Tivemos um tempo fabuloso em Portugal. A gente foi todos tão muito quentes e amistosos. Outro maravilhoso país, que nunca esqueceremos!
Adeus! (Yeah, this is Portuguese ... the language they use in Portugal, surprisingly enough.)
We decided to take public transport into the city and then out to our destination "Cascais" (pronounced Cash-caish). The bus ride took around 40 minutes. These were a few of the sights along the way.
Lisbon is a city that is built on "7" hills. In a way similar to San Francisco, with it's rolling hills. Trams were running in every direction. They had elevators which took you up each hill. Quite interesting. These elevators were at the base of every hill and were as old as the city itself. They help transport people up to their homes, nestled on the hiiltops.
Once we arrived, we found a great spot for lunch ... Mega Vega ... in the center of Lisbon. We then ventured out to explore the city ... with our packs still on our backs. Here is the "Arco da Victoria".
And here is Rossio Square ...
We were looking for more sights as we wandered around the city. Here is Sheila displaying her keen sense of direction!
We agreed that next time ... one of us brings a compass!
Here below, is a Portuguese man riding his bike with his goods inside each of the boxes. Thought this was a great shot and had to share it!
Portugal is known for it's beautiful walkways made of ceramic tiles. There are beautiful designs everywhere. It seemed as though every street had a different design.
St. Mary Magdalene church in the distance ... magnificent building, inside and out!
As we said earlier, ceramic tiles were everywhere, including on the exterior walls of many of the buildings.
Heading up to the main attraction ... Castelo de Sao Jorge! We worked our way through many of the winding tiny city streets.
Reaching the castle was a bit of work with our backpacks. New experience with packing and having backpacks but much easier than dragging rollers ... or having to check into the hotel before we go exploring.
Moorish Castelo de Sao Jorge's towering dramatically above Lisbon is a hilltop fortification dating back to 138BC. The gradual settlement of this area already started during the Iron Age when people from the Mediterranean civilizations, such as the Phoenicians, Romans and Moors, passed through there. There is Rich below with the stance of a "Soldier".
The video below is of the view from the castle above the city of Lisbon
This is a shot as we were walking around the perimeter of the castle. it was so amazing how this castle which was built in the 1500's was still in such great shape.
Rich at the entrance. Just take a close look at this exterior wall and bridge going over the moat below. Amazing!
This Castle of Saint George has played an important role in the history of Lisbon throughout the ages. This fortification protected it's citizens and was also the residence of many a royal family.
Just walking within the castle walls and looking at all of the spectacular views of the city.
This was the kitchen area behind the wall. Sheila could help but look in the ovens to see what was cooking. The people must have been so much smaller than we are today.
A musician playing his guitar within the castle walls. The sound was fantastic!
Leaving the castle we came across this statue of one of the kings.
Walking back down the hill and dealing with these cobblestones was pretty tricky. Just look at these stones and how they appear to be all shapes and sizes and not even on the same level. Apparently these smooth cobblestones have seen it all - Visigoths in the 5th century, Moors in the 9th century, Christians in the 12th century, royals from the 14th to 16th centuries and they even survived the convicts from every century.
This is a shot of the interior of St. Maria Magdalene church on our way back down the hill. The interior walls were magnificent.
As we moved in and around the city, we experienced so many beautiful buildings.
We arrived at Cascais, after a 1 hour train ride along the coast ... a beautiful ride along the coast and our destination was truly a beautiful little fishing village. We had found out that the past 2 weeks was a festival for the fisherman ... and during this event they have live bands and fireworks for the last "3" days of the festival. Yup, you guessed it! It was set up right in front of our hotel for the closing ceremonies during the weekend of our stay. So let's just say that our windows were shaking ... and not from Rich's snoring, this time! From 10pm when the band started until the fireworks ended at 1am ... we were rockin' Cascais! :) Another experience we will never forget.
Check out this video below, of our arrival into Cascais.
One of the photos from our first evening and the full moon was even shining for us!
