Capuchos monastery, Cabo da Roca, Jan 30

Sintra and area, Jan. 30

Lisbon pix 2, Jan. 29

Lisbon pix Jan. 29

Thursday, Jan. 29, Lisbon

A damp day here today, but an interesting one. We got up late after a wonderful sleep, had breakfast in our apartment, and ventured up the hill towards the castle. On the way we stopped to tour the Sao Vicente church and monastery/museum, which was fascinating, with lots of decorative tiles depicting the city's history as well as the La Fontaine fables written in the last part of the 17th century. The church itself was rather spare, but has lovely Roman arches and a huge cistern under the monastery. When we came out we found a small restaurant, Vicentinho, featuring Bacalhau, a traditional Portuguese cod dish, with shredded potato and onion. We all ordered it, and enjoyed it lots, with a small salad. Cheap and delicious eats.

It had started to drizzle in earnest by the time we finished, and we thought we were on our way to the Castelo Sao Jorge, but once we realized how far away it was we strolled back to the square where we'd seen trams and decided to take a short tour. We likely paid a bit too much, but the tram was warm and dry, and dropped us off near our apartment.

We've had a light supper here, and are looking forward to tomorrow's adventure with Rita, our host's niece, who picked us up at the airport yesterday. She will take us on a tour of castles in Sintra, about 30 minutes away.

Until then........

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More Alfama pix, Jan. 28

More Alfama pix

Pix from Alfama, Jan. 28

Arrival in Lisbon

We arrived safely in Lisbon late this morning following a turbulent flight from Toronto to Frankfurt, then a smooth flight to Lisbon. Rita, out host's niece, met us at arrivals and we crammed in our bags and bodies and headed to Alfama where we found our apartment. After a well-deserved nap we wandered around the neighbourhood and picked up some breakfast food as well as some cheese and sausage in a cute shop featuring local products. The owner was delightful, and gave us tastes of Port and different cheeses. We'll be back tomorrow or Friday to get a few more items.

This area, and our apartment, withstood the 1755 earthquake. Small alleyways, called becos, wind around the stone and stucco buildings, and become stairways when the grade becomes too steep. The area is old and mostly un-cutified, unlike many other Old Towns in France and Germany. We can see the Tagus River from here, with oil tankers motoring by. Tonight after our stroll we ate lightly of cheese, sausage, apples, bread, and a gifted bottle of wine from our host. The apartment is very authentic, yet modern and well-appointed. We look forward to tomorrow when we hope to take a look around the city.

























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Enroute......

It's Lisbon or Bust today. We went to Riverview to Jean and David's on Sunday, two days ahead of the blizzard forecast for the Maritimes, and made the decision to pre-emptively rebook our flight to Toronto so we could connect with our flights to Frankfurt and Lisbon today. It was a good call. We had made a hurried reservation at an airport hotel which has turned out to be a barrel of laughs......good thing we've all spent time in a variety of Chinese hostelries in the past. All the necessities, but many things don't quite work as they should. Some light bulbs missing, no remote for our TV, which only carries one channel; yet there is a free airport shuttle, free breakfast, a clean bathroom with hot shower, and a comfortable bed. Never mind the fact that at 10 pm last night another guest was able to open our door thinking that ours was his room.....and this morning Bryant was informed that the Desk had registered us in a room other than the one we had the keycard to. Oh well, beggars can't be choosers, and we've had lots o' laughs. And the delivered pizza was very good last night.


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