Day 2 - Lisboa (on the cheap?)

The Starbucks we walk through on our way through the hotel.

After a good and hard sleep, we pried ourselves out of bed about 6AM, to shower and head to breakfast.  Due to status, we get free breakfast here at the DoubleTree, but M&MA did not.  So, they went out and bought provisions while we enjoyed the spoiled life. 

St. Sebastian Church

We walked to Sao (St.) Sebastiao (Sebastion) church for Mass at 9:00.  The church was staggering!!  Built by 1652 in the classic Baroque (the over-the-top lavish) style, it fit the definition.  It was named for the saint credited with protecting the community from the ravages of the plague that affected the rest of Lisbon.  The walls were covered so that every square inch was “glorified” to fit God.  Wood was painted gold, plaster was blue, and huge expanses of walls were covered in tile that were painted with ornate scenes in blue and white monochrome.  However, they spared the kneelers and pews, leaving simple wood boards (Glory to God, hard wood for us).  As beautiful as the church was, we did not seem to get much out of the homily.  MaryAnne said she got about 50% of the point as her Spanish was evidently passable. 

That's a lot going on for a door lock!

One of the corners of the church.

The side with lots of painted tiles.

The altar

Ornate tiles on the outside of the buildings.

One of many narrow roads

A monument for Portugal's
independence from Spain

We then headed to the city’s Christmas market, walking through a lot of Lisbon.  

This was a hard angle to get the picture, but we managed!  :-)

Castelo of Sao Jorge

Portugal's finest Christmas Market (that was open this weekend)

You know those quaint but delightful icons of Germany, with vendors selling food, hot wine, and all sorts of Christmassy stuff?  Yeah, they heard tell of them and gave it a try themselves.  It was quaint.  It had Christmassy stuff.  But hot spiced wine in short sleeve shirts sort of misses the magic.  And there were NO good wursts (brat-, knock-, etc).  Still, we enjoyed the free ambling about.  But we were ready to eat, and some of us quite tired of standing!  

So, we needed a quick, cheap, sit-down kind of place, with clean bathrooms, too.  If only there was some place like that…

Look!  A local place with quick, affordable, sit-down kind of food,
...and clean bathrooms!

A street with a tram line...kind of narrow parking there...hmmm...

Belem Tower

After lunch, we got a tram to Belem.  Barely a minute or two into our ride, the driver stopped, and got out a little grouchy.  She went to yell at a woman next to a car that was parked too close to the line.  We were on tracks, so it wasn’t like we could steer clear.  Our driver came back and grabbed her phone, while the car’s driver came out.  They argued a bit, and she went to get a picture of the car with plates.  He did not like that, but he wasn’t going to win.  He moved and then we did.  It started raining as we got to Belem, and then was POURING as we neared our stop.  But, it let up a bit and by the time we got off, it had almost stopped.  We went to Belem tower, which was pretty cool, but being refurbished (so lots of scaffolding).  Then we walked down the river bank to the Monument of the Explorers, highlighting many Portuguese explores from Magellan to De Gama and more.  There was a big “compass” with a cool map of the world in the center, labeling the many places Portuguese explorers discovered.  Mike and MaryAnne went up to the overlook and got some good pictures.

The guy that runs this place must be a WIZARD!!

That Mike and MaryAnne...can't get enough rain from above...

Celebrating the 100 year anniversary of their flight from Lisbon to Rio (1917)

Nice day for a sail!

Explorers Monument.

Hey!  We've been there!

And we're going to Madeira!

A lot of Portuguese explorers!

And even more!

Windy!

The compass and world map in the middle.

We decided to catch an Uber back, since it was about 8 Euros versus the 4.40 bus ride, and 30 minutes faster.  Money well spent!!  We used our free time well, by taking a nap!!

The pizzas came whole but with a scissors to cut!

About 6:30, we headed out to dinner.  We had plans to meet some friends from long back.  Theresa used to work with Diane back when she was teaching high school.  But the husbands (Bill and Brian) kept in touch for the almost 3 decades since.  Brian and Diane recently moved to the Lisbon area, so we met them at their favorite pizza place.  We had a great time, the pizzas were very good, but with 4-5 individual pizzas, the table was small!  Still, we all left happy!