Here are some of our favorite photos from the trip (each photo is a thumbnail linked to a higher quality picture.):
1) Lisbon, Portugal, May 25, 2024 - We have gotten in the habit on our recent trips of doing some sort of city tour on our first day arriving in a new city. This allows us to get an overview of the layout of the city, as well as getting some foundational knowledge of the culture and history. So despite our late arrival at our hotel we were up early ready to explore a new country. We grabbed the usual quick hotel breakfast and then called for an Uber to bring us down to the riverfront. We ended up getting dropped a few blocks from our destination so we got to stroll the waterfront as we navigated to where we needed to be. If Henry the Navigator could build the most detailed maps of his era and Portuguese sailers could follow those to discover new sailing routes around the world then we can use phone maps and walk a little extra. What had us on this mission you might ask? We had booked a guided 3 hour bicycle tour through the hills of Lisbon. Fortunately, the bikes from Lisbon Cycle Tours were ebikes with electric assist (which felt like cheating but sure made the steeper hills a whole lot easier!)
2) Alfama, Lisbon, Portugal, May 25, 2024 - Our guide Antonio was excellent and shared a ton of information with us. We started riding through some of the narrow streets in the Alfama district, steadily climbing up towards Castelo de S. Jorge.
3) Miradouro Da Senhora Do Monte, Lisbon, Portugal, May 25, 2024 - Rather than going to the famous castle that overlooks Lisbon we instead circled around it to the north and instead went to a scenic overlook that provides a gorgeous panorama over Lisbon and to the neighboring hilltop crowned by Castelo de S. Jorge.
4) Miradouro Da Penha De França, Lisbon, Portugal, May 25, 2024 - As the bike tour continued to move north we came to another overlook but one which looked north and east providing a different view of the sprawling city.
5) Parque Fonte Luminosa, Lisbon, Portugal, May 25, 2024 - One of the signs of a good guide is when they have planned things to give the guests a "surprise" (which the guide had planned all along). Antonio guided us around to the western end of Parque Fonte Luminosa so we could enjoy the view of the park and got us there just in time to see the water start to flow in Fuente Luminosa. We'd had a leisurely ride up that point - never feeling rushed at the overlooks or pressured to pedal faster - so we had no idea there was a time we needed to arrive at the park yet we got there exactly on time. Well done Antonio!
6) Saldanha, Lisbon, Portugal, May 25, 2024 - From the park we cut west through the center of the Saldanha district on some excellent bike paths. Lisbon has invested heavily in alternative transportation in the city center - both with an extensive bus system and by converting some inner city roads into bike paths. We were riding for around three hours and about half of that was on bike paths rather than city streets where we had to contend with other vehicles.
7) Parque Eduardo VII, Lisbon, Portugal, May 25, 2024 - We went as far west as the Campolide district where we got a panoramic view of Aqueduto das Águas Livres - a massive aquaduct built in the mid-1700s to bring water into the city. From there we turned back to the southeast to start the drop back down to the waterfront. For that, we started at the top of Parque Eduardo VII and took that down to Ave. da Liberdade which we followed all the way to the historic waterside Baixa district.
8) Parque Eduardo VII, Lisbon, Portugal, May 25, 2024 - Lisbon appears to be a far more literate society that many in the world. There are big bookstores all over the city and they were invariably packed with people. As we rode through Parque Eduardo VII there were large signs advertising an upcoming book festival that would be taking place in this large central park. It is good to know that watching short form videos haven't replaced the reading of books in Lisbon (yet).
9) Praça Do Comércio, Lisbon, Portugal, May 25, 2024 - The last stop on our bike tour was the giant Praça Do Comércio - the heart of historic Lisbon's commercial district. With the waterfront on one side and 18th century government buildings lining the other three sides this is a shining example of Portugal's glorious past.
10) Feira da Ladra, Campo de Santa Clara, Lisbon, Portugal, May 25, 2024 - After the tour we were both hungry so we walked the Alfama neighborhood until we found an Indian restaurant. Great choice! Satiated we then walked further up the hill to the Feira da Ladra flea market. As with most flea markets the items for sale were mainly dust collectors or house hold items but it is always interesting for people watching and browsing.
