Chapter One: Finally Lisbon!
November 16, 2022
Chapter Three: Fall Comes Three Days Early In Lisbon
November 29, 2022Falling For Portugal: A Mai Tai Tom “Trip” Report
Chapter Two: Exploring Lisbon
Day Two: Out Of Order, Early Birds, By Jorge, When You Gotta Go, Tombs Tiles And Tales, Portugal’s National Pantheon, Greenhouse Effect, Astounding Azulejos, Eavesdropping Helps, Selfie Goes Awry, The Wrong Duque and An Impressed Waiter
I was the first to sample Sunday breakfast on the Altis Avenida rooftop and was quickly joined by this feathered friend. He looked over at the buffet of eggs, cereals, sausage, fruit and other items and decided he’d rather not consume all the calories, I, on the other hand, partook of this decent array of morning sustenance.
We decided to get an early start because our first stop of the day was one of Lisbon’s most popular attractions, Castelo de São Jorge (St. George’s Castle). Since I knew we’d probably exceed 10,000 steps on this day, I had a game plan for an easy way to get there. First, we’d grab an Uber to take us to a small grocery store named Pingo Doce Chão do Loureiro. Next, we’d take the Elevador Castelo up to a restaurant terrace, and from there it would be a short stroll to the castle. A perfect idea, except for the fact the elevator was “out of order.” Oh well, we needed the extra exercise to burn off those bacon and eggs.
Up, up, up we walked to Costa do Castelo, and the cobble-stoned street walk to the castle was a fairly easy one in this Alfama neighborhood.
Tracy was ecstatic to get a photo of some Climbing Morning Glories flowers along the way.
Interesting and colorful buildings en route caught our attention.
Hitting the entrance a little after 9 a.m, there was no line to enter the 11th-century castle resting majestically upon Lisbon’s tallest hill.
Despite a slightly hazy day, the views out toward the Tagus River and the Ponte 25 de Abril (25th of April Bridge, formerly known as Ponte Salazar, and renamed after the Carnation Revolution on April 25, 1974, a military coup that resulted in Portugal’s transition to democracy, were great. The bridge was inaugurated in 1966.
A medieval cannon on the battlement meant no one would attack us on this day, which would be another warm one in Lisbon.
We pondered our next move (we really could have a used a map, but it is us). Actually, just meandering the castle grounds before the hordes of tourists ascended was a great way to start the day.
A nude female statue caught my eye. From a few websites I’ve read ,it seems the statue is of Olispona, who (according to some legends) was a woman whose arms turned into serpents and formed the hills of Lisbon. No mention if she sang the words, “The hills are alive ….” I’m guessing there is a more coherent theory on the hills’ origins.
Peacocks roam freely in the gardens here, and this guy was very colorful.
Once upon a time there was a Moorish royal residence that was eventually dedicated to St. George, the patron saint of England, commemorating the 1371 Anglo-Portuguese pact. We walked into what remains of the Alcaçovas Palace, which was heavily damaged in the 1755 earthquake.
I guessed this is where the castle took root.
Now it was time to ascend some rather steep stairs. Tourists and locals alike wondered in astonishment if the old man walking like Methuselah in this picture could make it. He did, but it wasn’t pretty.
It was about 9:40 a.m. when we spied a sign for the castle’s Camera Obscura at the Tower Of Ulysses, which I had read was quite an Odyssey.
Not opening until 10 a.m., I told the woman at the door we would return later. “Oh, no, no,” she exclaimed, and took me by the arm and led me inside for a Mai Tai Tom personal mini-tour. The Camera Obscura offers a 360 degree view of Lisbon in real time. My phone camera was acting up, but that’s why they invented the internet (below photo).
We walked the ramparts for a bit …
… and explored the archeological digs and moat.
In the courtyard is the statue of King Manuel I, aka “The Fortunate One!” It seems this statue wasn’t so fortunate, because a sign next to it pictured part of his toe broken off, presumably from someone leaning on it. It has since been repaired, and the sign requests, “Please do not lean on the foot.” I told everyone I’d toe the line. It would not be our last “broken statue story” of the day.
Signs for refreshments were seen, but because I have not had a “Daikery” since college, we passed.
As we walked toward our next destination, we passed a place outside where people who have too many Daikeries can make a quick stop.
I told you there were an abundance of tourists who invaded Lisbon, and it seems there are differing opinions on what locals think of them.
There’s also an abundance of graffiti in Lisbon, but some of the “street art” is pretty cool.
As we walked to Igreja de São Vicente de Fora from the castle we saw lots of it.
This guy played a good guitar, and I thought with his friend at his feet he might play “Hound Dog.” He didn’t, but he garnered a few euro from our group anyway.
