Lisbon

I started my day in Lisbon (Lisboa), the capital of and largest city in Portugal, by taking the Metro to downtown, and then I walked through the squares along the main street for a few minutes. Then I started hiking up the large hill through the Alfama district toward the city's historic castle. On my way up to the castle, I was fortunate enough to stumble upon the ruins of a Roman theater. That is an example of what makes Europe so intriguing. I did not know about the Roman theater ruins, nor did I intend to walk up the hill that way. I was doing my best to guess which windy streets would lead me up the hill and to the castle, and on the way, I literally wandered into them. This experience reminded me of my visit to the Rock of Cashel in Ireland roughly 9 years ago, when we stumbled upon the ruins of an abbey in the middle of an Irish field. The structure, Hore Abbey, was 900 years old, and we had an amazing time exploring it, but until we stumbled upon it we neither knew of it nor intended to seek it out. (Before I continue, my album with some of my favorite Lisbon photos is here.)

The views from the castle and its grounds were amazing in all directions. My favorite views, however, were the ones out to the 25 de Abril (April 25th) Bridge, which reminded me a great deal of the bridges at home in San Francisco. From afar, this bridge looks much like the Golden Gate Bridge, and it is a double-decker suspension bridge like the western span of the Bay Bridge. In fact, it was built by the American Bridge Company, the same company that constructed the Bay Bridge (but not the Golden Gate). Next to the bridge, across from the city, you can see the monument of Cristo Rei (Christ the King), which is reminiscent of the larger Corcovado statue situated above Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Cristo Rei was built after World War II had ravished Europe, and it is a symbol of gratefulness to God for Portugal being spared from the horrors of that war.

However, the 25 de Abril Bridge was not the only reminder of home. Many things about Lisbon reminded me of San Francisco--the city lying right on the water; the mix of trams, trolleys, buses, commuter trains, and subways; the neighborhoods up on the hills; and more. In fact, they are even a bit similar geographically if you compare the San Francisco Peninsula and the Sacramento River to the Lisbon area, where the Tagus River meets the Atlantic. The cities are also similar in scale both in terms of size (by area) and population (SF being slightly larger by both counts). I met a couple from Palo Alto who agreed that to them, Lisbon felt a great deal like home.

But unlike San Francisco, which was founded as a Spanish mission and really grew with the gold rush of the late 1840s, Lisbon has many layers of history. The Roman theater (mentioned above) is about 2000 years old, and after the Roman rule ended, the city was controlled by the Moors during the Iberian Peninsula's Islamic period (the Moors controlled parts of Spain and Portugal for a period of 700 years, which is why southern Spain has so much Islamic architecture--it's also why Spanish has so many words derived from Arabic). The Lisbon Cathedral was built after crusaders took the city from the Moors in 1147, and it was built over the site of a Moorish Islamic mosque. In addition, the city has been rebuilt several times after being severely damaged and even destroyed by past earthquakes. The particularly tragic earthquake of 1755 destroyed almost the entire city, which may remind you of Voltaire's discussion of the Lisbon earthquake in his satirical work Candide.

On my way down the hill from the castle, I stopped for a coffee, and then went back to the Baixa district to see the Praça do Comércio. This is the large square in central Lisbon. Three sides of the square are bordered by large yellow buildings, and the fourth side faces the water. Two middle-aged men approached me with weed in this square ("Good price!")--they must not know me very well.

During the 1400s and 1500s, Portugal was a leading naval power, and its ships led the "age of discovery." To commemorate this time, in 1960, the Portuguese built the Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Monument to the Discoveries) to mark the 500th anniversary of the death of Henry the Navigator.

A few hundred yards away from this monument lies the Tower of Belém, which was built in the 1500s as a fortress to protect the path to Lisbon from the Atlantic. It never ceases to amaze me that men could construct structures such as the many grand fortresses, castles, and cathedrals of Europe before modern machinery.

Next, I went to see the outside of the Praça do Império (the tower appears in both pictures and gives you an idea of how large this building is), and about a block away, I bought a traditional Portuguese egg tart, which has a crispy outer shell with creamy egg custard in the inside. The textural contrast made this famous pastry very enjoyable. Well done, Portugal. (Thanks for the tip, Jady.)

After Belém, I took the tram back toward downtown and then walked around the hilly districts of Bairro Alto and Chiado, which is the main shopping district. Since it was about 100 degrees outside, I stepped into the Port Wine Institute's Lisbon lounge for a "Portonic," something that a guide had discussed in Porto the day before. A Portonic is a splash of white port with tonic and a lemon wedge, served over ice (based on the tonic and citrus, I would bet this was a British invention). It was very refreshing and hit the spot on a hot day in which I drank about 5 liters of water.

In the evening, Nathan and I met up after he returned from his day-trip to Fatima, an important Catholic site in Portugal. We ate Portuguese tapas for dinner--mussels, Andaluz sausages (often called linguiçia in the US), peach quarters stuffed with tuna (an interesting concept that was not particularly successful as an executed dish), cheese, mushrooms stuffed with parmesan and Serrano ham, bread, and aioli.

After dinner, we each had a small glass of LBV port to cap off the meal, and then it was back to the guesthouse.

Lisbon was a beautiful, very charming city. It felt a bit like being home for the day, sans my amazing wife. It was fun to see the bakery windows full of egg tarts, the old Portuguese women with folding fans (some adorned with images of Mary), the buildings finished with patterned tile, and the incredible monuments and historic sites scattered about the city. (Again, I have posted some of my favorite photos from the day in this album.)

Tonight we are in Seville (Sevilla), Spain. On Sunday morning, we took the train south for a quick trip to Lagos, and I will post about the Algarve region very soon. It was beautiful. Thanks for reading!

- R