Wandering around Lisbon

While it didn't involve loud celebrations, there were nonetheless unanticipated events today that brightened our day.

I had identified about five things that I was interested in seeing in the Graca, Castelo and Alfama neighborhoods, but the real objective of the day was to just wander around and explore, stopping when and where the urge hit us.

We set out from the hotel and walked down Avenida Liberdade. I was pleasantly surprised by two things. First, all the revelry that had taken place the night before had been cleaned up without a trace. Impressive, particularly given how late/early the celebration had gone. The second thing was the beautifully patterned boulevard walkway (calling it a "sidewalk" seems way too, well, pedestrian). As we continued throughout the day, I saw variations of patterns wherever we walked and it was interesting to note the differences. I've included a few of the patterns in an attached photo.

As we wandered down towards the water's edge, we stopped by the Convento do Carmo. While it was not open while we were there, it is fascinating as it was severely damaged by an earthquake in 1755. The arches and pillars and some side walls remain, creating a sort of skeleton of what once was. I can only imagine how amazing it must look from within.

We proceeded on to our first scheduled stop -- Praca de Comercio. This plaza is Europe's largest square and was indeed impressive. As we approached, I thought I heard a band playing. Not a rock band or local music, but an actual symphonic band. Hmmm. As we drew closer, we saw that indeed there was a band and we had stumbled across a small parade in progress that also featured those marching in traditional Portuguese attire and accessorized, if you will, with old pitchforks and other tools, baskets, bundles on the heads of women and often wearing shoes that seemed lke a cross between a Dutch wooden clog and a cowboy boot -- wooden soles with leather uppers and a very pointing toe. What I didn't quite understand were the two guys who were dressed in some sort of straw ensemble. I will have to look into this.

This was all happening right by the shore, where in the distance we could see sailboats and ships as well as some guys apparently digging for clams or mussels in the rocks on the shore after the tide had gone out. Nice to have a band play while you harvest dinner, right?

Our next destination was Castelo de Sao Jorge, a famous castle set high up on a hill, so we started climbing. We stopped along the way for some beautiful spots overlooking the sea and also at the Se de Lisboa (Lisbon Cathedral). The cathedral and its location have an interesting history as it was built on the site of a mosque after Christians recaptured the area from the Moors. The cathedral area also includes gothic cloisters that are supposed to be interesting but which are, alas, closed on Sundays.

We continued up the hill, passing the ruins of an old Roman theater that is under excavation and appears to have basically been paved over through the years. We finally arrived at the castle entrance to find a really, really long line just to buy tickets. Um, pass. We have both seen castles before and while I have no doubt I would have found this interesting, we were both more interested in wandering.

We decided to stop for an espresso. While it was still somewhat early in the day, we were surprised that in such a touristy area there were no outdoor cafes. A block or two away, we saw a small little cafe and ducked inside. There was a woman seated at one of the tables enjoying an espresso of her own, but no staff seemed to be there and the woman noted that they had stepped out. We sat down and waited for their return and ended up striking up a conversation with the woman. She was visiting from Amsterdam for about a week and had already learned to navigate the tram system and other things, not to mention we had many other travels in common. Lovely lady, traveling solo, likely interested in talking to someone, and who had successfully lost 140 pounds on the keto diet. Impressive. While I tend to keep to myself, I always enjoy random encounters like this. The staff did finally return and we had our espresso. Cost? EUR 1, 50/each. Well, don't mind if I do have another....

Our next step is perhaps not a popular tourist destination, but made sense after the aborted castle trip. Jardim da Cerca da Graca is said to be Lisbon's second largest park, though it is tucked away in between the Graca and Mouraria neighborhoods and you have to hike uphill quite a ways to get to it. But that's what gives you some great views of the castle as well as the sea in the distance. Nice place to take a seat, watch the dogs and kids running around, and perhaps have a nice picnic, though we didn't have the latter with us.

We stopped for lunch later at the restaurant located at the Fado Museum so somewhat upscale and were surprised when two large salads, a large bottle of water, the bread and spreads (they offer them but you are charged for them) and two espressos came to a whopping EUR 25,50. The starter things alone cost EUR 7, which shows how inexpensive the rest was. All that, plus excellent service and a fresh strawberry for each of us from -- one assumes -- the large planters near the tables that were full of strawberry plants in various states of production. Yum!

The last stop of the day was the Panteao Nacional or National Pantheon. It required going back up another hill and this large domed building was at the top. It was apparently originally designed as a church but then became the pantheon. It wasn't a large building and from the outside not much to look at and not very well maintained -- lots of weeds etc. Given that, we didn't feel like paying EUR 4/ea to peek inside and decided to head back to the hotel on foot, which included -- you guessed it -- more hills. I was really quite surprised at how hilly the city is. I guess it explains why people were positively packed on the trams that went up to certain areas (though perhaps it was also the charm of riding on one of the older trams) and there are also a bunch of little tuk-tuk vehicles that'll take you around for a fee.

At the end of the day, we only walked about 20,000 steps (compared with the death march in Paris where Kimberley thought it would be fun to exceed 35,000 steps and we nearly cleared 40,000), but with all the hill climbing and descents it felt like a lot more.

One of the highlights through the day were the variety of animals we say. Kimberley has a gift for finding any friendly black cat and she found one near the castle. I am perpetually fascinated by birds and, while I couldn't get close enough with my phone camera, I was absolutely charmed and enchanted by birds that had nested in openings in the castle walls and saw a little baby bird with beak wide open demanding food from its cooperative parent. So sweet. There was a mutt dog that apparently belonged to someone but was just hanging outside a house unleashed that reminded us of our dog, Beau -- not least because he was fine for a while and then barked at us like we were axe murderers, just as Beau does to me. There was also a tiny "working dog" whose owner -- a guy playing accordion for tips -- had perched him on his shoulder and outfitted him with a tiny pail for tips that the dog held in his mouth. Perhaps the most surprising, though, were the gorgeous roosters that were hanging around one of the parks.

Another highlight, of course, are the variety of patterns on the tile-clad buildings. The collages here are just a sampling of the over 30 that I took, ranging in size, brilliance, complexity and condition. No doubt there will be many more to see in the remainder of this trip.