11) Feira de Alfarrabistas, Lisbon, Portugal, May 25, 2024 - From there we went back down to the riverfront to find a Tourist Information office so we could purchase Lisbon Cards which offer free and reduced entry for tons of museums and public transit. It is hard to use one enough to break even on the purchase price but we have found we sometimes can - Lisbon seemed like one of those places... Card procured we headed back uphill but now for an interesting "drive by" site - Livraria Bertrand which is advertised as the oldest operating bookstore in the world (opened in 1732.) Cool to see and it didn’t take much time. Next door was a bustling used book flea market. Another sign of how seriously the residents of Lisbon take their literacy.
12) Livraria Bertrand, Lisbon, Portugal, May 25, 2024 - The front of the bookstore is also a great example of another thing that Lisbon is famous for: the Azulejos - poreclain tiles. Most of the historic buildings in the old downtown are covered in the beautiful tiles giving the city a unique look compared to other European cities.
13) Museu Nacional De Arte Contemporânea Do Chiado (MNAC), Lisbon, Portugal, May 25, 2024 - A block away from there was MNAC (National Museum of Contemporary Art). Most of its exhibition space was closed because a new show was being loaded in so we just browsed the entry way and a first floor balcony area. Interesting but nothing particularly memorable was on display.
14) Convento Do Carmo, Lisbon, Portugal, May 25, 2024 - A few blocks uphill from there was the Convento da Ordem do Carmo - a former Catholic convent that was destroyed during the 1755 earthquake and never rebuilt that now operates as an archeological museum. The view in the main nave is gorgeous with stark white columns holding up stark white gothic (French style) arches but contrasted against the blue sky because there is no roof.
15) Convento Do Carmo, Lisbon, Portugal, May 25, 2024 - There is also a small museum space, Museu Arqueológico Do Carmo, which had a wide range of archeological items from neolithic to Greek/Roman to medieval to 18th century. Plus there were contemporary politically themed art on display which was an interesting contrast to the ancient and/or religious iconography.
16) Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon, Portugal, May 25, 2024 - Now that it was mid-afternoon we decided to start making our way in the direction of our hotel in the northern part of the city. There was a Metro stop nearby so we decided to hop public transit for part of the trip. Immediately, I noticed we were considerably underdressed for the subway. Everyone around us, mostly young ladies between 15 and 25, were in sparkly dresses with tiaras and shiny make-up and lots of bracelets. That was when we remembered our guide this morning saying that Taylor Swift was too big to play in the convention center and would be playing in the stadium instead. Oh, that is happening now!?!? Tonight even?!? We ended up pushed and packed into the subway car like Portugal's beloved sardines. For 20 minutes I could hardly breath and I will probably be picking glitter and sequins out of my hair for weeks. We were very happy to hear our station name called and lucky we could fight our way out of the car to exit. There was a real possibility we would end up at the concert venue just because we would be trapped on the train until all the Swifties got off! The next surprise was finding that the subway stop where we exited lead into a high end mall and there was no apparent exit from that. We wandered around and went up escalators and started to acquire a perfumey odor that comes from desperately searching cosmetic departments for a glimpse of an "Exit" sign. Thankfully, a kind lady pointed us in the right direction and even more thankfully she didn't reflexively spritz us with anything while we asked her for directions. Once we escaped the consumerism Hell we had to walk a few blocks to our next destination - the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum. This extraordinary private art collection is open to the public and is surrounded by an equally impressive sculpture garden (more like a park). Inside is a massive collection broken into geographic areas including the ancient Middle East (Egypt, Mesopotamia), Greco-Roman, Islamic Art, Ancient Asia (China and Japan), Great European Masters, European Decorative Arts (furniture, silverware, clocks) and finally our favorite - a collection of René Lalique’s incredible art deco jewelry. Fabulous stuff!
17) Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon, Portugal, May 25, 2024 - I wish I'd taken more photos in museum because so many of the pieces there were so beautiful and different from what we're used to seeing in art museums. By the time we left the museums were closing for the day so we headed back to the hotel. Along the way we stopped at a grocery store to get some snacks for dinner. Then we brought our dirty laundry to a laundry mat so we will have clean clothes for the next week.
