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| We got the feeling we were being watched as we walked through the Alfama Barrio |
After all the ground that we covered yesterday we decided to stay closer to some of the barrios (neighborhoods) near our hotel today. By the end of the day we had covered quite a bit of ground but had done so at a very relaxing pace. As I mentioned in the previous blog, we are staying in the Baixa neighborhood, to our east is Alfama and to our west is Chiado. At no time during the day were we ever more than a couple of miles from the hotel, but we probably ended up walking around eight miles up, down and around the three barrios.
The Alfama neighborhood has several historic landmarks including the Castle of Sao Jorge, the Lisbon Cathedral, the Monastery of Sao Vicente de Fora, and the National Pantheon. The Chiado neighborhood had several steep hills, numerous plazas, small parks and the tree lined Avenida da Liberdade with all the high tone stores where we'd never shop. We did enjoy looking at the ridiculous prices some people are willing to pay for clothes, bags, watches and shoes.
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| Castle of Sao Jorge |
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| Lisbon Cathedral |
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| Monastery of Sao Vincente de For a (now a church) |
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| The monastery on the left and the National Pantheon in the background |
Like most of Europe, they love their soccer in Portugal. I'm not really well versed in the sport but it's obvious that the hometown favorites are playing today. Many of those out roaming around with us were dressed in the team colors (red and black). Every now and then a huge roar can be heard outside our window which indicates that the good guys have scored again. Whoever they're playing they're whipping pretty bad. Right now the score is 4-1. It could be a festive night on the streets of Lisbon if the score holds.
We finished the day coming back to the hotel from the north side of the Baixa neighborhood. We had always left and come back to the hotel from the opposite direction. Much to our surprise there's a huge plaza just a few blocks north of us that was full of small stands selling all types of food, drinks and crafts...…………...I guess we need to get out more!
Below are more pictures taken along the way...…………….
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| Coffee Break! |
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| We climbed up the fifty steps in the bell tower and rang the bell...…….our hearing may never be the same |
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| We've seen a number of "stag" parties (Bachelor Parties) going on around town today. The soon to be married man is always easy to spot. He'll be in some type of crazy costume and staggering drunk. This one was on a motorized scooter. I'm not sure how it ended but I'm guessing badly! |
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| Avenida de Liberdade |
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| The plaza a few blocks north of the hotel! |