Mosteiro de São Vicente de Fora (Monastery of St. Vincent Outside the Walls) was our next stop. Although the church was closed, the monastery, that also doubles as the Royal Pantheon of the Bragança Monarchs of Portugal (€4), was open. Forty-nine members of the family that ruled from 1640 – 1910 are buried in this building.
We entered the Baroque Entrance Hall (Sala da Portaria), featuring a Lecturn, frescoed ceiling and more of those 18th-century blue and white azulejos.
In the next room we saw a processional bell on the left. Looking at that piece on the right, I started singing “What A Wonderful Night For a Moonstrance,” which aren’t actually the words to the song.
Along with a beautiful oil painting we saw St. Anthony, Doctor of the Church. I wouldn’t need a real doctor for another 24 hours.
After seeing the statue of Moses, we parted ways with that room.
More tiled walls could be found in the cloister area and stairways.
We visited the Royal Tombs. The Chapel of the Meninos de Palhavã has a couple of Skull and Cross Bone tombs that contain two of the illegitimate sons of King João V.
The statue of a woman crying over two tombs is the centerpiece of the room. She is weeping above the tombs of King Carlos I and his son, Luis Filipe, who were assassinated in the Praça do Comércio in 1908.
Nearby is the tomb of Amélie d’Orléans, the last Queen consort of Portugal and wife of King Carlos I.
We passed the tomb of Dom Pedro I of Brazil, known as “The Liberator,” who for a short time reigned over Portugal
A very interesting part of the convent.
The Chapel of St. Anthony is supposedly on the same spot that once contained his cell.
Finally, we witnessed the very cool tiles depicting the Fábulas La Fontaine (Fables of La Fontaine). 
Jean de La Fontaine was a French fabulist and poet, and his fables are told in 18th century azulejos at Mosteiro de São Vicente de Fora. There are 38 of them here created by Azulejo master, Policarpo de Oliveira Bernardes, between 1740 and 1750. I took a bunch of photos, but my iPhone deleted them. Fortunately Tracy snapped a few, including my favorite one about a well-meaning bear …
… and a revengeful dog.
We thought about spending time taking in the views on the roof to take in some views, but felt we might get as warm as Icarus, plus it was time to depart for our next destination.
It was another short walk to Igreja de Santa Engrácia-Panteão Nacional, a place that only took 284 years to construct (La Sagrada Familia, eat your heart out). In fact, it’s said that when a builder begins to construct a house in Portugal, the owner pleads, “Don’t take as long as St. Engrácia.” Although it was chosen as Portugal’s National Pantheon in 1916, the building wasn’t formally inaugurated until 1966.
Since we were on our first full day exploring Lisbon, it was fitting that the National Pantheon holds the cenotaphs of Vasco de Gama, Henry The Navigator and other famous Portuguese personalities. We bought the combo ticket which also gains you entrance to the Museu Nacional do Azulejo, which we would visit after lunch.
From the main floor came the first ceiling photographs of the trip detailing Santa Engrácia’s cross-domed ceiling “made according to the centralized Greek cross.”
An elevator whisked us to the upper choir and inner gallery, where I discovered my phone was going bezerk (that is probably how I lost some of my photos).
As I not-so-happily worked to get that fixed, Kim, Mary and Tracy climbed the 187 steps to the dome, where this photo was taken.
In search of a restaurant for lunch, we became a little confused on our directions, and walking aimlessly would be too kind a description of what we were doing. We found ourselves near the waterfront (the giant cruise ship gave it away), where we began at least going in the direction toward the National Tile Museum. It was mostly industrial and certainly not on any tourist map. We passed by some interesting dwellings, and the crew was hoping this mural of Moses might give us a commandment where to go.
Mercifully, we stumbled upon Ferroviário Bar Terrace.
Quickly checking TripAdvisor, we found it was listed as the 4,561st restaurant out of 4,698 restaurants in Lisbon. Fortunately, we don’t always trust TA (plus we were starving), and our lunch, which included Kim dining on bacon pancakes and me on a ham, brie and honey panini. Both dishes were pretty tasty.
The downside was that although the restaurant was situated near the water, it was covered in plastic “curtains” creating a Greenhouse Effect (AKA, very hot). Although a good way to grow certain vegetables, it was a little too warm to be comfortable. Fortunately, Tracy had one of her new fans with her, or I would have been toast, literally and figuratively.
After lunch, we resumed walking toward the Tile Museum, but after a couple of steps, Tracy forcefully said, “I’m calling a taxi!” After 28 years of marriage I recognized that tone of voice and within a few minutes a taxi miraculously appeared and whisked us to the museum. It was a short ride, so we doubled the driver’s tip as we did often in Portugal since the rides were consistently inexpensive, whether it be taxi or Uber.
Located inside the Convento da Madre de Deus, Museu Nacional do Azulejo is the only museum strictly dedicated to this type of art. We learned some designs can be painted directly on the smooth tile, without the colors mixing during baking. 
The cloisters were colorfully decorated with a various assortment of these tiles.
