A Day in Lisboa (Why do we call the city Lisbon?)

We had a wonderful day in Lisbon yesterday. We arrived on Wednesday evening and found we were staying in a charming old apartment about two blocks from the Presidential Palace! Our host recommended a restaurant about a block away that serves traditional Portuguese fare. Chris had the cod and I had rice and beans with pork ribs, and the girls both had huge omelets. Yummie! Kat still has some school work to finish, so she spent the evening on that while Chris and I planned the next day and Ellie veg'd out. The next day we spent on one of those hop-on hop-off busses touring the city. It is an interesting and beautiful city with a mix of old and modern. Most of the city was leveled in an earthquake in 1775. We learned about that because it also damaged many ancient buildings as far away as Seville, which we had visited earlier in our trip. So most of the "newer" buildings were built using earthquake proof methodologies.

We decided to try a different bus company for our tour of the city, and it didn't turn out well. The "Yellow" bus company left us waiting at bus stops for long periods of time (up to an hour), so we decided not to "hop off". The one time we were going to hop off, the bus departed the stop before we could get to the door! The Red Bus Company is the one to use! The couple of times we waited for our Yellow Bus, the Red Bus made three or four stops during the time we waited.

So the first stop we hopped off was the Jeronimo Monastery built to honor St. Jerome. It was approved by the Pope in 1496, and construction began in 1501 and was completed in 1601. The monastery was commissioned to pray for the eternal souls of the sailors who were sent from Portugal to discover new lands and of course for the eternal soul of the king. Vasco Da Gama is entombed there, and it is his likeness you can see in one of the marble statues lying on top of the crypt..and of course the ruling family of King Manuel is also interred there. There is a maritime museum in the building also, but we didn't take the time to get through all of that. The water from the river Tagus used to come right to the base of the building.

As I said, we didn't hop off much, but we did get to see some pretty amazing squares, and buildings, and some that were in disrepair. The old trolley system is still in use, right along side of modern trams and buses. We got up close to the palace guards who tried not to look at us, but couldn't help themselves.

There are street beggars in every city, but this one had a unique helper that was charming, and I think he was doing pretty well. The city has a bridge that rivals the Golden Gate in San Francisco for length and style. It has a statue of Christ overlooking the city, and is the twin of the more famous one in Rio..remember, they speak Portuguese in Brazil for a reason! We really enjoyed exploring the small fortress that protects the mouth of the river Tagus, and has stood there for centuries. It has been replaced by a more modern on just up the street a bit.

We also enjoyed getting to the top of a very tall monument to Portuguese explorers that sits on the river front. Some of the shots of the city and a selfie were taken at the top.

We only had one full day and one evening in Lisboa, andI know we missed a lot of wonderful things to see..if we had only known. This is definitely one place that is on our "return" list. Hope you enjoy the slide show!