Lisbon, What happened in/to Lisbon

Lisbon, It disappeared from my Blog but not from my memory or pictures

Between Switzerland and Barcelona was 5 wonderful days in Lisbon, but my posting never happened, so I am reposting it here.

Lisbon is another beautiful colorful city, probably a half way point from Italy and Spain, a little of each. Italian cafes, lots of similar architecture, but just not as ancient roman as is Barcelona.
There is a lot of Gothic architecture, buildings 150+ years old, metal framework and scrolling. Broad avenues that in many cases are now auto free.

Wish the US would learn that cars can be relegates to the periphery and that to have to walk a couple of blocks is a benefit, not a curse.It is so nice to not be dodging traffic all the time. Especially in the major urban areas where people will circle a block several times to get a closer parking space, just pull to the curb and walk. I've done a lot of walking these past months, and I feel a lot better for it.
OK, off my ecology soapbox now.

I just happened to be in Lisbon the night they won the berth to play in the Futbol World Cup, and you knew it as soon as the game was over. The cars all honked their horns in a certain 3 toot manner to represent Por-tu-gal, over and over again, around the many roundabouts and alleyways. It was good fun watching the bedlam of cacophony sights and sounds.
Lisbon has lots of small piazzas or squares. A street hardly goes for more than a couple of blocks without either changing direction in a square or just opening up into a park like atmosphere.

When you buy a bus pass, many of the exhibits and activities are included for free, because they are operated by the bus company. And all the transportation activities are included. Subway, streetcar, bus, funicular, and minibus. no limit per day, just get on and off as you wish. Makes planning and touring very easy.

One of the things I wanted to do was go up the Gothic tower in the middle of old Lisbon. From it you get an incredible overview of the city.

Another thing was the harbor entryway, with its 14th century buildings announcing the start of the city. The architecture is wonderful. Lots of covered walkways.

And had to visit the obligatory Castle on the mountaintop.

It appear my Grandmother, My father's mom, was here and had a metro stop named after her. How many Apolonia's are there running around.


In most of these European cities, you will find these artists, students mostly, creating live works of art. In this case, I really didn't believe he was alive until he waved at me.

There are many more Photos in the photo library, of the architecture, streets and the people. I did not find as compelling a place to do night photos tho. Just didn't catch my eye as much. But this building did.

Here is the link to the other pictures in my library: Lisbon Portugal

Barcelona day 3, The Gaudi Cathedral, a walk in the park in the dark, lots of pictures too

Barcelona Day 3

The unseasonably cold weather is starting to warm up a little bit. Until the sun goes down I can get away with a sweater and a light vest.
I decided there's a couple places I need to see. There is a very elegant Avenue about 20 minutes walk from the hotel. It is called the passage of grace. The Passiege de Gracias .It's really the entryway to old Barcelona. The shops are all the top-of-the-line couturiers.

In fact, most of them still have doorman that will open the door for you. That's also where you'll find the last commercial building that Gaudi completed in 1912.

The street continues for over a kilometer of shops, and people like me just walking and gawking at the things on display, or stopping at a cafe to have a cappuccino or espresso with the pastries.

This is also the entryway to get to Gaudis Cathedral which is in process of being completed. Here are bunch of pictures of the cathedral which is probably the number one attraction in Barcelona at this point.

This is the formal name for the cathedral, "The Holy Family"

After walking in these areas, you begin to understand the breadth and depth of the architecture of Barcelona. And even though there are many eras represented here they all just seem to gel together very well.

So next on my agenda is to walk back to Montjuic to look at some of the other museums that are there. the first museum that I wanted to see was the Barcelona historical Museum. This has examples of the different eras the Barcelona has lived through in the past 1000 years. Baroque, traditional, avant-garde,Art Deco, gothic. I got there too late for me to go through all the sections but in particular I wanted to see the Baroque, Gothic, and art deco sections.

A room built recently just to show gothic architecture

 A massive pipe organ built in the room

Notice the pipes. That is a massive still functioning pipe organ in this room built to just represent Gothic architecture.

After visiting the museum, I wanted to walk through the neighborhood. I was way at the the top of a mountain so was great taking pictures of the city at night.

 The communications tower for the olympics, built to look like a swimmer ready to dive off the platform

The olympic tourch made to look like a whale, but there are no whales in the Mediterranean 

 The city at night from afar

 Its holiday time and all the residential and commercial streets are lit with unique decorations.

It was such a nice night I decided to forgo the typical bus and walk back to the city. I ended up walking probably about five or 6 km.

Eventually, I got back into the city from the mountain. I was pretty hungry because I hadn't had lunch. So I started looking for a restaurant. All the places I want to go eat at didn't even open up until 9 o'clock, on a Saturday night. And here was only 7:30.

So, I just kept walking all way back to the hotel. And I just kept taking pictures. There's another shopping street call La Rambla which has a lot of very elegant stores. it is designed as predominantly a walking street.

So, I walked back to the hotel, where I proceeded to just go next-door to a local tapas restaurant in one of the very small side streets.

At that point, it was 9pm and I was not only ready for dinner, but ready for sleep. It was a good traditional Spanish 3 course dinner of a cold-cuts and greens salad, a roasted duck with Jam sauce, as they call it, and a vanilla flan for dessert. and of course, a red Spanish cabernet-merlot blend. Coffee with the dessert. No, I have not been eating like this every night, not even most. or I would not be fitting in the clothes I have to wear.

Barcelona is a fun city, day or night. Fun to walk, take pictures of or just meander the main streets people watching. While the alleys feel dark, you just don't feel threatened. Like they are minor arteries to the heart of the city.



The link to all these pictures and more can be found here:   Barcelona Day 3