{"id":3091,"date":"2014-06-11T21:58:13","date_gmt":"2014-06-11T20:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/?p=3091"},"modified":"2026-05-23T08:42:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T07:42:22","slug":"sardines-elevadores-and-a-lobster-on-a-telephone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/2014\/06\/11\/sardines-elevadores-and-a-lobster-on-a-telephone\/","title":{"rendered":"Sardines, Elevadores And A Lobster On A Telephone"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Barber
Barber shop in the Alfama district<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

It\u2019s the start of week seven and we\u2019re in the big city of Lisbon.\u00a0 Every day seems to start as an adventure.\u00a0 All of the day-tripping campers wend their way to the bus stop; but which bus stop?\u00a0 Which bus?\u00a0 It\u2019s a muddle of languages, smiles and slightly anxious glances.\u00a0 Are we on the right side of the road?\u00a0 Are you going where we\u2019re going? Will we recognise this stop on the way back? But as always, a bus arrives and the driver sorts us out.<\/p>\n

We hopped off in Pra\u00e7a da Figueira, purchased a 24-hour transport ticket at the lottery shop and then set off on foot!\u00a0 We wandered down the Rua Augusta to Pra\u00e7a do Com\u00e9rcio on the Tejo riverbank; it\u2019s a large square with lovely buildings on three sides and open to the water on the fourth.\u00a0 With most of the streets being so narrow the space suddenly seemed huge and wonderfully fresh.\u00a0 On the opposite shore of the river stands Jesus, no not literally, but the enormous 28 metre Cristo Rei statue, a copy of the one in Rio de Janiero. It stands out so clearly and gives the city quite a focal point to look across to.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Pra\u00e7a
Pra\u00e7a do Com\u00e9rcio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Next, we hopped on a bus that took us through the Alfama district up to the Castelo de Sao Jorge.\u00a0 The entry queue was enormous, so we continued wandering and found a nice caf\u00e9 to sit for a drink and some time to make decisions on where we wanted to go all day.\u00a0 One pasteis de nata later, we got ourselves lost in the maze of streets, uphill, downhill and round and round.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"
The\u00a0 view from the Miradoura De Santa Luzia near the Cathedral over the Alfama district<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

I bought Rodney a belated birthday present of a T shirt with sardines on it and we had a lovely long informative chat with the young, artistic shop owner.\u00a0 Everywhere there were colourful decorations strung across the streets and hanging on houses.\u00a0 Temporary bars were being set up down tiny back alleys and he explained to us that the following day was Portugal Day and on the 13th<\/sup> it would be St Anthony\u2019s Day, which is Lisbon\u2019s special day, so the whole week becomes a bit of a fiesta, especially in the Alfama district.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"
Party time in the Alfama<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

We squeezed on to a rickety old tram down to the Cathedral and had to stand at the front, which was great, because we had a driver\u2019s eyes view of the ride.\u00a0 By lunch time we could hear Fado music drifting out of windows and bars, and\u00a0the smell of sardines being grilled, drifting out from the many restaurants and caf\u00e9s.\u00a0 We parked ourselves at a table outside the Restaurante Maritimo das Colunas and, while I ate a couple of pieces of grilled swo<\/u>rdfish, Rodney managed to intricately debone four sardines who all looked at him as he was wielding his knife.\u00a0 Suitably sated we meandered back uphill to visit the castle.\u00a0 We spent long enough plodding around inside to be ready to enjoy an ice cream sitting by the parade ground walls looking out over the Tejo and all the little houses below.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Ready
Ready for lunch?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

When we left the castle a small bus was waiting outside, so we climbed aboard and enjoyed the very bouncy ride over cobblestones down to the Pra\u00e7a da Figueira.\u00a0 We were tired, but as we had really only investigated the Alfama district, we decided to amble along the Avenida da Liberdade with its occasional designer shops and wondered who still has enough money to spend on the overpriced goods inside; but then most of them were completely empty of customers. \u00a0By the time we reached the huge statue of the Marquis de Pombal in the middle of a roundabout at the far end, the avenue turned out to be about a kilometre long and we really didn\u2019t fancy walking all the way back down the other side; so we tried to catch a metro; annoyingly I couldn\u2019t get the machine to accept my ticket. \u00a0 This meant we had to walk half a kilometre before we could find a bus stop and a bus that would take us back to the 714 bus stop for the hour\u2019s ride back to the campsite.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Party
Party street in the Bairro Alto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tuesday.\u00a0 Portugal Day.\u00a0 It\u2019s a public holiday, but thankfully the buses are still running and the 8:50am bus had us back in the Pra\u00e7a da Figueira by 9:30am.\u00a0 With another travel card in our pockets, we boarded the whacky Elevador de Santa Justa, we rode it to the top for another nice view over the city and then we walked back down.\u00a0 We strolled around the Chiado district for a while, bought a pair of baggy trousers (for me) and then wandered round to the Elevador da Gl\u00f3ria; this one looked less like an elevator and more like a funicular, which it is.\u00a0 At the top, old Saint Pedro had a nice belvedere park with yet another good view across the city to the Castelo de S\u00e3o Jorge.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"
The Elevador de Santa Justa in Chiado<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

