Europe Travel Diary – Part V – Lisbon

Previously: Part IV – Barcelona

We spent our last morning in Madrid at the Reina Sofia Museum of modern art. The main attraction was Geurnica, a painting by Picasso depicting the horrors of the first saturation bombing of a small Basque town. It was very powerful and the room of studies done in preparation was also quite interesting. The works in the museum were arranged chronologically and we hung in until about 1940 and but lost steam quickly. I have decided hat I have about one modern art museum visit in me per annum. That’s all I can take After the museum we had a long lunch in a square near our hotel and then caught a shuttle bus to the airport and a flight to Lisbon.

The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel and set off for Belém. After finally figuring out how to buy a transit day pass from the machine we caught a subway and then a streetcar (trolly) to the Jerónimos Monastery. There were a lot of tour groups (I hypothesize a cruise was in town) in the church but the cloisters (which had an entry fee) were quiet. There was an orchestra warming up in the church while we were visiting and by the time we left the cloisters the church had been closed for rehearsal. Lucky we arrived at the right time!

After the monastery we walked to the Monument to the Discoveries honouring Portugal’s explorers and history of attempted world domination. Mom and I both quite liked the style of the monument. That’s Henry the Navigator at the front holding a model caravel. The fifth person back from Henry (holding the ring) is Ferdinand Magellan who was the first explorer to circumnavigate the world. For a full diagram of who’s who see this pdf.

After a Portuguese lunch (I had a fish and potato dish that was delicious, I think it was Bacalhau à Gomes de Sá) we visitied the home of the original Portuguese custard tart. Matt and I used to eat these when he lived in little Portugal in Toronto. Apparently only 3 people know the original recipe. They were just as good as I’d remembered, if not better! Plus how often do you get to try the original of something!

 

After our visit to Belém we did a walking tour through a few of Lisbon’s other neighbourhoods. We took a funicular up a hill (Lisbon is very hilly!) to a viewpoint and then wound our way back towards the city center. Then we took another trolly up to visit the Sao Jorge Castle.

Later that afternoon during our walk back to the hotel we stumbled upon a Ginjinha store. Well it really really more of a hole in the wall with a counter. Ginjinha is a local Lisbon liquor made from sour cherry like ginja berries, sugar and grappa. We shared a 1,10 euro shot for a little liquid sightseeing.

We spent the morning of our second day in Lisbon at the Gulbenkian Museum. It was the private collection of an Armenian oil tycoon and was donated to the city of Lisbon in gratitude for asylum granted to him during WWII. In about 2.5 hours we walked through art from 5000 years of human history. There weren’t a lot of pieces but each one was equisite. In the afternoon we took the metro out to the Oceanarium (Europe’s largest aquarium). I’m a big fan of aquariums and enjoyed the visit. I will particularly remember seeing a sunfish which is perhaps the ugliest fish I’ve even seen!

The rest of my Lisbon photos are here.

The next morning we were up early to start the long trek back to North America. It took me about 26 hours to get from our hotel in Lisbon back to my apartment in Seattle!

Next: Wrap-up