Day 12 – 13 – 14

Day 12 Lisbon – it rained hard in the morning and lightly in the afternoon and evening.  This looks like an old city.

After a metro ride (truly efficient, cheap and easy to figure out) my first stop was to buy an umbrella from a street vendor (5 Euros) then on to the Port Wine Institute where you can order a glass of 30 different Port Wines in a very upscale setting. They also offer a small selection of snacks like cheeses, bread and nuts to go with the wine. It looked upscale..  This was not a shorts, sandals and t-shirt place. But there were a number of people there wearing them (I assumed tourists by their language), and the place was full. Not being correctly dressed I headed out.

Downtown Lisbon’s buildings and streets have a really old work look, with iron railings on balconies and cobblestone sidewalks and streets. The streets on the hills surrounding the downtown area are narrow and twist around like paths, while the flats are laid out in a grid pattern.  My  little Nexus tablet with its maps was indispensable. Without it I would have been lost within a few blocks.

Note the photo of the trolley – it is more of a tourist attraction and is supposedly a haven for pickpockets since the trolley’s are so crowded.  But it sure looks nice!

A quick stop at a store for Portuguese handcrafts, then another stop for some refreshment and it was time to head for the Castle and to try to catch the Sunset. Alas the clouds didn’t lift and while the view over the city center and out to the water was nice, it really wasn’t worth a photo.

Walking back to the Metro station I stopped for a Paella dinner. There is no traffic allowed on some of the downtown streets. Instead they are set up with cafe’s for eating, people watching, shopping or just strolling. Very people friendly!

But the cobblestones used for streets  and sidewalks are not. They are rough, and uneven – not just between stones, but in a lot of places the ground under the stones has settled. Worse, in many places, more than a  few stones have been knocked out of place. Stepping on a stone, or worse yet into a hole where a number of stones have been knocked out could cause ankle problems. Of course when it rains and the sun is down seeing those water filled holes are almost impossible. People who have walked the Camino Portuguese from Lisbon complained about how the cobblestones hurt their ankles due to the unevenness of the ground.

Day 13 – Off to Sintra – again light rain

Sintra is about 30 miles closer to the Atlantic and was were the Portuguese aristocracy and wealthy went during the summer because it was cooler. There are two royal palaces and a Moorish fortress in Sintra.

It is touristy, expensive, crowded and has lots of steep hills. I was there on Sunday and there must have been 30 tour buses.

I bought a bus pass to ride around town and admission tickets to the Pena palace and the Moorish Castle.

The Pena Palace (built in the mid 1800’s evokes architecture of Moorish influences and Mad Ludwig’s Neuschweinstein Castle in Germany.  It certainly was worth a detour to see, but not a journey.

The Moorish Castle itself was interesting and was ‘some’ fortification. It looks like a lot has been rebuilt since it was conquered in 1155 when the moors were pushed out of Europe. But conquering it must have been difficult.

There is much more on the internet about about Sintra, the Pena Palace and the Moorish Castle. I was glad I went, so I can say I saw it, but I thought LeBeau, and Carcassonne in France for fortresses and Versailles and Neuschweinsten for palaces were a better experience.

Had a nice tapas type dinner. I had some egg dish, with I think cheese and some sausage and a nice glass of red wine. For dinner I joined an English couple that had moved from London to the French countryside, just above Burgundy. He works IT freelance and she is retired. Listening to their description of life in the quiet French countryside made me envious!

Day 14 Last day in Lisbon.

Today I started at the Mercado with its many food stalls and restaurants – and had lunch there. Nice to visit and would do so anytime.

Then on to the Port Wine Institute. Today I dressed up a little so I fit in better. Alas, it really wasn’t that enjoyable. The service was S L O W. Few of the waiters spoke any English and the few that did were not into romancing Port wine.  When asked a question they just handed me a 10 page booklet with descriptions of the different TYPES of Ports and the meanings of some of the words like Tawny and Ruby and the aging process. There was a listing of the individual ports offered for sampling, but no descriptions of them. It was pretty sterile.

I did sample two different 20 year old Ports. They were quite rich with lots of flavor on the front end, and more or less indistinguishable from one another when first tasted. But the back end was totally different. One was syrupy and with a lingering sweet coating in back of my mouth. The other had a more astringent back end with a trace of bitterness. I suppose Port should be consumed with something that matches its richness, like some sorts of cheeses. Or maybe a Cigar, which others might try since I don’t consume tobacco.

The day ended with a suckling pig sandwich from a famous restaurant near the Metro station.

After dinner, the sky had partially cleared and since it was the ‘Golden Hour’ for photography I was able to get this shot of the Lisbon Castle Palace on its hill.

On the way back to my hotel I did some shopping and picked up some fruit for breakfast. I was back in my hotel room by 8. I packed and got ready to leave for the airport at 9 the next morning for my flight home.