Lisboa, Portugal - November 2-6 (Part II)

As I said in the first post, we really didn't know what the sights were in Lisbon before we got there. After we took the first few days to survey the situation, we spent the last two days revisiting places we had passed earlier.

We went to two churches that Ali was interested in. Despite being right down the street from each other, the yare total opposites in an interesting way. First we went to Igreja de Sao Roque which looks plain from the outside, but is extremely ornate on the inside. Inside is the Capela de Sao Joao Baptista which is filled with goal and was the most expensive chapel in the world at the time it was made. Notably, Sao Roque was one of the few buildings to survive the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. The other church we went to was right down the street and clearly did not survive the earthquake.



This church was entirely destroyed in the earthquake. They attempted to rebuild it, but then stopped. So the outside looks entirely normal, then inside it's just a shell of a church with grassy grounds. Quite a contrast.

We also went to Belem which is the home of the original port in Lisbon. It has a lot of history and some very cool sights. The first is a boot-shaped tower on the water. Sadly, it was a victim of laziness stemming from being way too far of a walk on one of the last few days of the trip so it will have to wait for another trip. The other is Jeronimos Monastery which is a whimsical building which we really enjoyed despite not knowing anything about it beforehand. There are lots of famous people entombed in the attached church (like Vasco de Gama). The monastery itself is filled with intricate carvings.



You can barely see them in that picture, but you can tell that they are not plain columns. Maybe you can see them better in this one.



Ali really liked the playfulness of the whole place.



Belem also has a great view of the area and it was a beautiful, if slightly cloudy day.



Belem is also home to the famous Pastel de Nata which was first made at the monastery and then made popular at the nearby pastry shop.



It was delicious. They really know how to do pastries in Portugal.

One of our favorite things (we went at least 3 of the 5 nights) was to go to the main pedestrian area and get a couple of cups of ginja, a sour cherry liqueur served with or without the cherries. There are number of tiny bars that serve nothing but ginja to go so you can hang out in the streets and drink it. Even on cold, rainy Fall nights it was a great way to get a feel for the city. The picture below is a little blurry, but from the main square you could enjoy some Ginja, stare up at the castle and enjoy the scene.



There was a lot more to Lisbon than we were able to fit in even two posts. It really was a cool city. The people were great, there are great views everywhere, the food is delicious, the prices are reasonable, and I could go on. It's certainly high on my list of places to return to.