Good to be back home after trips to Portugal and Seattle the last two weeks. I'll of course be posting travelogues of these trips over the next days and weeks here, but for now, here's some photos of the Portugal trip taken with my Sony 30x point-and-shoot camera. The trip to Portugal included Lisboa and hiking the Fisherman's Trail along the coast south of Lisboa. The weather was amazing, as was the seafood and wine, and a bonus was the pretty good craft beer scene.
I'm experimenting with providing photos from an outside source. Click here to see one of the plane photos of what I think is Mt. Hood. Click here to see all the photos I took with my iPhone on Days 1 and 2. And click here to see some of the photos I took with my Sony 30x zoom point and shoot camera on the trip.
Part 1 – PDX. Nancy took me to PDX and even came in so we could witness the remodel everyone's been talking about. Pretty cool. Not sure if all the shops that used to be there are back (for instance, I didn't see Powell's), but there are now places to eat, read, drink and shop for the public while they're either waiting to pick up someone or dropping them off, or just hanging out. That was the best part of the old PDX, and has been missing for years. The artwork was great, the Tillamook Cremery playground was awesome, and the Loyal Legion bar had a good assortment of craft beer (which I didn't partake of this time...). Giant video screens and lots of live greenery and wood made the place unique. For me, a grungier but more functional amount of shops and eateries would be cool, but anyway, I made it through security and the inside shops were about the same, and we took off on time for the first leg of the trip, to Newark.
Up next, I had a window seat on the plane, and got some great photos in the air.
Part 2 – PDX to EWR. From our angle in the air, it was a 3-mountain day in the Cascades shortly after takeoff. I also got some good shots of clouds and land more towards the center of the country. The approach to Newark was really cool! Either Manhattan or Jersey City or both skylines, and interesting port facilities and wetlands. I was beginning to get excited...
The next post focuses on the Newark airport. If I've been there before, it was a while back, so it was interesting, though I had to be careful not to wander too much and miss my connection to Lisbon. Since my childhood was spent in this area of the country, it's always interesting to see it from different angles.
Part 3 – EWR. My connection to Lisbon was through Newark, and I had a little time to explore. There was the iconic, ubiquitous DUNKIN' DONUTS (I loved the jelly donuts as a kid), City Rub Cafe (airport location for City Rub Smokehouse, serving Southern Style BBQ), an even more iconic I❤️NY shirt, the Tsukiji Fishroom (fresh fish straight from Tokyo's famous fish market!; I had some sushi, pretty good!), Zaro's Family Bakery (looks good, I'll try it when I'm in NYC), Jersey & Co. Gelato (no time to try, but next time I'm in Jersey City, definitely!), a Sing for Hope piano (great organization that came out of 9/11) and lots of great art.
I did (obviously) make my connecting flight to Lisbon, and though it was very uncomfortable and I didn't get much sleep, I did watch some movies and made it to Lisbon, where I met my friend Volker, and my Portugal adventures began. Next up in this travelogue, day 2 in Lisbon, which despite my lack of sleep was a full and exciting day in the oldest city in Europe! (I am going to switch to the Portuguese spelling of Lisboa for the rest of this travelogue; it's pronounced Leeshboa, with an exceptionally short a at the end which sounded like an n to the English, hence the English spelling.)
Part 1 – Lisboa airport and subway. We landed in Lisboa a little early (8:15 am local time), customs was a 5-minute breeze, and Volker was waiting in the reception area as planned. I was really tired from the overnight trip and little sleep, but as soon as I got through customs, I was in explore mode, and it was to be an extremely busy and exciting day of touring Lisboa.
The photos below are from the airport and its subway station on the way to my room in the Moorish Quarter. I typically take photos of planes at the terminal wherever I land, and you'll see an Air Portugal (or Transportes Aéreos Portugueses) plane here (I love their current logo!). The next few photos are of paintings of the Portuguese artist Manuel Cargaleiro on display at the airport. Cargaleiro died at the end of June at the age of 97. I like his use of geometric shapes and primary colors.
The remaining photos are taken from the Aeroporto subway station, including a subway map. The Lisboa subway system has only four lines, but they go all over the area, and are packed all the time. We got a Lisboa Card at the airport for the 3 days of our stay in Lisbon which got us into many museums and all public transportation for free, an excellent deal!
The cartoons below at the subway station are part of an extensive art exhibition space at Lisboa subway stops, similar to those we saw in Paris. At the airport station, the works of the controversial Portuguese cartoonist António Moreira Antunes were featured, with important Portuguese personalities depicted. The four people depicted are: Pardal Monteiro, a prominent modernist architect; Fernando Lopes-Graça, composer and conductor; Helena Vieira da Silva, abstract painter; and Maria João Pires, classical pianist, who is still alive. Evidently, Pires is famous for playing a Mozart concerto from memory when she was called to replace a pianist the night before a concert, and got the concerto number wrong from the phone call. Check out this YouTube about the incident and the psychology involved in coming through in these situations. Cool stuff!