The next day we decided to head down the coast by bike. The hotel had told us that we could get free bikes down in the village, so off we went to find the bikes.
These are some of the shots we took along the way. It was a really beautiful village and they even had palm trees!
The tiles along the way were (again) amazing. They really work their magic with ceramic tiles and create some unique patterns. Everywhere we went it seemed to have a different pattern from the one before.
After we found the free bikes, off we went down along the coast of Portugal. It was breath taking ... mountains to your right and the beautiful ocean to your left. The ride was only 9 km (5-6 miles) one way and it was along a great bike path, as you can see in the photo.
Upon our arrival to the beach named "Praia do Guincho", the sun was shining (of course) and we had loads of space to find a spot to just relax and take in some rays!
I think this photo says it all! Gorgeous day and, once again, a beautiful place.
Another part of Cascais, just take a look at the tiles. They have created another unique pattern in another area of the village.
On our second evening, we decided to go down into the crowd and enjoy the festivities. We had a bite to eat and then went down close to the water and found this barge floating in the water. This was to be their (and our) fireworks for the evening.
As we made our way through the crowds and the festivities we ran into stands selling some goodies! Did you guess it! Yup, Rich is actually eating "cotton candy". He couldn't resist this tasty treat. Ha Ha
After a 2 hour train ride and a 45 minute taxi up into the mountains we arrived at Fatima. The history of this site was that on May 13th 1917, three shepherd children, Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta were amusing themselves building a little house out of stones scattered around the place (where the basilica shown in the distance of the photo below) now stands. Suddenly, they saw a brilliant light and there stood "a Lady more brilliant than the sun" from whose hands hung a white rosary. The Lady told the three little shephards to return to the Cova da Iria (this site in Fatima) during 5 consecutive months on the 13th day at that exact hour. The children did so and on the 13th day of June, July, September, and October, the Lady appeared to them again and spoke to them in the Cova da Iria.
These are the three shephard kids.
The day was complete with a Mass held right within the square.
This was the celebration of the Sunday Mass.
We headed back to the hotel after spending a great day up in the mountains of Fatima, Portugal. After traveling back to our little fishing village, we sat under the sun and had a nice cold beer.
Monday morning sunrise looking out our window of the hotel. We decided to get up early to see a few more sights in Lisbon before our flight back to Germany.
This shot is a photo heading to the "Mosteiro dos Jeronimos". The construction of this beautiful monastery began in 1501.
When we arrived at the entrance, it was closed. :( Apparently, on Monday's all museums within the city are closed. So we just walked from one end to the other.
This was a close-up of one of the entrances. We have created a slide show to the right on this building and a couple others. Check it out.:)
This photo is one of the entrances with large wood doors, they stand about 12' high! Just look at all of the layers of wood on each of these panels.The detailing was spectacular.
As we headed down to the water's edge we came across, the "Padrao dos Descobrimentos" The monument (in the distance of this shot below) is dedicated to the Portuguese Age of Discovery. Most of the Portuguese expeditions during the Age of Discovery left from Lisbon during the 15th to 17th centuries, including Vasco da Gama's departure to India in 1497. During the 16th century Lisbon became the European hub of commerce with Africa, India, the Far East and later Brazil.
A close up of this monument ...
Spectacular monument! This was quite a bit larger then we had expected, as we approached the monument the figures were all life size.
We were walking along the boardwalk and looking out to the Atlantic ocean.
This was a view back towards the Monastery.
A Portuguese fisherman catching "THE BIG ONE"!
The picture below was our final sight in Lisbon before we caught a taxi and headed to the airport. This structure was built between 1514 and 1520, the tower known as, Torre de Sao Vicente de Belem, was a key element of the defensive complex at the mouth of the Tagus. It's shape still recalls the traditional keeps of medieval castles.
As we headed out to find a taxi ... our time was getting tight! Now remember, I had mentioned that all museums were closed ... which meant that there was little sign of life. Could we find a taxi? Of course not ...
Another magnificent journey and a beautiful country ... Portugal!!
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