Portugal Days 1 & 2

Off to Lisbon!

Lisbon is one of the oldest cities in the world and has been on our list of "go-to places" for a while, so we were excited to finally be going there.  I hadn't done a lot of planning for this trip.  We had two tours planned and that was a good start.  We were basically there for about 4 days, so I didn't want to jam-pack this trip too much (ok, I didn't jam-pack it because Mike is on to me and he asked me to please not go crazy this time:)).

Relaxing before the flight

We stayed in the Alfama part of Lisbon.  Very hilly because it is spread down the southern slope of the city.  It is one of the only regions that survived the 1755 earthquake.  An earthquake followed by a tsunami followed by a fire, that killed over 100,000 people. It is a historical quarter of homes with small shops, Fado bars and restaurants.  Fado is the portuguese-style music that is performed in many restaurants, we got to see it once before we left.

We arrived on Kade's birthday, so of course we had to go to Hard Rock to celebrate!

Day 2 consisted of a guided tour of the city with a food and wine tasting at the end.

Following our guide, Adrianna, through the narrow Alfama streets.

First church of the day....Lisbon Cathedral.   This is the oldest church in Lisbon, started in the late 1140s.  It has been refurbished many times with many different architectural styles.

This room is mostly made from gold.  Our guide said that back in those days, people thought they could "pay" their way to heaven.  So they would donate a lot of money to the churches to secure their spot :)

The font where it is said that St Anthony of Padua was baptized.

The famous Old Tram in Alfama.  It stops at a lot of historical sites.  It's very touristy but locals also use it.  It was always packed!

Mom was praying to St Anthony to bring her a good partner.  It's a tradition where usually an unmarried woman purchases a statue of St Anthony and buries it, hoping he finds her a suitable mate. Hopefully it worked! :)

Praca do Comercio....Commerce Square.  Also referred to as the Royal Palace Square because this is where the palace was located until the earthquake.  This square was remodeled after the earthquake as part of the rebuilding of downtown.

Statue of King Jose I with his back facing the newly rebuilt Lisbon.  Our guide said that after the earthquake he became scared and moved to higher ground.  Not really helping with rebuilding the city, so they built the statue where he was not facing the city at all.  Marquis of Pombal was the government official at the time that took action to rebuild the city.  His statue is in the middle of the city overlooking his accomplishment.

Our walk continued in the Baixa district and onto Rua das Pedras Negras where Roman baths have been discovered.  Adrianna told us about these baths and how they are underground and only open to the public once a year, in September.  Mainly, because they are very difficult to reach because of the flooding.  It takes a month to prepare this monument for public access.  She showed us where the access point was and it is literally a sewer access underground.  People stand in line for hours and hours waiting to get in and walk under the city.  But she showed us a little secret peak of the baths through a building window.

But then, we saw a door cracked open and Adrianna shoved the kids in and said "They won't kick out little kids."  I thought that was pretty funny.  A nice lady came over to us and told us we could walk on in.  Inside was more of the ruins and it was a museum getting ready to open.  Adrianna said we were definitely lucky to get to see this without having to wait in line for hours AND walk into the sewers.  I guess a bank had bought the building and while renovating they found more of the baths underground.  They decided to open up a museum as well and we got to take a sneak peak!

Pretty cool!

Huge crabs at the shop!

The buildings in the Baixa area...rebuilt after the earthquake and were the first ones ever to be made "earthquake proof."

If you are  James Bond fan then maybe you will recognize this store....I'm not, so I didn't.  Supposedly, Bond only married once in one of the older movies and this is where he bought her ring.  Then she was killed a few minutes later......nice

I think he's trying to hitch a ride

These mosaic walkways are all over Lisbon and are beautiful.  They required lots of work!

Cod fish....a main dish in Lisbon.  It's ok....

Adrianna took us to this church...her favorite one.  She said we would either love it or hate it....we thought it was pretty cool and we've never seen anything like it.
São Domingo Church-The Naked Church

This church suffered a fire in 1954 and has never been fully restored.  Everything on the inside burned, the only thing they rebuilt was the roof, because the other one collapsed, and they painted the walls this pinkish/orange color to add some light on the inside.  They kept the church the way it was so the fire would never be forgotten.  It was such a "wow" feeling to walk inside this church.  It was both beautiful and sad at the same time.

The news clipping from the fire.  It shows the destruction and the two firefighters that died trying to distinguish the fire.

Then it was time to try some ginjinha from the original shop that started it all.  It is a liquor made from sour cherries and is 23% alcohol! It's very popular in Lisbon and you can even find it being served in a chocolate cup.

It wasn't too bad...uck!

I think Gran really liked it!

The Santa Justa Lift is an elevator in historic Lisbon. It connects the lower streets of the Baixa with the higher Carmo Square. The lift has become a tourist attraction and the Santa Justa is the only remaining vertical lift in Lisbon. The line was very long when we arrived, but our guide took us on a different route to the top.

We got to go through this train station, the Rossio railway station, and ride up steep escalators to reach the top of the elevator without having to wait in line.  While waiting here at this crosswalk, a lady stepped in front of a bicycle (he was beeping at her but she didn't pay attention), it completely knocked her down and tore the bottom off her shoe.  She was ok but she had to go get some new shoes!

View of the São Jorge Castle from the top of the elevator.

This was another church that was beside the elevator and it was being renovated.  There is still a crack in the frame from the earthquake.

Tagus river

The church that is being renovated 

Didn't take Adrianna long to figure out Drake!

Finally, it was time for our food and wine tasting!!

This is what I get when I give Mike the camera

The meal was so good (minus the cod dish)!

Our waiter firing up the chorizo!  Yum!

Our waiter was very nice and great with the kids.  He even shaved off some fresh meat for us to try....weird 

But Drake liked it!

Gran liked the wine!

And he's still liking it....

We got to try a vintage Port wine.  To open it, you have to fire up this contraption and basically burn/melt the top off the bottle.  It was sweet, but nice.

These two=mommy's gray hair

We see these performers all the time but this one was quite interesting....how's he doing that???

Our walk around Lisbon was ending.  Our guide was great!  She took us to great sites, shops, and restaurants.  She bought the kids ice cream and roasted chestnuts.  Our last stop was this book store.  It's in the Guinness book of world records for being the oldest operating shop, open since 1732.