Portugal - Lisbon

When one hears the phrase "have fun storming the castle" one would think it just means "to have fun" but what is not explained is that the "storming the castle" part could really be arduous and not for the faint of heart.  

In Lisbon, the castle to storm is the São Jorge Castle (click here for tickets). It sits atop the highest point in Lisbon and offers a magnificent view of the city and the ocean. The castle was our first stop after we left the train station. From our home base in Porto, Lisbon is about a 3-hour express train ride from Porto Campanha station.  Get off at the beautiful Lisboa Santa Apolonia station, the oldest in the city.

We often got lost navigating the ever-steepening narrow passageways leading up to the castle and had to keep asking for directions.  One can only imagine the suffering of medieval warriors in their heavy armor trudging up the hill to capture the castle.  Luckily, today, there are many vendors offering the refreshing cherry drink ginjinha to ease the pain (just kidding - the walk is beautiful on its own as one is in the middle of the Alfama, Lisbon's medieval quarter, and probably the best place to stay in the city).  From Wikipedia:  Ginjinha or simply Ginja, is a Portuguese liqueur made by infusing ginja berries (sour cherry, Prunus cerasus austera, the Morello cherry) in alcohol (aguardente) and adding sugar together with other ingredients, with cloves and/or cinnamon sticks being the most common. Ginjinha is served in a shot form with a piece of the fruit in the bottom of the cup. 

(Click on each photo to enlarge.)

Here is the reward once inside the castle: skyline of Lisbon as seen from Sao Jorge.

This wasn't part of the castle tour, but we were amused for a while watching a homeowner and his personal trainer do their morning exercise routine.

There are many peacocks and peahens wandering about in the castle grounds.

The castle has decoys - passages and stairways leading to dead-ends - and it was fun trying to explore them to see if we could discover which ones were decoys and which ones were real.

One fascinating part of our castle tour was the archaeology tour of the Iron Age remains uncovered inside the castle grounds.

From Wikipedia:  The Alfama (Portuguese pronunciation: [alˈfɐmɐ]) is the oldest neighborhood of Lisbon, spreading on the slope between the São Jorge Castle and the Tagus river. Its name comes from the Arabic al-ḥamma (الحَمّة), meaning "hot fountains" or "baths," akin to "hammam" (حَمَّام)

The Igreja de Santo António de Lisboa is one of the many churches inside the Alfama.  The site of this church is supposedly where Saint Anthony of Lisbon (more popularly known as Saint Anthony of Padua) was born in 1195.

We rode this romantic tram twice around while we were exploring the Alfama district.  This tram (number 28) uses a vintage streetcar and is a legitimate attraction in itself (don't put your head outside the windows as it could get chopped off).  Here is a description:  The nostalgic tram 28 is an institution in itself. This wooden tram will transport you to another era. Its horn rings constantly to warn absent-minded pedestrians to move out of the way when it runs past the city’s long and narrow streets.

The tram links São Jorge Castle and Bairro Alto, crossing various picturesque neighbourhoods for 6.2 miles (10 km), including Graça, Mouraria, Alfama, Baixa, Chiado, Madragoa and Bairro Alto. Thousands of tourists take this tram every day.

I found a video of the ride in Youtube.

We lingered for a while at Sé de Lisboa, the Lisbon Cathedral.

View outside the Cathedral, standing from outside the big stained glass.

We reached the Praça do Comércio. From Wikipedia: The Praça do Comércio (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈpɾasɐ ðu kuˈmɛɾsju]; transl. Commerce Plaza) is a large, harbour-facing plaza in Portugal's capital, Lisbon, and is one of the largest in Portugal, with an area of 175 by 175 m (574 by 574 ft), that is, 30,600 m² (329,000 ft²).

Facing the Tagus (Tejo) to the South, the plaza is still commonly known in Portuguese as Terreiro do Paço ([tɨˈʁɐjɾu ðu ˈpasu] (transl. Palace Yard),^[1] as it hosted the Paço da Ribeira (transl. Royal Palace of Ribeira) until the latter was destroyed by the great 1755 Lisbon earthquake (the subway station located there is still named after the old name of the plaza).

The arch is called Arco da Rua Augusta.  Beyond it are myriad shopping and eating choices.

Notice the beautiful pattern of the calçada portuguesa.  There are more examples below and in the previous posts on Aveiro, Coimbra, and Porto.

I am standing here by the Cais das Colunas.  From Lisbon-id.com: Cais das Colunas is located at Praça do Comércio, in the historical center of Lisbon; its marble steps used to be the noble entrance into the city, through which heads of state and other prominent figures have arrived. It used to give access to ferry boats and other vessels connecting Praça do Comércio to the Tagus' south bank. 

