Day 13: Oct 26th. Lisbon

 

On our TV when entered our room in Lisbon.













We woke up to enjoy a lavish breakfast bar/ buffet. Then we were on our last bus tour seeing some of Lisbon. Lisbon is the largest city in Portugal with about 3 million people in the area. Drove to the Belěm district. This area is in the southwest corner of Lisbon right on the Tagus river. Walked around some of the sights and enjoyed another taste of the pasteis de Belém. This batch was made by the original bakery.



Above is the Torre de Belém, a 16th century fortification. The 25 de April Bridge is alot like the Golden state bridge. Why the date? Prior to that date, it was the Salazar Bridge, named after the dictator who ruled Portugal until 1966. On April 25th 1966, he lost his reign, so they changed the name of the bridge. Kind of odd if you ask me.

This HUGE monument is in honor of all the explorers from Potugal. The man in front is known as Henry the Navigator, who was the son of one of the kings. This is called the Monmument of the Discoveries and was originally built in 1940 for a world exhibit. It was rebuilt in 1960. 

A church in the area with  Very long line to view.


This is a blurry picture because it was taken from the bus. It's the line at the bakery to get one of the pasteis de belěm. They were indeed the best ones we had on the entire trip.

In the afternoon we were on our own and walked around the older part of Lisbon, the Baxia area. Lisbon is said to be the city of 7 hills and some of hills are like walking in San Francisco. After an afternoon of exploration, we headed back to our motel by trying the Metro. We made it !
The old railroad station


 This "elevator" is called the Eiffel lift. It was designed by Mr. Eiffel

Commerce square at the waterfront


  Inside the metro


   The last sight was of the Church of Sao Rogue ( 1506-1619). It was one of the few churches which survived the 1755 Lisbon earthquake.  It was quite an upward hike and was quite plain on the outside. In fact neither one of us took a picture. But inside! Well worth the hike.

The ceiling was made of wood and painted.



 This is our walk down the steps after visiting the church. We're about half way down to the plaza. Notice the little cafe on the steps.
The castle on the far hill is tomorrow's adventure.




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