Lisbon Portugal - Day 2 HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

On Thursday we were just hoping for dry weather, didn't have to be really warm, just dry would be nice!  When we woke up to our joy, it was dry!!!  There is a castle about a five minute walk from us so we decided to head their first.  It was a dry day but really foggy to start out.  We were not complaining at all.

 

Michael just loving life!! 

 

This wall once marked the boundary of Moorish Lisbon. 

 

AJ up on the balcony, so foggy you can't even see the river that is right behind the houses.

 

The first thing we did was head up to the Sao Jorge Castle.  The boys were excited to be on the way and for it not to be raining!!

 

So this was hilarious to me - it was actually a urinal right on the wall on a corner of the castle wall right below this sign!

 

This is the outside wall of the castle, it is one HUGE castle!  It started in the 11th century built by the Moors.  In the 12th century they were beat by Afonso Henriques and the castle began its three-century-long stint as a royal residence.

 

The boys at the gate of the castle.

 

There were fruit trees in bloom all over the place, and some were so ripe they were dropping off of the tree.

 

This poor tree needs a little TLC, all the other trees were huge and beautiful.  Not sure what happened to this one.

 

David checking out the courtyard of the castle.  See the other trees look so much better!!!

 

They had all sorts of these old cannons around the walls of the castle.

 

This is one of the old watch towers.

 

The commerce square used to be where the king lived.  It was were royalty lived for over 200 years.  When the earthquake hit in 1755 he fled over to the more stable town of Belem never to return.

 

As you can see it was extremely foggy when we first arrived up there.  You can see the remains of the Carmo Convent that was destroyed in the earthquake of 1755.

 

I liked this fountain best of all in the castle.

 

I love all the arches and trees here - it goes all the way to the back of the castle.

 

You can see how small the doors were back then, David had to duck to get through many of them.

 

This is Portugal's first king, Afonso Henriques, the one who defeated the Moors.

 

Very interesting sculptures and lots of them are fountains.  None of them were working since it was so cold.

 

This is an inside wall of the castle, you can see Michael on top to show you the size.

 

 

So happy, couldn't help but add this one of his beautiful smile!!!

 

AJ wanted to take a picture of us in the Romance garden.  I thought that was so sweet of him.

 

The boys taking a little break from touring.

 

Michael is looking at old animal bones that were found in the castle.

 

This is typical burial during the Islamic period.  The individual was wrapped in a shroud and placed in a horizontal position and the body was pointed toward Mecca.

 

There were peacocks everywhere on the grounds.  These exotic birds were originally brought to Lisbon as trophies of the great 16th century voyages and discoveries.

 

The boys heading into the interior of the castle.

 

This was taken from on top the towers you see above, you can see so much farther now the fog is lifting and see a bit of the river.

 

There are no safety bars or anything, the boys are on a very skinny ledge up there.  Luckily I am not a really nervous mom.  :-)

 

A view out of one of the windows into the town of Lisbon.

 

I love the colors on this one.  Unfortunately it never opened its feathers.  I am sure they're just as beautiful!!

 

The Cristo Rei Statue is a statue of Christ who presents you with open arms, which turns to the Bridge of 25 April and the city of Lisbon.  The statue stands on a 75-meter base.  This is 113 meters above the Tagus River.  The statue itself is the sixth highest statue of Christ in the world 28 meters high.  The monument is one of the tallest buildings in Portugal and represents the most important attraction of the district.  The statue is counted by Portuguese authorities to the three most important places of pilgrimage of the Iberian Peninsula.

 

Now the fog has lifted and we can see so much farther!!  This is the Rio Tejo, one of the five main rivers in Portugal, four of which come from Spain.  The bridge you see is the 25th of April Bridge and leads to the Cristo Rei statue.

 

The boys posing like the knight above.

 

Look at the balconies, they are limited to "one-and-a-half hands" in width.  The upper floors don't cheat by extending outward- a health initiative that kept the town open and well ventilated.  This is all over Lisbon.

 

This statue is George, named for a popular saint in the 14th century.  St George (Sao Jorge) hailed from Turkey and was known for fighting valiantly.

 

This was some sort of modern art made out of the brillo type material.  Still not sure what it is or stands for.

 

This is the longest and best preserved section of the visible wall.

 

There was art work like this in quite a bit of the Alfama district.

 

This one was in the middle of the city.

 

This is the outer tower which was originally about 21 meters high.  This was a tower to protect their water supply source.

 

This Portal is all that remains of an old synagogue, destroyed during the 1755 earthquake.

