October 12, 2017
Now that we are heading into the last few days of our stay in Lisbon we are just planning on one more day trip and then cleaning up a few loose ends in Lisbon.
The day trip is to Cascais which we have seen already but we are carrying on from there to Cabo da Roca about 30 minutes by bus.
Cabo da Roca is a rugged headland that marks the most westerly point of mainland Europe. The windswept cliffs were believed to be the edge of the world up until the late 14th century. It is a beauty of a day but when we get to our destination the fog rolls in and the wind picks up …..it is a spectacular location and on a clear day the views would be huge….in between the fog patches we did catch some nice views:
The Parks folks have fallen down on the job here….as not only are the paths not in good shape and go off in a willy nilly fashion but are not safe (the drop-off is some 300 feet and we all know how bright people are) we watched people climbing over the low fence to take hero selfies… a Polish couple selfied themselves to death as their kids watched a few years ago!
There is also a cross recognizing the confluence of land and sea…
In the blog we have concentrated on the day trips and districts in the vicinity of Alfama, below are a few pics of our street up and down the block in our ‘hood …
our “window view” on the Tagus river…..which is either closed or open depending whether a cruise ship berths in front of us…
…..and a shot of the bar below us, night is play time and folks take it seriously until whenever…
….and the Alfama area in general…
….patio eateries are a dime a dozen and they pop up in the oddest corners, with seating either tight or tighter …
…..ruins of an amphitheatre (seats added to give the viewer perspective) and with the excavation left for visitors to see…
…..you have to love Japanese tourists especially the women >>> check out the dress…
….what there is a lot of in Lisbon is graffiti….makes things look a bit ghetto but on the other hand it is allegedly an art form…
…..we had to try the Remodelado trams which date back to the 1930s and in any other city they would be housed in a museum, but in Lisbon they are an integral part of the public transport network. These historic trams are still in use, as the 28 route is completely unsuitable for modern trams due to its numerous tight turns and steep gradients, which we can certainly attest to…ok if you have a seat, otherwise hang on for dear life….
The solid and imposing Sé de Lisboa is the mighty cathedral of Lisbon, which has been intertwined in Portuguese history since the early foundation of the country. The gothic cathedral was constructed on the site of an important mosque and stamped the dominance of the Christian Crusades over the North African Moors….
….and last but not least the Pantheon (previously a church) where Portuguese heroes are buried…
We ended up not going to a Fado show as we listened to it virtually every night in the apartment or outside hanging out on a park bench. Overall the dinner scene was mixed with some high notes, some of which we wrote about in previous posts and also some lesser ones. For the most part it is very average and aside the wine, modest bang for the buck. Part of it stems from not knowing where exactly to go but also many of the restos feature very basic dishes often focused on grilled fish which is either over salted or not of the best quality. We did follow the advise of TripAdvisor and the reviews were often helpful (but not always > take them with a grain of salt) in sifting through the endless number of eating places:
A lunch at Mercearia Saudável was one of the good experiences in a location with pleasant decor…
………another time we went to a resto in a hostel, a very bright interior (a no-no for us, as we love atmospheric lighting) but the lady in charge was brilliant > even offering us a taster portion of a cod dish …in the end it was quite fun, the traditional cod dish was made from scratch and really quite tasty….as a finale we got shots in exchange for writing a comment on the wall with a marker…haha no problem with that deal!!…..and another nice dinner at Le Petit Cafe where I had a really excellent octopus main course…
All in all our stay in Alfama was interesting and staying this length of time in one place allowed us to modulate our pace and “smell the proverbial roses”, at least some of the time. Four floors up is a bit steep (pun intended) and we would not do this again for a longer stay, the unit was fine >>> albeit a few things could be improved but in defense the price point was moderate and happily the WIFI was A-1. As for Lisbon, it is a nice place to visit….somewhat overrun with tourists, but that seems to be the way it is wherever there are things to see/do and the infrastructure is in place to accommodate same.
Tomorrow the adventure continues………another day, another country !!