Before we left Portugal we wanted to do a few Lisbon sightseeing things… trying to impress our friend, Bill. By the way, he’s a native San Diagon, and he loved the relaxed beach vibe of the Algarve. But he wanted to see some castles. I pretended I was a tour guide and marched the guys off to the Edward VII Park, which is basically a gorgeous and massive rectangular park right in the center of the capital. Unfortunately, they were having some sort of book festival, so the beautiful promenades were cluttered with hundreds of little booths. Very disappointing. Then we went down our favorite street, Liberty Avenue. At the base of that was the famous Rossio Train Station. I’d read that they have some amazing tyle-work murals. Unfortunately you have to be inside the area for boarding the trains to see it, so don’t bother unless you are going to board the train.
Next stop was the 12th century Lisbon Cathedral. This is a gorgeous landmark, but be prepared to pay to pray. We weren’t willing to do that. I guess we’re old-school and don’t believe in paying money to go inside a church.
Final stop was Saint George’s Castle. This hilltop was inhabited since at least 800 BC by the Celtic tribes. It actually became fortified a couple hundred years before Christ. The Portuguese conquered it from the Moors in 1147. The current castle was named after the English Saint George the dragon slayer. It rose in power and prestige and then plummeted to being Spanish barracks and a prison. It fell to ruin and was rebuilt over and over. It had a hospital at one point and had a school at another. Then in the early 1900s they demolished all the annexes and tried to get it back to its original design.
When we entered through the arched gate, we were in the medieval village within the walls. We paid our 15 Euros to get in the castle walls. It’s a beautiful castle, but the grounds are what makes it worth the entry, especially all the peacocks.
The view over Lisbon is stunning. Seeing the Golden-Gate-like bridge and the massive Christ statue on the other side of the Tagus River was extremely cool. We sat at the terrace café and felt like royalty—but without the responsibilities.
The next day we hopped on the tram and went to Belem. Joe was the tour guide this time. We went by the Royal Palace, the massive-massive Jeronimos Monastery (built from 1501 to 1601 as a tribute to the support the smaller original church had given the maritime explorers), and then through the big park to the tunnel under the train tracks so we could get over to the river-side.
The first thing we came to was the Fathers of Discovery statue, which defies description. Henry the Navigator leans into the wind on the prow of this monument dedicated to the age of discovery. Right behind him is King Alfonso V and then Vasco de Gama.
Then we took the obligatory walk to the defensive tower called Torre de Belem. This is a beautifully maintained little castle. It was built in the early 1500s to protect the mouth of the Tagus River. It failed in its first battle and fell to Spanish hands and became a prison for a couple hundred years. Now it’s a pretty little place for taking selfies.
Now we’re back home to hot and crazy California. Our 20 year-old cat, Loca, couldn’t figure out who we were and maintained a stand-off-ish attitude for awhile, but she came around. My garden went bonkers while we were gone for the entire springtime. We’ve been trimming and weeding for days.
Our next trip will be to explore southern Italy and possibly Sardinia. Right now, my favorite place is Otranto in Puglia. Second runner up is Gallipoli. Third is Pizzo, Calabria. What do you think? Do you have a favorite southern Italian village (less than 20,00 people) you want to recommend for us to move to? We also plan to scoot across the Adriatic Sea to Montenegro. We want a beach town.
