Day 4 - Doing EVERYTHING on our Lisbon List

Mimosas (with drama!)

Step one of many days is breakfast.  We arrived and were greeted not by the familiar young woman, but a man in a sport coat, that seemed to be the manager.  He offered us mimosas!  Well, having a busy day, Theresa was hesitant.  Bill wasn’t going to drink alone (on this occasion), so we politely declined.  He mentioned we could ask for it any time, so we figured we’d have some the next day.  But thinking on it over breakfast, I decided it was more likely they would NOT think to offer it.  So, getting someone’s attention, I asked for a mimosa.  “Two?” they asked, but Theresa said “No.  Just one.”  Then the drama began.  For some reason it took three people about 9 minutes to put together this mimosa.  We’re not clear on how or why this was so much hassle, but when they showed up with two, it was just easiest to say “Obrigado!”

Ok, I get using many languages, but at some point...
We get it!

Lisbon street view.

We then headed to the subway.  Theresa determined our best bet was to get day passes on the public transportation, rather than hiking everywhere.  Good call!  For 15 Euros, we had 24 hours to jump every bus, train, etc, instead of the 16,000 steps we had on Sunday!  We headed down to the waterfront, and took in scenery along the way, deciding the main pedestrian way with all sorts of outdoor restaurants might be fun for dinner. (fun fact…no!)

The main pedestrian way to the waterfront.  

A man was making huge bubbles to the delight of this little
boy running around trying to pop them.  Much glee!!

Seemingly there was an "omnibus" bill which was 
approved electronically through "Documentum"?  :-)

The iron age ruins, with a projection of how they might have
used it.  They did a fair job with this bringing it to life.

We made it to our first goal, the “Nucleo Arqueologico da Rua dos Correeiros”, a restoration and preservation museum of many layers of history.  The iron age remnants were the foundation of the Roman period, which was built on by the Muslims (714-1174?), which was replaced by the Christians, then everything leveled by an earthquake, tsunami, and 5 days of fire in 1755, and built all over again. This bank wanted to build an underground parking garage, but as they began, all of the amazing archeological history was discovered, which lead to more and more.  And probably millions of dollars later, still nowhere to park.  Anyway, we took a tour. 

Fish were dumped into these cells and buried under salt to cure.
And make fish ketchup!! (The Romans used this condiment like 
we use ketchup or salsa today...on everything!)

A well from about the 1700s.  Note the wood at the bottom,
which because it is always in water, is still in good shape.

Amphorae (clay jars) used for shipping fish/sauce.

Some rich guy's private bath...and floor!

The Romans built up the place for processing fish (mostly sardines).  They had retention cells where the fish would be dumped in, and covered with salt.  After some time, the salt cured the fish, and a fishy brine was drawn out.  The brine was used as sort of a “Roman ketchup” and the fish was also sold.  Everything was shipped out in amphorae vessels.  The vessels were unique to each area, so finding an exact model was evidence there was trade between those two places.  These were found from Germany around the coast line to Rome.

A typical Roman "menu"
(Typical of the more well off)

This building must be historic.  Because 
its maintenance is ancient history!

The entrance to the Castle of St. George.

We then headed to Castel Sao Jorge (St George’s Castle), the prominent bastion on an overlook above the port area.  There was a 3PM tour in English that was “first come first served” but we weren’t sure how to get “in line” for it, so we made it a priority.  We took a bus toward the top…and got off one stop too early.  So we hiked up the last run.  As we were buying the tickets, we found we could get our “stickers” then and there without going inside (single use tickets).  Win!!  It was like Noonish, so we headed back down the hill (by bus) to make better use of our time.

The castle was sooo high we took a 737 to the top!

St. George.  (Where's the dragon?)

We 'found' the inside St. Anthony's Church!

We jumped off at St. Anthony’s church, which was built on his birthplace.  Most people only know him as the patron saint of lost causes/items, so when they can’t find something, they ask St. Anthony to help them. St. Anthony was sort of a medieval bad-***, but now we act like he should spend eternity looking for misplaced keys.  (we could do better!)  The church was beautiful!!  We arrived right at the end of Mass, so we sat quietly in the back until it was complete, then headed for the restrooms.  We timed it well, since a line formed behind us almost immediately and the two person facility had a line of 10-12 people!

We then headed down the stairs to the small chapel that was the spot where St. Anthony was born.  The first church was destroyed in 1755 (along with 90% of Lisbon) but the small chapel was spared, and the new church built atop the spot.  There was a plaque commemorating when Pope (Saint) John Paul II also visited and used the very same kneeler to pray.  We took a few moments there.

The chapel marking the birthplace of St. Anthony.

A beautiful room (Vestry we think?) in St. Anthony's.

The Altar.  St. Francis of Assisi to the left.

The Cathedral of Lisbon.  We'll be back!

Our view at lunch.  

We then found a little spot for lunch, and had some empanadas, a bag of (authentic Portuguese) Doritos, and a generous glass of port!  Long ago, I had an AMAZING glass of a dry, white, tawny port.  It was phenomenal!!  I still like port, but have never found it again.  No white tawny ports, barely any white ports.  But we’re here in Port-ugal, so I’m having a port!  It was good, but rather sweet and not the nectar of my memory.  To be fair, if I had the very same thing right now, I might not like it as much, since my recollection has probably turned it into an impossible treat, but I still look for it!  Anyway, it was time to head back to the castle, and this time we made sure to go the full route!

The church in the Castle area.  Almost plain by Baroque std!

