Friday 25th January 2008

Remarkably, neither of us had a hangover this morning!
Having taken their (possibly) glass back to them, we said “goodbye” to Marie and Michael again and then headed into Lisbon to do some sightseeing. For €4 you can buy a card that gives you 24 hours of unlimited travel on buses, trams and 'elavadors'. Considering that it cost us €1.35 each to catch the bus in to Lisbon, this is a very good deal and meant that we could hop on a bus or tram any time that we wanted to. The bus terminates right in the centre at Praca da Figueira and we caught one of the old trams that took us on a very pleasant ride up the hill and then down to the cathedral. This is rather an austere building, being built from 1150 to celebrate the freeing of the city from Moorish and has a somewhat fortress-like appearance.
We had lunch in a small restaurant, Rio Coura, a few metres up the hill from the cathedral. This was recommended in our 13 year old guidebook but it was still very good and full of locals. The €9.50 (approx. £7) tourist menu gave us soup, mixed fish (4 baby squid, 1 sardine and a large piece of another white fish, plus potatoes), sweet and coffee with bread, lots of Vinho Verde wine and water included.
Suitably refreshed, we took the bus up to the castle, wandered around the streets and continued the wander back down the hill. We stopped off at the Miradouro da Santa Luzia and admired the view before descending through the maze of old streets that is Alfama. Alfama escaped serious destruction in the 1755 earthquake that destroyed much of Lisbon and indeed many other parts of Portugal. This was my favourite part of the day – narrow alleyways lined with old multi-storey houses on the steep hill, washing hanging out of windows, builders swinging building supplies on ropes, small stone-paved squares, stone staircases, tiny cafes and restaurants (definitely for the locals not the tourists) and even a community laundry building, still in use, where the women take their washing and scrub it on the ribbed stone scrubbing boards. Real Portuguese city life!
Down near the port we came across an archaeological dig in progress. Talking to one of the archaeologists, we found out that they were digging the area of one of the 12th century town gates. They knew of its existence but has found that a second wall had been added in the sixteenth century.
We then walked back to the commercial centre and travelled in an 'elevador', which was actually a lift transporting passengers up to a point higher on the Bairro Alto hill. More wandering followed and we travelled on another 'elavador', this time a funicular called Elavador da Gloria to get another view over the town. Back then by metro to Praca da Figueira and bus to the campsite. An excellent day with plenty of walking.
Photos: Exterior of Lisbon Cathedral; A square in the Alfama district; The Elevador Santa Justa; A wheeled policeman – these were electrically operated and, we assume, allowed the police to move quickly although with only two wheels, they need to have a good sense of balance!; The Elevador da Gloria waiting to descend.