Lisbon and Belem or transit rides
Trip Start
Sep 18, 2011
1
7
Trip End
Oct 09, 2011
Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
Thursday, September 29, 2011
We made relatively early day of it, my parents and I meeting up with Fred and Betty. We bought day passes on the Metro that were less than 5 Euros each and that even covered the cost of hte Elevador Santa Justa. So we headed over there first, got to see the views from the top, just as the sun was peaking out from behind the clouds, making all the white washed or pale walls a nice warm ivory, and the red tile roofs just that much more vibrant.
We then walked down to the Praça de Comercio where we caught the tram out to see the Torre de Belem. It turns out it was free that day as they had a student musical group performing. We climbed the very narrow winding stairs to the top and took pictures from the lovely windows. Then back down to walk along to the boardwalk to the Monument to the Portuguese Maritime discoverers like Vasco de Gama and Magellan. We watched a pier-side fisherman reel in his catch, a little ray. Then walked over to the Monastery. It is a stunning building. While normally you can enter the church, there was a wedding that day so no one could visit the inside but the inside was quite amazing.
While we were admiring the facade, the bride pulled up in her Model T car. Her and bridesmaid were surrounded by the white froth of the chiffon of her grown, filling up the entire back seat area. One Chinese tourist was so excited she wanted her picture taken with the bride to her family's laughter. The entire bridal party was so dressed up, and the women all had lovely gowns.
We then left and caught the tram back to the centre of town, and forgot to have a Pastel de Belem. It is the local favourite, a flaky pastry shell filled with a sweet vanilla custard cream then baked till the top is quite brown. But I was chatting with a local woman for the 30 minutes or so it took to get back into the centre. She told me about how it is hard economically for many people in Portugal with a lot of unemployment, particularly for the young people and any immigrants. She was also telling us about the area we passed through filled with abandoned warehouses that up until only 20 years ago or so were active in the production of local goods. But all that business has gone. And these warehouses and factories are now being turned into bars and nightclubs. She did also comment on the fact that many older apartment buildings were bing renovated and there was beginning to be an influx of people back to the downtown areas. This is similar to what is happening to many large cities.
Our last stop in the centre of town was the Sé Cathedral. It was relatively unadorned but still quite nice. We then walked back into the downtown for a final stroll down the main pedestrian street, the Rua Augusta before catching the metro back to the ship and for dinner.
As we sailed out of port I was able to get a couple to decent photos of the Christo-Rei statue and the bridge over the Tejo River. And I did get my Pastel de Belem as Fanny gave Mom and I two of theirs as they had bought several.