Once inside the grounds, we toured the plaza with nice views over the city and port.  We found a comfy stone seat, and just took in the surroundings until our tour started.  A peacock approached and seemed quite interested in us, but probably only in finding out if we had read the rules saying “Don’t feed the peacocks!”  Unfortunately for our new friend, Theresa HAD read the rules, though we saw a man 50 yards away feeding another one.  We had a conversation about men not reading rules (we don’t need no rules!).

Is she "restoring" or starting over for this painting?

Maybe not the place for noisy children!!  :-O

Mike and MaryAnne

Bill and Theresa (.blogspot.com) 

The little park or plaza inside the castle grounds.

The waterfront square from the overlook.

Peacock:  Hey guys...what's up?
Theresa:  Get away!!  No food!

Really?  No Food??

The first King of Portugal, conquering the Muslims about 1174.

Peacocks in the trees.  (Never saw THAT before!)

When it was time coalesce at the meeting point, we headed over, and took up a standing place.  This woman nearby was trying to enjoy what looked like a nice sandwich.  Our friend from earlier agreed it WAS a nice looking sandwich and surely it was big enough to share?  Well, he kept approaching her, even to touching her, but she told him nicely it was against the rules.

The tour began with a visit to the spot where some housing stood, including what was once the house of a prominent Muslim.  Our guide explained what was unique about it in terms of that era, typical homes for Muslims at that time, etc.  It was good.

This moat is not inviting!

We moved on to the castle.  She explained some history of it, including how the Fascist government in the 1920-40s rebuilt it but without much attention to authenticity, going more for what seemed right.  But then she segued into the “attack”.  She explained the features of defense by surmising we were the invaders trying to attack the castle.  We walked through discussing the approach, the moat, the drawbridge, the many places you would be stuck trying to get through the next barrier while defenders encircled and attacked you from 30 feet overhead.  It really made the experience more real than just “Look here at this or that.”  We then took some time to explore the castle and try out the myriad steps.

Looks very "castle-y"!

Strolling along the upper ramparts.

Portuguese Flag and 
Flag Carrier (TAP)!

Stair railings...not a "thing" here!

Sunset from the Cathedral (thx M&MA!)

We headed back down the hill to the Cathedral.  Mike and MaryAnne did the tour and checked out a few spots including an overlook from the rose window.  Bill and Theresa opted to take a few quiet minutes in prayer.  Very few as it turned out, since the people around us were wholly unfamiliar with “quiet” and although it was a church, the stones shared every noise possible!

That pole right by his head?  Wow!

Our last last notion was to take the historical trolley, Route 28E.  Back in April of last year, when we had a reason to be here for work (Bill), we took this trolley the full route.  Short summary, it is an electric trolley from like the 20s or 30s, and close to vintage.  (the Free WiFi logo on the 80 year old wood seemed a contrast)  So we waited for it to arrive and the first one was PACKED, with every standing spot taken.  A very elderly woman was intent on getting on, so we let her.  Five-ish minutes later the next one showed up with scattered places to sit.  

Once on, it creaked and groaned and made a wide variety of noises.  It felt like an old wooden roller coaster!  But it sounded and looked like the "Night Bus" from Harry Potter!!  The driver's movements and actions even fit!  Our tram luck continued, and this tram was rear-ended by a car...so, the driver got out...did some yelling...and we continued on it's way.  At some point we’d passed our destination (but tour riding) so we got off and waited to head back down for dinner.  

Theresa's fun surprises MaryAnne!  :-)

Back down to the main esplanade we started walking through to figure where to eat.  Well, there must have been a sign on us (or just our very presence) as a constant parade of men came up pushing menus (without prices) in front of us telling of all their great food.  Yeah yeah.  Pics of food are always great.  But we couldn’t escape them even long enough to talk about what we wanted.  So, we took a turn away from that mess, and headed down a smaller mess.  Finally we found a place with menus outside, and picked up one to peruse.  The man watched us from just far enough away to be available but NOT annoying or intrusive.  That was the selling feature!  We got a table inside and started figuring out what we might want.  A woman brought a basket of rolls and then a tray of olives, and finally a plate of cheese.  Well, this looked very nice…but…Theresa noted the bread was 0.60, and we asked, and sure enough, we got the answer “Oh, well if you don’t eat it, you don’t pay, but if you eat it you DO pay!” like that was a feature.  Yeah, get this off the table, please!  With a bit of shock, she took them back.  I wasn’t concerned about 0.60 for the bread until Theresa noted it was PER ROLL!!  Oh no no no no…  Get it gone!

Long day and long skewer!  And a tired Theresa!

Theresa got a cod and cream dish (with shredded potatoes we think) which was excellent!  Bill got this “foot of grilled …” (why they sold it by the foot was still a mystery in the metric haven, but) which was…quite fully cooked.  Happy to try, won’t do it again.  M&MA got steak and fish, and seemed happy with theirs.  Then the check came.  We were a little shocked to see the (US familiar) 10%, 20%, 30% tip options since we KNOW tipping in Europe is usually a rounding activity.  Needless to say, our generosity matched theirs with the 60 cent rolls!

We headed out for a direct bus home.  We stood where the map said the stop was, but no sign.  We looked about and found our bus coming and waited anxiously, until we saw it turn a block before us.  Scramble that direction in time to see it depart again.  Bill pointed out it was merely 4 Euros to Uber home, but the team decided “We paid for all day passes, we’re not paying again!” So we tromped about in multiple directions to find the subway home.  (OK, not that bad, but I’m taking my digs since I’m writing this! :-P)  We got home rather late and not quite in the mood to start this descriptive account.  Also, Theresa says I’m too wordy, and use too many pictures.  So, this is nice and long and lots of pix, which are worth 1000 words…so THERE!  😊