We ambled through the Bairro Alto district for a while and then stopped on the Rue Garrett in Chiado for yet another pasteis de nata; I\u2019m going to look like one of them soon, but I\u2019m thinking of it as research to find the best one.\u00a0 On a whim (or maybe an overdose of pasteis de nata) we jumped on the first no.28 tram, to see where it would take us.\u00a0 The driver called \u201cfinis\u201d at Basilica de Estrella.\u00a0 There was a religious service going on inside the church, so we strolled over to the Jardim da Estrella and enjoyed dawdling under the wonderful variety of trees and appreciating the colours of all the flowers.\u00a0 On our next tram down to the Bairro Alto district, we managed to get a seat and then we discovered the Miradoura de S\u00e3o Pedro de Alc\u00e3ntara with its view of yet another angle over Lisbon and the Tejo.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Dom
Dom Jo\u00e3o\u00a01 looking up to the Castelo de Sao Jorge<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The
The view from the top of Elevador de Santa Justa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

On the Elevador da Bica we were the only passengers!\u00a0 So we had our own personal ride down the very steep track and at the bottom we boarded another tram back to Pra\u00e7a da Figueira, followed by yet another tram up to the Cathedral for a spot of lunch.\u00a0 Unfortunately we picked a bad restaurant, or we should have just stuck with the fish, anyway it was our first bad meal in Portugal, so we\u2019ll forget that one.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Always
I really wasn’t picking my nose before boarding the Elevador da Bica\u2026…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

You might think we must have seen enough by then, but no.\u00a0 Two more tram rides took us out to the Belem district of Lisbon, which was previously a harbour from where many ships sailed to search for new lands and continents.\u00a0 It is now a long promenade with various museums and monuments. We trooped past the very extensive Mosteiro dos Jer\u00f3nimos, with ice creams in hand and took a long look at the Monument of Discoveries which is really quite impressive with Prince Henry The Navigator pointing the way out to sea.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The
The Mosteiro dos Jer\u00f3nimos in Belem<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The
The Monument of Discoveries<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Our next stop was over at the Museu Berardo inside the large modern stone Cultural Centre.\u00a0 We shuffled around the exceptional collection of modern and contemporary art, with most of the big names represented there; Warhol, Picasso, Mondrian, Pollock, Modigliani, etc, etc.\u00a0 As always seems to be the way with modern art, some of them were brilliant, or interesting and some just made you wonder how they got away with calling it art.\u00a0 Why did Salvador Dali think that making a painted wooden lobster and putting it on a Bakelite phone would be attractive, but somehow it looks\u2026.. interesting.\u00a0 However, the plain flat square of black paint did nothing for us and we thought of painting our own and doing a switch.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think they\u2019d notice there was a fake hanging there.\u00a0 I can\u2019t remember who the artist was, but I bet he\u2019s still laughing in his studio.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Self
It’s modern art and it’s worth a bomb…\u2026!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"
It even needed a sign to tell you it is a black square…..<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

We walked further along the embankment to the Torre de Belem, a rather fancy tower built in 1515 in the middle of the Rio Tejo.\u00a0 After the earthquake in 1755 the river altered course and it now stands beside the north bank of the river and is much visited by tourists.\u00a0 Thirsty and definitely foot sore by now, we sat down outside the Caf\u00e9 do Forte Belem and clinked our glasses in farewell to Lisbon.\u00a0 Finally we found a 714 bus to take us back to Eileen and then struggled to sleep with legs that ached and ached.\u00a0 We loved Lisbon and everything it had to offer; we’ll definitely try and get back for another visit in the future.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"
The Torre de Belem<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"
Laura attempting to take her first selfie……..unsuccessfully<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 It\u2019s the start of week seven and we\u2019re in the big city of Lisbon.\u00a0 Every day seems to start as an adventure.\u00a0 All of the day-tripping campers wend their way to the bus stop; but which bus stop?\u00a0 Which bus?\u00a0 It\u2019s a muddle of languages, smiles and slightly anxious glances.\u00a0 Are we on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3099,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3091"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3091\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8323,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3091\/revisions\/8323"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}