Lisbon, Portugal
Trip Start
Jan 05, 2008
1
58
61
Trip End
Jun 20, 2008
Lisbon,
Portugal
Monday, May 26, 2008
We were able to stay with Alane's relatives for the remaining days of our trip, and it was much appreciated. Her relatives which include about 10 or so people all live in or close to a small village outside of Lisbon. Its a beautiful place isolated and simple.
On our first day with them we headed out for a day trip to Cascais and to Sintra. Cascais it the rich people suburb of Lisbon, at least that's what we were told. It had some beautiful coastline and area the is called the Devil's Mouth. It is a large blow hole like on the southern coast of Australia where the water has eroded the rock and when the waves come in and crash into the hole a loud crash sounds. Sintra is the home of the Royal Palace in Portugal. Sintra also has plenty of old mansions or at least very big houses that seemed run down
Boca de Inferno (Devils Mouth)
. I guess in the old days that's where the rich people lived... now they live in Cascais because most of the home were abandoned. Both were still very nice towns to visit.Day 2
We were back on our own after Alane's cousin dropped us in Lisbon for the day. We got surprised when we were dropped at a main square - Praca do Comercio - that it was full of giant mushrooms we thought, but they were paper mache trees created by kids in grade school for environmental awareness. After checking out the so called giant mushrooms we headed to the Belem Tower, the tower that protected Lisbon for many years, then we visited the Contemporary Arts Museum and the monastery. At the monastery there were a few beggars and I guess they think that since they are at a monastery people are godly and will donate money to them, we didn't and it was good thing. After we left the monastery we noticed one of the beggars, a dwarf or midget, getting into his Chevy aveo like car, with adjusted pedals so he could drive. I guess he makes a decent living, not because of us though.
Now, when anyone goes to Lisbon they have to go to the Pasteis de Belem factory
Boca de Inferno (Devils Mouth)
. It is a historic restaurant that has a patent on their signature pastry. It is a small round pastry with an open top and filled with a pudding like cream and then burned on top...sounds like creme brulle but it is not even close. Very good, and only .90 euros. Later we made it to the top of the hill that had the medieval Castle Saint Jorge on top. The castle has great views of Lisbon and I am sure when there was no city it seemed a threatening piece of architecture to anyone arriving in the bay. We did some metro hopping after that to check out the town park, then the bull ring, then to the mall that is located at the Expo fairgrounds, the Parque das Nacoes. After that we headed back to where we began and waited for our ride back home.Day 3
We started a bit later today, but the day was as full filling as the others. We had lunch with some relatives and then her one cousin took us to visit some surroundings neighborhoods. The first stop was at Foz do Arelho, the closest beach. Really nice views. Then we went to Obidos, a small tourist town which is a walled city that has a small medieval castle and now plenty of restaurants and souvenir shops to accommodate all the tourists. It was a very unique city because it sat in the country and does not have much built up around it. There is still an aqueduct that run into the town, not working, but it's still there. After that her cousin took us to Nazare and Sao Martinho, a scenic drive to visit some more beautiful coastline. We stopped at more than one beach and all had different coast line features. It was a good way to end the trip.