18) Padrão Dos Descobrimentos (Monument To The Discoveries), Lisbon, Portugal, May 26, 2024 - Whew, this was another long day! We saw a lot of this fascinating city given the limited time we had available. We got up early, ate a quick breakfast and were out the door. Our focus yesterday was on the Alfama and Baixa neighborhoods but today we ventured further afield by heading to Belém. A half an hour on a public bus got us to the Jerónimos Monastery just as it was opening. There was a long line so while Jonna chatted with people around us in the line I walked through the Jardim da Praça do Império (Empire Square Garden) to the Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Monument to the Discoveries). This is a massive monument located on the northern bank of the Tagus River that is dedicated to the Portuguese Sailors who explored the world in the 15th and 16th century. It is a 184 foot high structure shaped like the prow of a ship with 33 statues placed along the sides representing key Portuguese figures. There is also a huge (160 foot diameter) mosaic in the square in front of the monument that is shaped like a compass rose. The whole thing is pretty immense in scope but it is also packed with tourists as tourist buses are making quick photo op stops resulting in pods of people rushing about holding up their cell phones. I made it a quick photo op as well and rushed back to the line.
19) Jerónimos Monastery, Lisbon, Portugal, May 26, 2024 - The Jerónimos Monastery is a UNESCO World Heritage Site so the crowd was huge but it is also a gigantic site so it swallowed up the crowd and it wasn’t completely crazy when we went inside. Despite all my hesitancy about big religious sites, from an architectural perspective this monastery was spectacular. Whoever designed the elven buildings in the Lord of the Rings movies must have studied the courtyard from this monastery.
20) Jerónimos Monastery, Lisbon, Portugal, May 26, 2024 - The stone carving was elaborate but when combined with the 16th century Romanesque arches, stone screens, vaulted ceilings and tile decorations it gave a rich yet delicate look. We walked around for about half an hour to see all the rooms that were open (one of the areas was closed for a special event.) Well worth the long wait to get in.
21) MAC/CCB Museu De Arte Contemporânea, Lisbon, Portugal, May 26, 2024 - Just a block away was the MAC/CCB (Museum of Contemporary Art) which is giant. Never ones to pass up an art museum we headed in. The collection is probably large by normal museum standards but in such a large space it felt sparse. The really contemporary stuff didn’t do much for me but they had a special exhibit by a Bangladeshi architect/artist that was very interesting.
22) MAC/CCB Museu De Arte Contemporânea, Lisbon, Portugal, May 26, 2024 - The upstairs section of the museum was a retrospective of modern art broken down by each movement with a dozen or so representative works. One or two pieces by all the big names were on display plus other works by people I didn’t recognize. Interesting and kind of a parallel experience to what we’d seen the previous week at Museum Ludwig in Cologne, Germany.
23) Torre de Belém (Belém Tower), Lisbon, Portugal, May 26, 2024 - Next we needed to move a little further west along the river front so we jumped on one of the city trams. These make moving around remarkable easy - just like they had in Amsterdam. I hope more US cities invest in trams between popular areas like office/professional centers, dense residential housing and popular tourist sites. So easy to use! Anyway, we hopped off next to Torre de Belém (Belém Tower) which is a 15th century defensive tower built near the mouth of the Tagus River. It is another UNESCO World Heritage site and once again had a line to match. We again waited for a long time to enter - close to an hour - but this time it wasn’t worth it. The inside is not lavishly decorated or even restored. Just big blocks of stone stacked to make a tower.
24) Torre de Belém (Belém Tower), Lisbon, Portugal, May 26, 2024 - You can’t go up on top and the views from the windows are underwhelming. We were in-and-out in about 15 minutes and were both disappointed we’d lost so much time when the view from outside was all we needed to see. Oh well, you win some you lose some.
25) Museu De Arte, Arquitetura E Tecnologia (MAAT), Lisbon, Portugal, May 26, 2024 - We jumped back in the tram and headed back east. We exited near the Cordoraria Nacional exhibition space hoping to see more art there. They did have art on display, a part of an International Contemporary Art Fair which is being spread among many different galleries and museums, but they were charging a high price for tickets since it was a city-wide event and we didn’t think we could see enough to justify the price. Instead we walked across the street to check out the MAAT (Muses de Arte, Arquitetura e Tecnologia) which is spread across two buildings - a modern saucer looking space and a converted early 20th century riverside electric power generation station.
