year, Neal and Deanna got a trip to Lisbon for their birthdays. It was our first trip to Portugal, and we didn't have enough time! Not enough time together, and not enough time for Portugal.
Castelo de Sao Jorge above Lisbon and
Ponte 25 de Abril the Golden Gate Bridge's twin.
Fish dishes, every day! Made Neal happy, since he lives in landlocked Austria.
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| Bacalhao to die for, at Alecrim No Prato |
Alecrim No Prato, so d
elish that we came back here another day
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| In a treehouse in Sintra at The Kasbah House in Sintra |
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| Neal was really looking forward to eating "Little Frenchman" - Francesinha |
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| A huge pot of shellfish at Restaurant Vale do Rio in Cacilhas |
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| and my mussels |
Cacilhas restaurants
One night, we had dinner with a Fado music show. This is melancholy longing for something you can't have; specifically, your man who left for Brazil and never returned. My video is not nearly as good as
this link, which shows the Clube de Fado and the singer and musicians we enjoyed.
Besides eating, we had to try Port wine by taking the train to
Porto. We learned that there are white, tawny, and ruby ports, and that LBV, last out of the barrel vintage, is the best. We each bought a bottle, and we opened the LBV ruby port to drink during the evenings in the hotel room. It was smooth and delicious. Mmm-mm.
What does Porto have besides port? The Atlantic! The beach was nice and sandy. Neal and I got our feet wet. "Cold!", I said. "Warm!", he said. Then we stocked up on food and drinks for the train, and it was just 15 euro. It's so cheap here!
The beach in
Cascais was filled with very fine sand and very fine triathletes. I talked to one from South Africa who was one of 30 or 50 or some such. A big half-Ironman was happening that weekend.
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| That's Neal, in Porto! |
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| Fine triathletes in Cascais! |
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| Cascais |
Lisbon and that area specialize in tiles. Tiles are all over - in walls inside and out, in train stations and churches, and of course, in the tourist shops. I bought a beautiful one for myself and another for the lovely woman who took care of Timmi while I was gone.
Interestingly, the faces were scraped off some of the tiles in the religious pictures. Presumably, the dictator
Salazar had that done to reduce the church's influence.
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| No tiles, but beautiful ironwork and reflections |
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| Check out the facade! The top two floors were replaced after the 1755 earthquake. |
The 1755 Lisbon earthquake was estimated to have been 8.5 - 9.0 on the modern scale! There were 3 shocks, starting a towering fire that lasted 5 days, and 3 tsunamis. It killed a third of the inhabitants, destroyed 85% of the buildings, as well as archives, art and libraries.
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| Trolleys like in San Francisco take you up and down all the hills |
The Moors ran the area in the 11th century, and we visited a couple of Moorish castles, since used by the Catholics and the Romantic era leaders. Castelo dos Mouros in Sintra is atop an extinct volcano. It and its neighborhood castles are spectacular!!!
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| Walked the ramparts, taking advantage of the "romantic ruins" |
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| the next door neighbor |
We also saw the Aquarium: Europe's largest, they say. It was outstanding!
One more outstanding thing: Van Gogh Alive, interactive Van Gogh exhibit traveling all over. My camera won't take good videos, so you get to admire this from the entry.
I loved our metro stop, so I'll finish with a couple of pictures of "home".
Interestingly, the faces were scraped off some of the tiles in the religious pictures. Presumably, the dictator Salazar had that done to reduce the church's influence.
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