Lisbon Highlights

Lisbon Highlights

Belém monastery

Today, we hit the highlights of Lisbon, via tour-van, with the delightful Marta whisking us around, and telling us all sorts of interesting things about the city and county.

Our first stop was Monsanto park, and a monument to abandoned buildings - this was originally a restaurant-in-work, abandoned partway through, taken over by graffiti artists and vandals, then resuscitated into a more controlled street-art project. The views of Lisbon are amazing!

On to Belém, and many 16th century buildings, including this monastery

Raising the flag(s)

and monuments to the Age of Discovery... During Portugal's Age of Discovery, there were many people important to the cause, including kings, captains, and priests. This monument, in the shape of a ship, is dedicated to them

Henry the Navigator and others famous for contributing to Discovering The World

Waves!

The world, touched by Portugal

More street art, this in the form of a racoon of garbage

Along the river, we saw more monuments to the colonial wars, and heard about the revolution and various changes of government systems in Portugal's history. We saw one of the coastal fortresses, used to protect ships and cargo against pirates.

We passed by this bullfight arena

Then on to lunch!
Starters - sausage+pineapple, eggs+chicken, garlic bread, cheese/honey toast
Main - duck rice, smoked cod, pork (black pig)
Dessert- strawberry shortcake, cheesecake/ricotta pie
Wine - vinho verde (aka fizzy wine)

We drove past a park/fountain, with a view of the engineering school building (it is a blue cube!)

Then up to the graça (grace) neighborhood, the highest point in Lisbon, with 2 viewpoints.

Tiles are everywhere - I had to stop taking pictures...

We peeked at the high-end shopping district

Then the parliament building

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Some Lisbon info:
It's a very steep city! The downtown area is in a basin - if you get lost, head downhill and you'll eventually get there, where it is easy to go anywhere.
Lisbon is very cosmopolitan - there are all types of food available

A good book to read:
"The first global village, how the Portuguese changed the world"

1143 Portugal founded; it was Moorish before that
December 1, 1640 Portugal kicked out Spain
October 5, 1910 was the last king, Portugal became a republic.
1974 revolution finished the dictatorship - now the President serves a 5-year term, with a limit of 2 consecutive terms. The Prime Minister and the government have 4-year terms.

Weather:
Summer has 27-33C average highs, 40C in a heat wave. Breezes are common.
Winter usually gets as cold as 3-7C; once, it got to -1C.

Lisbon has a dual health system - public and private.

I had always "known" that the Japanese "arigato" came from the Portuguese "obrigado," but no! Here's a good explanation:
http://selftaughtjapanese.com/2015/11/02/the-real-origin-of-arigatou-ありがとう-japanese-for-thank-you/

Portugal photo album is here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/HGXyIHIHJwxG0HPh2