26) Museu De Arte, Arquitetura E Tecnologia (MAAT), Lisbon, Portugal, May 26, 2024 - It also had a covered outdoor cafe with a beautiful view of the river and the Ponte 25 de Abril bridge. At this point we had decided to skip lunch but we did sit long enough to caffeine up, use the wifi and to enjoy the view.
27) Museu De Arte, Arquitetura E Tecnologia (MAAT), Lisbon, Portugal, May 26, 2024 - The exhibitions inside the new MAAT building ended up being among our favorites in Lisbon. There was a musical jungle by Ernesto Neto made of intertwined rope and filled with musical percussion instruments. We banged drums, rang bells and tapped tambourines while walking on clove and cinnamon tree bark in our socked feet.
28) Museu De Arte, Arquitetura E Tecnologia (MAAT), Lisbon, Portugal, May 26, 2024 - There was also a stunning display by Nicolas Floc'h with black and white undersea photos which we loved. Then were blown away by a video space with three screens of seaweed flowing with the waves also done in black and white. Truly beautiful.
29) Museu De Arte, Arquitetura E Tecnologia (MAAT), Lisbon, Portugal, May 26, 2024 - The other works on display varied. Conceptually I appreciated a display of works done during an explosion of new art that came out right after Portugal’s dictatorship collapsed in 1974 but the individual pieces didn’t wow me. Nonetheless, even then the less interesting art was in the old power station and getting to see the giant industrial architecture and the original mechanical equipment used to generate electricity was fascinating so worth the visit.
30) LX Factory, Lisbon, Portugal, May 26, 2024 - Food was now becoming important so we jumped on a public bus and continued east until we were directly under the big bridge. There we found LX Factory - an old set of manufacturing warehouses which had now been converted into a collection of restaurants, shops, art galleries and small business office space. We had planned to find food there but it was so packed with people we bailed on that idea. We ended up on another public bus, this time headed back for the Saldanha neighborhood where our hotel is located. Across the street was a Turkish Restaurant so at 5:30pm we finally sat down for "lunch". Like I said at the beginning of this day's posts, it was a busy day. We turned in early after eating to watch a little Sci-Fi and go to bed.
31) Palácio Nacional De Sintra, Sintra, Portugal, May 27, 2024 - For our last day in the Lisbon area we decided to venture even further afield. We had visiting the UNESCO World Heritage city of Sintra on our list and since so many museums in Lisbon are closed on Monday it made today the right time. However, how to get there, how to get around there, and what to see were questions we still hadn’t answered. Then yesterday, while reading up on the LX Market to see about possible lunch spots we noticed a business listed as having an office there with the company name "We Hate Tourism Tours". Pretty eye catching, right? Their website described them as an alternative tour company that brings you to famous places but then shows you the under visited (IE not packed with tourists) sites. Given that we’d spent yesterday morning in long lines to see two different places this tour sounded like just the thing so Jonna signed us up for their "We force you to get lost in Sintra" tour. So this morning we were up early once again and were the first guests at the hotel breakfast. We ate fast and then rushed up the street to catch a public bus going down to Praça da Alegria to meet our guide João. There were three young women from the US also on the tour so we had a group of five. João gave us a quick history of modern Lisbon as we walked to a van. It was a thirty minute drive to Sintra and as we drove we got even more history including hearing about the rising importance of Sintra as a Royal residence in the 15th through the 19th century. When we arrived we first went to the center of town which, because of the National Palace (the ex-Royal Palace) is ground zero for tourists. This wouldn’t have boded well for the tour given its name but never fear.
32) Parque Biester, Sintra, Portugal, May 27, 2024 - After a quick stop at a popular bakery to pick up some pasties and a short hesitation in the main square to get oriented we were off climbing the narrow hillside alleys up to an empty overlook giving a birds-eye view of the palace. Then we climbed higher yet to enter the grounds of Biester Palace. Unlike the bus loads of tourists going into the National Palace we were literally the only tourists here. This Romantic style palace was built starting in 1890 and is in the middle of an expansive hillside garden filled with waterfalls, exotic plants, greenhouses, grottoes and ponds.