… while other azulejos maintained a more religious theme.
This large panel formerly adorned the Church of Santo André, located next to the Castelo de São Jorge.
We learned that azulejo is Arabic in origin and comes from “az-zulayj,” which roughly translates to “polished stone.” The museum “traces the evolution of tile-making from Moorish days through Spanish influence and the emergence of Portugal’s own style (the blue and white azulejos seen in so many places) and is displayed in chronological order starting in the 15th century.” Our photos are not in chronological order.
These Sala da Caça (Hunting Room) 17th-century tiles …
… are from Lisbon’s Palácio da Praia.
One of the highlights of the museum is the incredibly ornate Igreja do Antigo Convento de Madre de Deus, but when we saw this sign about 2:30, we were understandably unhappy. However, Mary has a way of overhearing conversations, and she discovered that the church would re-open at 3 p.m.
We bided our time by admiring more tiles.
Some azulejos depict historical events.
Sure enough, Mary was correct. At 3 p.m. the church opened back up. Good ears Mary! Before entering the church we saw the oldest Portuguese baroque nativity scene that was built around 1700, the Presépio da Madre de Deus. The nativity scene is composed of 42 pieces.
The interior of the church is something to behold. 17th-century tiles from the Netherlands, which can be seen decorating the walls, depict the lives of St. Francis and St. Claire.
This church takes ornate to the next level. In the 17th century the nave and main chapel were painted by various artists.
The Portuguese Renaissance Choir was gorgeous.
Actually, every inch of it was gorgeous
Even for a group that occasionally deals with church overload, this was place was pretty stupendous.
Of course, Tracy got to strain her neck here, too.
We’re still trying to figure out what this is.
Before we left the museum we saw this azulejo, which I thought I saw once at a Minnie Mall …
… and this guy looked as tired as we were as we headed down through the museum cafe to exit.
There was no way we were going to walk back to the hotel if I wished to remain married, plus I hate a mutiny on our first full day of vacation. We were pretty tired, but managed a few minutes of rest before dinner.
I had made reservations at Oficina do Duque. We’d first make a quick stop at the Estação de Caminhos de Ferro do Rossio (aka Rossio Train Station), where Tracy just happened to take a photo of a statue, which turned out later to have an interesting tale plus another cautionary one of stupid people taking selfies.
After we returned home, I attempted to see if the statue had any significance. Turns out the original statue, which was finished in 1890, was of Dom Sebastião, a man who died in battle while on crusade against the kingdom of Morocco and who was also Sebastian, the King of Portugal and the Algarves, from 1557 to 1578. Fast forward to 2016 when a Portuguese tourist decided he wanted to take a selfie with the life-size statue that stands on the façade near the train station’s entrance. Somehow, the man managed to climb onto the pedestal. For a moment Dom Sebastião teetered on the edge, but sadly he finally fell to pieces, a broken man. (photo courtesy of CNN)
The replica of the original was installed in 2021.
Now it was time for dinner, and as so many things are in Portugal, it was an uphill walk. After nearly blowing a lung going up the stairs, we made it to Oficina do Duque (or so we thought). Dinner was fine, but not as wonderful as anticipated (although I thoroughly loved my lime mousse). 
I had made a slight miscalculation that no one else noticed either. Tracy took a photo of the surroundings after dinner (and even one of our restaurant), but it wasn’t until after our dinner the following night when we walked by Oficina do Duque that we realized we’d not actually dined at Oficina do Doque, but at Solar do Duque. A plethora of stairs can play tricks on your mind.
We meandered down the hill to our hotel along the mostly quiet streets, although there was still plenty of action near the train station and our new buddy Dom Sebastião.
Back on the hotel rooftop, the four of us partook in a glass of wine or two. Tracy snapped a photo of our server pouring the wine, and he asked Tracy if he could see it. He liked it so much that he asked her to email it to him to share with the sommelier. We are awaiting the royalty checks.
Tomorrow our plan was to utilize Lisbon’s subway, hit the streets early to visit one of Lisbon’s famed art museums, and then ostensibly walk back to our hotel via a park and a stroll down the tree-lined Avenida da Liberdade, “Lisbon’s Champs-Elysees.”
Unfortunately, I took “hitting the street” one misstep too far, forcing Tracy and me to explore Portugal’s health care system for a few hours. As we would discover later in the week when we visited Sintra, my episode paled in comparison to a much worse outcome.
Next: Chapter Three: Fall Comes Three Days Early In Lisbon
Day Three: That’s The Ticket (Finally), Underground Transportation, Missed It By That Much, Good Samaritans, Siren Song, Farewell To The Queen, That’s A Wrap, Kim Chickens Out, Singer Sargent Strikes Again, Hotel Guests Only, The Wrong Escalator, Italian Dinner “Suggestions,” and “Lisbon Is Killing Me”
