Lisbon

We have been in Lisbon for four days now and we are enjoying our visit.  We have a small apartment in Alfama, an older part of town close to the river. The city of Lisbon is built on the hilly coast. Some of the streets are quite steep and they are interconnected by a network of narrow lanes and stairs. It is very easy to become disoriented.  Trolleys are used for public transportation in this part of town.
Alfama is also the section of town to hear tradicional Portugués Fado music and there  is great selection of small restaurants in this area.

The tourist centre of Lisbon is a 10 to 15 walk from our apartment.  On the tourist strip there are plenty of well known international stores and an abundance of restaurant. Most of which display large pictures of the food that they serve.  I’d recommend that you avoid these places and walk a block or two out of the tourist area in order to eat.   English is spoken in nearly all the small restaurants and store that we have encountered and the waiters and owners have all been friendly and helpful.

Below are a couple of photos of the main tourist area. These photos were taken early in the day. Later it is much busier.  The stone pavement is very commonplace in Portugal.   All the sidewalks are paved with small cubes of stone.   The paving in the plaza is intriguing.   It is flat but the design gives the allusion of a wavy surface.  It is quite disconcerting to walk on.

In general I would describe Portugal as “gritty”, compared to the parts of Spain with which we are familiar.  I don’t mean to demean Portugal in any way.  It is charming and authentic. It is feels safe at all times of the day.  We are very impressed with the friendliness and the authenticity of all the locals we have met.  It is a real pleasure to be here.  More than I expected.

A trolly in Alfama.  All the apartments have clotheslines on the outside of the building.  They are accessed through a window. 

Interconnecting stairs

Grafitti is everywhere.  We have never encountered so much.  Even the trains are covered with grafitti.    

Not sure if this is grafiti or art but it it pretty cool!

The photos below were taken in what appeared to be an upscale business area. The first picture is of the Portugal legislative building. 

An interesting mix of old and new.???

Today we took the train from Lisbon to Sintra.  It is a 40 minute trip each way and the fare is 5 euros return.  Sintra is a beautiful town in the hills west of Lisbon.  It is a popular tourist destination but it well worth the visit, especially if you like walk and don’t mind walking up hill.  Over looking the town is an interesting castle. Castelo dos Mouros.  There are two paths that access the castle from Sintra. One is quite easy to find but when we reached the bottom of the trail, it was closed for renovations.    Finding the alternate route was not so easy but using Guru Maps (a great offline map app) we found our way.  

There were lots of excellent sculptures along the walks and in the parks. This one on the trail to the castle I found particularly interesting. 

Some steps from a side road on the way to the trail head

Part of the trail up to the castle

These cool cats found a warm place to rest on a parked car. 

Tomorrow we are taking another train ride with to Cascáis, a coastal town about 30k from the centre of Lisbon.