Lisbon
Seaflute
Tue 20 Sep 2016 14:36
Lisbon which is another Portuguese city we hadn't previously visited. I had
heard varying reports of its appeal but could not pass up the opportunity to
visit when we were in such close proximity.
A four and a half euro all day travel pass and a forty minute train ride
delivered us into the centre of Lisbon right at the waterfront in the Baixa
downtown district.
The capital of Portugal, Lisbon is and always has been the most important
and influential city of the nation. The history of Lisbon can be traced back
to 1200 BC to its founders the Carthaginian and Phoenician navigators for
whom Lisbon was "Alis Ubbo" which translates as amenable harbour. A thousand
years on, Julias Ceasar makes it the largest city of Lusitania with the name
"Olissipo". Subsequent Celtic and Visigoth invaders built the first walls
and castles that still stand today. The Moors occupied the city from 720
until 1147 and their architectural influence is still very much prevalent
throughout the city. The Moors were eventually conquered by Dom Alfonso
Henriques who became the first true king of Portugal. With restricted option
to expand his kingdom by land, Dom Alfonso looked towards the sea and built
vast numbers of ships and caravels. There then followed an era of epic
discoveries and Lisbon rapidly became the centre of a vast empire, garnering
great riches from the trade in spices, jewels and carpets from around the
globe. Less well advertised, but a significant contributor to Lisbon's
wealth was the ghastly trade in slaves to provide labour to their newly won
colonies but also sold to the French and British who were also busy
colonising the island s of the Caribbean.
The modern metropolitan city of Lisbon is home to 2.8m Portuguese which
represents 27% of the total population of Portugal. It enjoys vast array of
international trade and hosts a huge variety of multinational cultural, art
and music events annually.
Our first stop from the station was for coffee, as Lindy was still feeling
slightly faint from the shock of an early start! With our caffeine craving
sated we set off with no particular plan other than to "mooch" around the
city for the day. The Portuguese most definitely have a penchant for
building cities on hills and like Porto, the city is laid out along the
steep sides of two valleys. Despite the protestations of our legs, the
rewarding views from the various viewpoints we encountered definitely made
it worth the climbs. The architecture of Lisbon is quite an eclectic mix of
epic squares like the Praca do Comercio (Commerce Square) which is easily
the equal of St Marks Square in Venice, to quant little bohemian streets
reminiscent of Montmaitre in Paris. For a number of the steeper climbs there
is the option of a vintage tram ride more like a funicular railway but
adding considerably to the charm of the city. Like everywhere we have been
in Portugal so far, the streets were spotlessly clean, the people warm and
welcoming. The only negative thing I will mention and I know is a subject
that can be contentious is the amount of graffiti that is everywhere. It
seems that if something stands still for more than five minutes is gets
painted on! Sadly nothing is sacred in this respect including ancient
churches, Roman ruins or trams.
We very much enjoyed our day in Lisbon and the highlight would definitely be
the Castle of St George that overlooks the whole city and provides the most
stunning views from its ramparts. I would certainly not hesitate to
recommend the city for a visit and we will certainly return.
During the day, Lindy had a message via Facebook from a friend she had
completed her midwifery training with ......years ago. She was on holiday
with her husband in Cascais, had seen we were there and was keen to catch up
before we moved on. Ironically her husband who has just retired as a GP
trained with my cousin Graham and has remained very good friends ever since.
We met Neil and Julie the following morning on Sea Flute for coffee and to
give them a look around the boat. Lindy Tom and I then spent the afternoon
at the classic car show in the town that Ian and Liz had enjoyed so much the
day before. We met Neil and Julie for supper at a local seafood restaurant
and had a lovely evening reminiscing about the good old NHS and learning
about their idyllic life down in Devon.
An early departure from Cascais saw us ghosting (No wind again!) south down
the Portuguese coast towards Sines our next destination. I know Ian and Liz
covered Cascais in their blog but I must endorse their praise for Cascais, a
lovely town in all respects. We were particularly lucky that we were here at
the time of an international festival of culture and the town was full of
music, dancing and VERY loud drum bands who compete to see who can make the
loudest noise with little or no concession to rhythm! I must assure you I
am definitely not on commission with the Portuguese tourist board.
As a by the way....we realised that no one had mentioned in any previous
blogs that during our Biscay crossing we had seen two whales!!!!
All for now, Skipper Peds.