The pier was named after the two columns (colunas) that can be seen on the side of the main steps. These simple yet elegant pillars were designed by architect Eugénio dos Santos and were part of the city reconstruction plan after the 1755 earthquake nearly destroyed it. The two columns are replicas of those thought to have been in Solomon's temple. They're representative of wisdom and devotion.

A short tram ride away is the parish of Belém (Portuguese for Bethlehem). Just outside the tram stop is the massive white limestone Mosteiro dos Jerónimos.  From Wikipedia:  The Jerónimos Monastery is one of the most prominent examples of the late Portuguese Gothic Manueline style of architecture in Lisbon....In 1983, the Jerónimos Monastery was classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with the nearby Tower of Belém.

Across it is the Centro Cultural de Belem.

A short walk from the monastery is probably the most famous of all pastry shops in Portugal, Pasteis de Belem.  The custard tart they make here is the origin of the pastel de nata found all over Portugal.  But only the original could be called Pastel de Belem (pasteis is the plural of pastel).  Here's a short video introduction of the shop and its most famous product.

We found a pleasant park away from the crowd to eat our pasteis.

We headed back to the train station.

Eating hot chestnuts is always a great way to end any trip in Portugal.

Portugal - Coimbra

Coimbra, once the capital of the Portuguese Kingdom, is about two hours south on a regular train from Porto Campanha station.   From Rick Steves:

The college town of Coimbra — just two to three hours north of Lisbon by train, bus, or car — is Portugal's Oxford, and the country's easiest-to-enjoy city. Its main drag — with glassy marbled stone underfoot, old-timey shops and bakeries winking their neon signs, and more locals than tourists — is a delight to simply wander. And the historic university, capping the hill above town, offers a busy slate of cultural attractions. When school is in session, Coimbra bustles with exuberant students. (Over the summer holidays, it's almost sleepy.) Any time of year, Coimbra's inviting Arab-flavored old town — a maze of people, narrow streets, and tiny restaurants — awaits exploration.

(Click on each photo to enlarge.)

The main attraction in Coimbra is the University (a UNESCO World Heritage site).  The students there must be very physically fit as there is a steep hill to climb to reach the campus.  One has to pass the charming Arab-flavored old town to get to the top of the hill.

We are standing here outside the highlight of the campus, the Biblioteca Joanina.  It's the most beautiful library we've ever seen. The library is stunning and we didn't take photos as there are many more beautiful photos already available on the web.  We just enjoyed soaking-in the atmosphere.  Let's hear from Rick Steves again: The university's highlight is King João's Library (Biblioteca Joanina), one of Europe's best surviving Baroque libraries, displaying 40,000 books in 18th-century splendor. The zealous doorkeeper locks the door at every opportunity to keep the humidity out of this 300-year-old temple of thought. (Book ahead, as this popular sight often sells out.)

The interior is all wood. Even the "marble" on the arches is painted wood, since real marble would add to the humidity. The resident bats — who live in the building, but not the library itself — are well cared for and appreciated. They eat insects, providing a chemical-free way of protecting the books, and alert the guard to changing weather with their "eee-eee" cry.

The next series of photos show details from Saint Michael's Chapel (next door to the Joanina). From Wikipedia: The interior contains elaborate azulejo wall tiles, an altar with influences of Mannerism and an ornate Baroque organ.

Notice the Jacob's Ladder motif again for the altar (see a similar one in Bom Jesus in the Braga post).

This is a view of the city from the Royal Palace.

From the University description: The building currently known as the Royal Palace was built at the end of the 10th century, serving as a fortress for the governor of the city during Islamic rule. In 1131, it became the first Portuguese royal household, the residence of Afonso Henriques, the first king of Portugal.

The Mostly True blog has an excellent account (with photos) of the Royal Palace.

It was at The Royal Palace that we got to talk with Raquel, a young museum docent, who gave us some more insights about Portugal and its people.  One fascinating tidbit that Raquel shared is that all students at six years old have to study English and at twelve years old, they have to study another language (French, usually, as Portuguese people can get along fairly well with Spanish speakers already).  This explains why it is so easy to travel in Portugal if you only know English (unlike say in Spain, where English isn't widely spoken (yet)).

Time to have some science fun! Now we are inside "the most important Portuguese Neoclassical building", the Laboratorio Chimico (Chemistry Laboratory).  It houses one of the oldest Jesuit colleges in the world and a Science Museum (with a Cabinet of Physics, a Natural History Gallery, and lots of interactive modules).  You can see below that I was especially fascinated with the color matching/color perception test (I made four attempts and got one correct.)

We passed this church on the way back to the train station, and I picked up a flower from the wedding being held at that time.

Another beautiful church.

And another.

                                                                     Back at ground level.

More examples of beautiful Portuguese pavement (see discussion in the Aveiro post about calçada portuguesa).

A delicious dinner before heading back to our home base in Porto.  We arrived just before a huge children's birthday party. The first floor was full and the second floor was fully booked/reserved but they managed to squeeze us in.