33) Palacio Biester, Sintra, Portugal, May 27, 2024 - The house was used as a set in the horror movie "The Nine Gates" and once inside you can see why it was chosen. The woodwork inside is very rich and atmospheric. The main house is, as expected, huge with nearly a dozen bedrooms plus a library, an office, lounges, bathrooms and more. Downstairs there is a separate servants living space plus the main kitchen.
34) Parque Biester, Sintra, Portugal, May 27, 2024 - True to the description João left us to explore the palace and gardens on our own just giving us a pick-up place (the Quinta Da Regaleira Palace) and time for us to find on our own.
35) Valverde Sintra Palácio De Seteais, Sintra, Portugal, May 27, 2024 - Once we met back up we stopped at a scenic overlook to see the famous Pena Palace from afar (given its popularity it definitely wasn’t part of a We Hate Tourist tour!) then drove to the Monserrate Palace.
36) Valverde Sintra Palácio De Seteais, Sintra, Portugal, May 27, 2024 - This is the view of where the Pena Palace overlook is located - the overlook is just beyond the arch in the center of this photo. Not a bad location for a quick "photo op" stop!
37) Parque De Monserrate, Sintra, Portugal, May 27, 2024 - Entry into this one wasn’t included in the tour but we were all willing to pay for the ticket so we visited it as well. The gardens at this palace were even more amazing.
38) Palácio De Monserrate, Sintra, Portugal, May 27, 2024 - ...and then there was the Palace! Wow! Architected with a strong Moorish design it was almost a palace worthy of the Alhambra in Spain or a Grand Mosque in Morocco.
39) Palácio De Monserrate, Sintra, Portugal, May 27, 2024 - It is unimaginable to think that people actually lived in such opulent surroundings.
40) Cabo Da Roca, Azóia, Portugal, May 27, 2024 - We managed to once again find our way back to João and with that the Sintra portion of our tour was over. There had been a few other tourists at Monserrat but no lines, no pushing crowds and no masses following bouncing umbrellas. So far, the tour was as advertised. Next was a scenic drive as we wound through the Sintra Mountains and passed through small villages. Very quaint and definitely no tourists (other than us). We stopped in the village of Azóia for lunch at a rustic restaurant. Lots of seafood - but they did have two vegetarian options on the menu so at least I had a choice. Jonna tried the cod which is the national dish. Neither of our meals were outstanding but we did feel like the place was authentic. Just down the hill from our lunch spot was Cabo Da Roca - the western most point in Europe. There is no way around it - this was definitely a tourist spot.
41) Cabo Da Roca, Azóia, Portugal, May 27, 2024 - We threaded through the tour buses and followed the throngs to the official marker then looked out onto the Atlantic and imagined the tiny Azores Islands out there in the middle of that vast blue. But then the hustle of the crowds broke that spell so we retreated to the van and took off. Maybe this stop was to remind us why the rest of the tour avoids the tourist hot spots?
42) Baía De Cascais, Cascais, Portugal, May 27, 2024 - We had some more driving to our final stop. Now we were on the coast and driving east along the string of beaches that line the coast ocean from here all the way back to the mouth of the Tagus River at Lisbon. Our final stop was in the ultra-ritzy city of Cascais. I get that it is a big name when talking about lives of the rich and famous but the place didn’t do anything for me. A tiny beach right on the port and a bunch of over-priced hotels, resorts, restaurants and shops. No thanks. João dropped us off to walk through town but Jonna and I rushed through which got us back to the van early. We drove the rest of the way back to Lisbon with everyone pretty quiet. We’d been on the tour for 7 hours at this point so kind of drained.
43) Glória Funicular, Lisbon, Portugal, May 27, 2024 - The final drop was actually a nice surprise as it was at Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara which is a viewpoint overlooking Lisbon. We hadn’t made it to this one on our previous two days so it was nice to get a different view of the city. We only had half-an-hour left before our Lisbon Cards expired (and we lost free access to public transit) so we speed walked down to Praça dos Restauradores (Restauradore Square) - which meant we didn’t have time to wait for and take the Glória Funicular down.) From Restauradore Square it was a short ride on the public bus to get back to the Saldanhe neighborhood where our hotel was located. We rested for a bit then ventured back out to visit two different grocery stores in order to find some light food for dinner. We ate in the room, watched some TV (on my tablet) and then headed to bed.
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