So, next we dropped off my things at my room, and headed out to explore Lisboa. The next few posts will document that first day in Portugal, which included fantastic food, castles, cathedrals, museums, LOTS of walking, and of course, azulejos! And we were just getting started...
Part 2 – Moorish Quarter, Lisboa. Portugal is famous for its azulejos, or ceramic tiles, and the area we stayed in Lisboa the first weekend (the Moorish Quarter) of the trip had plenty of buildings with classic blue and white tiles, as well as other designs. It is a very old part of the city, and has lots of narrow streets and hills and is very multicultural. The Agoas or Aguas Livre aqueduct monument was in the neighborhood, down the street from where we were staying. I couldn't help noticing the boycott apartheid Israel banner in this neighborhood either.
We headed to the Castelo de São Jorge, the Moorish castle visible from all over Lisboa, and on the way, which is pretty steep, there were many tourist shops and great mural and street art. The views as we went up the hill were pretty amazing. In the last photo, you can see the famous 25 de Abril Bridge, the Golden Gate/Bay Bridge of Lisboa, and the Christ the King monument. Lots more photos of the bridge, including from a tower at car and train deck level (!), coming up later in the travelogue. I should mention that there are enormous amounts of structures, streets and institutions named after the April 25th or Carnation Revolution in 1974. I'll be showing many other examples of these in future posts.
The next post will feature some views of and from the Moorish Castle. And we were only beginning our Lisboa tour of the day!
Part 3 – Tile Art. On our way to the castle, we of course encountered tourist shops – in this case, I stopped into a couple of tile art shops to browse. Evidently, 2Rosas, the company making the chicken poster shown below, is out of business. Too bad, I like the art! The Nunes tiles I believe are from Francisca Nunes, who I think I met later in the trip (stay tuned for that...).
Here's a shout out to the first door photo of the travelogue! Many, many more to come! And the first photo is a favorite of mine, showing the trees and a hint of the castle that we got to soon after these photos were taken – coming up in the next post!
Part 4 – Castelo de São Jorge. Our Lisboa card got us into the castle for free, and we spent some time walking the ramparts around the castle before going down below to investigate the insides. The views of Lisboa, the Rio Tejo, the 25 de April Bridge, and surrounding countryside were spectacular!! You can see a YUGE cruise ship by the waterfront, and there was even a small love locks area on the ramparts. It was a lovely, hot, sunny day, and we lounged around after walking the perimeter, before going down inside the castle.
We next visited the Torre da Igreja do Castelo de São Jorge, the church on the castle grounds. Gorgeous interior! Stay tuned...
Part 5 – Torre da Igreja do Castelo de São Jorge. We went inside the castle and there was a great exhibit about the history and art there, and then we went into the church on the grounds, which had an amazing interior. It has a famous bell tower which we didn't climb, and then we went out and walked to our next destination, the Sé de Lisboa, or Lisbon Cathedral.
Yes, there are many subtropical plants in Portugal, including one of my favorite – hibiscus. Take that, Hawaii! Also pictured are some tourist shops and a fantastic tiled building we saw along the way. Stay tuned for more awesome church photos!!
Part 6 – Sé de Lisboa. This cathedral was originally built on the site of a mosque from the Moor period in 1150! It has undergone a couple renovations since the 1755 earthquake, and is currently undergoing yet another upgrade and archeological research. I'll post more on this later.
The door and outside are really cool, but the inside is spectacular! Below are some shots that hopefully give you a feel of it. It is certainly a major tourist attraction, with tons of buses, tuk-tuks and taxis outside and tons of people milling about.
By now, we were getting hungry, and we looked around for a place to eat downtown, and found a really good one. Coming up next, STŌ.
Part 7 – STŌ Restaurante & Mercearia. Volker was REALLY good at finding places to eat on our trip, and this first choice was one of the best! This brand new restaurant and deli was a small one on a downtown street that we would have missed if Volker hadn't done his magic. I know food photos are passé, but the octopus drowned in olive oil was amazing! Everything, including the octopus, olive oil, olives, vegetables, bread and wine, was local, and delicious!! We almost went back the second weekend we were in Lisboa, but opted to visit new places instead. Though I had many other octopus salads during the trip, this one was the best!
The first photo is a model of a Lisboa cable car, which you'll see a photo of eventually. They were brought over from San Francisco to make traveling up and down Lisboa's many steep hills easier. I don't think we managed to catch one, as many lines were being repaired (this is a problem in SF as well), and the ones available were packed! But they brought back memories of my Bay Area days...
We next caught a bus for the tile museum, after going down to the waterfront and looking around briefly. Amazing stuff coming up...
