Lisboa

Ola
Wooha - arrived in Lisboa and off to the "scene of the crime" (ie shoulder collision incident with the cobble stones in October 2019!!). Kerrie buys a coffee and tentatively crosses the same cobble stones to Figueria Square - Bob anxiously waiting on other side. Yoohoo - made it (tick, tick, tick).

Kerrie about to step onto those cobble stones that did her shoulder in in 2019

Then off to do "free" (ie tip of €30) walking tour of Lisboa from Comercio Square to Palace of Carnation Revolution (always wars going on!). Really interesting tour.

Kerrie and Bob - Commercio Square (on the water)

Lovely square with statue - all squares have a statue of some sort

Lovely old building

Another lovely building

The "old" on left and the "new" on right

Archway in old building

Lovely old building - painted in traditional yellow

Old building - which is train station

We try the local legendary liqueur "Ginjinja" which is made of sour cherries with a dash of chilli plus cinnamon and sugar - its around 18% alcohol!

Man pouring "Ginjinja" liqueur

We also see an internal courtyard that has traditional Muslim tiles around the walls and Portuguese tiles on the floors. The Muslim tiles are much more intricate.

Interior courtyard with Muslin tiles on walls and Portuguese tiles on floor

Oh and one more interesting erection we saw was a metal lift "Santa Justa Lift". It connects the lower streets of the Baixa area with the higher Carmo Square. It opened in 1899 and was used by the elite to get from the lower area to the higher area.

Iron lift to take the elite from lower area to higher area

We also looked inside an old Church where the interior was burnt by a fire in 1755. They decided not to restore the walls but leave them as is but installed a new roof.

Old church with interiors burnt in 1755 and not restored - but new roof installed

Interior of old church destroyed in fire of 1755 - but new roof

We had a lovely young Italian guide, Clara who has lived in Lisboa for 5 years. She's a full time tour guide for Intrepid and Walking Tours in Lisboa - she loves it.

Next day we catch buses, trams and trains around town - wifey reminds Bobskie that he is over 65 now so a "senior" (ie cheaper fares!!). We spend a couple of hours around the Castelo (Castle) grounds and archeological ruins (up and down stairs of the ramparts) - not much there but shows settlement the Iron Age 3 - 7 BC, Moor 11 -12C, Palace 13-15C, basically destroyed in 1755 earthquake. Two-thirds of Lisboa was destroyed during that earthquake. And did you know Portugal is the biggest producer of cork and associated products in the world.

Archaeological ruins at Castelo

Moat around Castelo

Vantage point on top of Castelo

Old wall at Castelo

View from arched window in Castelo

Tower at Castelo

On top of wall of old Castelo

A few peacocks around old Castelo

View from top of old Castelo

We also see views of Hospital Sao Jose - Kerrie's home for a week back in October 2019! Caught an old tram back around town - again up and down steep slopes (luckily, very careful tram drivers - phew!). We marveled at the chaos of trams, tuk tuks, cars and people on many blind corners all trying to dodge each other - but all alive at the end. Bought some delicious wraps from Marie Blanchere Boulangerie and sat at bottom of statue in square listening to a 3 piece busker group - lovely.

Old tram that we road around town in

Adeus for now