 

Of course we had to have our ice cream stop.  There weren't nearly as many around in Lisbon and it was a lot more expensive than the other places we have traveled.

 

The inside of the synagogue, rebuilt after the earthquake.

 

This was the ceiling, they were big into angels, flowers, armillary spheres.

 

Next we headed down to the commerce square that we saw from the castle.  Here the boys are in front of the statue of King Jose I, the man who gave control of the government to the Marques de Pombal, who took the reins and rebuilt the city after the 1755 earthquake. 

 

 

It shows the king on a horse, who symbolizes triumph, stomping on snakes (symbolic of trouble-making noble families),

 

 

while the elephant represents the Portuguese empire's colonies in India and Africa.

 

 

These were on the buildings to the right and left of the statue.  David said they looked like the Army crest.

 

This is Lisbon's Arch of Triumph was built to commemorate the city's reconstruction after the 1755 earthquake.  It has six columns about 11 m high. (with Vasco da Gama on the left and Pombal on the right).

 

Because of the great height, the figures here had to be made colossal.  The female allegory of Glory measures 23 feet and stands on a three-step throne and holds two crowns.  The Valor is personified by an amazon, partially covered with chlamys and wearing a helmet with dragon patterns.  The Genius encompasses a statue of Jupiter behind his left arm.

 

The back of the Arch da Triumph.

 

When the city was re-built, it was built by military engineers.  The buildings are all uniform, with the same number of floors and standard facades.  They were designed to be earthquake proof.  I want you to look at the building here and tell me if you can see the church?  The only give away is the cross over the doorway.  Look right in front of the car and under the lamppost.  Churches are scarce in the post-earthquake Baixa (downtown Lisbon).  Only a few of the churches destroyed by the quake were permitted to be rebuilt.

 

We decided after all that walking that we were hungry so we stopped at one of the restaurants on the main road and enjoyed a good meal.

 

This is the Church of St Nicola, notice how the church-like façade was allowed here.

 

But the entire green-tiled side is disguised as just another stretch of post-earthquake Baixa architecture.

 

Looking up at the castle from downtown Lisbon.

 

One of the many classic cod shops in Lisbon.

 

This is the Church of Sao Domingos, this is now one of Lisbon's most active churches.  The earthquake in 1755 happened on All Saints' Day Sunday, when most of the city was at Mass. 

 

Ginjinha is a favorite Lisbon drink.  The sweet liquor is made from the sour cherry-like ginja berry, sugar, and grappa.  This is the oldest Ginjinha joint.

 

So of course we had to try it from the oldest one in town.  David said it was tasty but extremely sweet and one you must sip and not gulp.  I thought it was ok.

 

This is Rossio square, which is Lisbon's historic center.  It is also still the city's bustling cultural heart.  Given its elongated shape, historians believe it was a Roman racetrack 2,000 years ago.  The column in the square's center honors Pedro IV - king of Portugal and emperor of Brazil.  This was once the sight of the 16th - century slave market.  If you look at the nice stone patterns in the pavement, this at one time made the locals seasick.

 

I really like their stop lights for cars!!  Aren't they great?!?

 

My two handsome boys in front of one of the fountains in Rossio square.

 

Another public fountain - so cool.

 

This obelisk celebrates the restoration of Portuguese independence from Spain in 1640.

 

We all needed a little break, so we stopped at the local Starbucks for hot chocolate and a few games of Kanoodle.  It was a well needed rest.

 

We then walked up the main road called Avenida da Liberdade.  Before the earthquake, this was a royal promenade.  After 1755, it was the grand boulevard of Pombal's new Lisbon.  They had quite a few of these little ponds and small waterfalls.

 

Michael is sailing on the ship!

 

This is the monument to the 1st Marquess of Pombal, governor of Lisbon between 1750 and 1777, with a lion by his side, a symbol of power.  It was built between 1917 and 1934 and is 45m high.  The statue is shown looking towards Baxia, the area of Lisbon that was rebuilt under his direction after the earthquake.

 

This was one side of the statue with the horses pulling a cart - I am guessing showing the hard work that went into re-building the city after the big quake.

 

This was the boys favorite part of the sculpture, a man trying to dig his way out of the debris.  After this we decided to turn around since we had walked many, many miles that day.  So much the boys said they needed a rest.  So we stopped at a bakery shop and had a snack, unfortunately while we were in there it started to rain again.  Luckily we had our two umbrellas, but I broke down and bought two more so we each had one.  So once again we were walking back to the apartment in the rain, luckily this time it wasn't as bad and we all had an umbrella.  We made it back much drier than the day before and enjoyed our evening at home with dinner and games!!