Part 8 – Praça do Comércio. From the cathedral, we headed literally down (town) to the waterfront to catch a bus to the tile museum. You see just a couple photos from shops along the way, with the beautiful Lisboa fish (which are sardines) poster a standout. The public square on the water side of the city gate is called the Praça do Comércio, and this area was rebuilt after the 1755 earthquake as a public square, formerly being a palace square, with the palace gone and not replaced. I got a great picture of the statue in the center of the square with the top of the gate in the background from the water side of the statue.
We briefly stopped into the beer museum entrance, but didn't have time to get the tour, which would have been interesting! Maybe next time! The craft beer scene in Portugal is really happening, and I wish I could have spent some time in this museum to see the history of beer there. Don't worry, you'll be getting some glimpses into the craft beer scene in Portugal in future posts, as we visited several microbreweries and taprooms and bottle shops in the places we visited, including Lisboa.
So, next it was on to the Museu Nacional do Azulejo, or the national tile museum, which was one of the must-see places on our list. It didn't disappoint...
Part 9a – Museu Nacional do Azulejo. One of the must-see items on the trip, we made it to the museum in the afternoon via bus. It was fantastic! I won't include the panels that explained the history of the azulejos or tiles, but will try to extract the text and send out a link to folks to read in the future. The museum featured examples of tiles from medieval times to the present, with a particular focus on contemporary art being done with tiles. Everything from political messaging to Disney, Portugal is the center of this art form today. In addition to the tiles, there were exhibits of beautiful tile work in rooms, and other associated art from each period.
The next few posts will feature more of the national tile museum. I believe our Lisboa card got us in free, or a reduced entrance fee. Definitely worth a visit if you're in the area...
Part 9b – Museu Nacional do Azulejo. More tiles and art and magnificent golden rooms in the museum. And a nice shot of my travel mate Volker.
Stay tuned for more tile museum photos...
Part 9c – Museu Nacional do Azulejo. The courtyard of the museum building and more tiles. This part was approaching the more contemporary tile exhibits.
The next post will feature some of the panels of the Grand Panorama of Lisboa, which is an incredible room-full of tile panels in the style of Monet's water lily murals at L'Orangerie in Paris, which Nancy and I saw last year on our visit there.
Part 9d – Museu Nacional do Azulejo, Vista Panorâmica de Lisboa Anterior ao terramoto de 1755. Here are some of the panels of the Grand Panorama of Lisboa before the 1755 earthquake, produced in the early 18th century in Lisboa as a commissioned work for the Counts of Tentúgal Palace. It was really difficult for me to give a sense of the mural from any vantage point in the room, so I bought a book in the museum bookstore that has a folding pull out of the mural and explanations of each panel in it. Like Monet's Water Lillies mural in Musée de L'Orangerie in Paris, this is truly spectacular! Also a very important piece of art because you can see Lisboa before the 1755 earthquake which pretty much destroyed the city. Enjoy!
Great museum!! Next we headed back to our apartment to get ready for a much-deserved dinner. Lots of colorful street art murals on the way, coming up...
Part 10 – Murals. I don't remember the details, but I think we took a bus, walked and took a subway train (all transport was covered by our Lisboa card!) back to our rooms in the Moorish quarter to freshen up for dinner. While walking we saw an amazing amount of graffiti art and murals on walls, sides of buildings and construction sites, much of which was really high quality. Below you'll find some of what we saw. The last photo is a mural in the subway.
Well, day 2 of the trip, the first day in Portugal, was almost over, but not before an amazing dinner nearby our dwelling, capped off by some great craft beer! Coming right up...
Part 11 – Well, Volker picked out another excellent spot to eat, walking distance from our rooms, so after freshening up, we headed out to dinner. On the way, there were some great tiles on buildings, a beautiful consulate building (this area had many consulates, which reminded me of a similar area in central London near Harrods that Nancy and I visited a few years ago), and a branch of Ronald McDonald House (!). For dinner, I had another octopus salad (pictured below), different from the STŌ version, but still good, and also some fried cuttlefish sticks which were delicious, and of course, wine. We also had a fantastic waitress who told us all about the Lisboa area and her impressions of Portugal. Great meal! Btw, I should mention that the evening weather was fantastic, and our dinner was outside.
We just happened to pass a microbrewery on the way home named Lispoa, and I had a sour which was from another local brewery but pretty good. We talked with the proprietor for quite a while about the business and craft beer in Portugal, and the place was really hopping. It was close to midnight when we got to our rooms for some badly needed sleep. (This was only the first of a few craft beer establishments we visited on the trip. Great craft beer scene in Portugal, and more about that coming up!)
What an amazing day! I didn't get much sleep on the flights to Lisboa, so I hadn't really slept for two days, but my explorer mode kicked in as soon as I hit the airport in Lisboa, and we certainly started off the trip with a major amount of exploring!! We had 3 days in Lisboa to start the trip, and next up will be day 3 for this travelogue, and the 2nd day in Lisboa for Volker and me.
Copyright© 2022 – 2024, The World of Astoria Bob, Astoria, Oregon, USA, World, Solar System, Milky Way.....