Portugal Trip - Lisbon
We took a cable car from Belem to downtown Lisbon and it was really fun.
We stopped at Commerce Square. This riverfront square borders the Baixa section of Lisbon: After the disastrous 1755 earthquake, the Baixa district was rebuilt on a grid street plan.
After hanging out in the square we followed Rick Steves’ Baixa Stroll and walked under Lisbon’s Arch of Triumph and walked right up Rua Augusta - one of the few new straight roads in Lisbon.
Then, overwhelmingly hungry and a little tired, we stopped to find a shaded table with a menu with pictures and sat down. It was our biggest restaurant mistake of the trip. Super touristy. Not good.
We walked up Rua Augusta and then Rua Da Prata, past Rossio Train Station and through a few more streets. Loved all the colored tile buildings everywhere and tiled streets. We took a few pictures but mostly kept walking. Chris listened to a Rick Steves Audiotour and filled us in on interesting things here and there.
The line to get on the Elevator Da Gloria — the trolley funicular — was long so we decided to to walk up the steep road and take some pictures of the famous trolleys as they passed. Super interesting.
And I could not pass up the opportunity to take a picture of Chris with graffiti of sardines! Especially since they were on every single menu in Portugal and we had passed several people eating them looking just exactly like this pic.
After our steep climb on Da Gloria we left the valley streets of Baixa and entered the old world-felling Bairo Alto (Hight Town) We immediately popped into Sao Pedro de Alcantara park for a view of the opposite hillside.
Rick Steves says that the Bairro Alto is one of the most characteristic and appealing districts in Lisbon. It’s quiet in the morning, but buzzes with a thriving restaurant scene in the evenings. It was fun to wander the streets and take pictures of tiles. I loved it!
From Barrio Alta we found the Elevator de Santa Justa. In 1902, an architect who had studied unto Gustav Eiffel completed this 150 foot tall iron elevator, connecting the lower and upper parts of town. From the top we took pictures in all directions. I particularly love the view of the Praca dos Restauradores square with the fancy zigzag tiling.
We wandered a few more streets and then made our way down into the lower Baixa streets and across the valley to the the opposite hillside, through a big department store, down an escalator, out the other side and then found another elevator. I’ve never seen a city with so many elevators to help navigate up and down the hills.
We turned the corner and saw a little drums, guitar and flute band playing out of their little balcony. There was a crowd watching and we stopped and danced a bit. They had a basket hanging down from the balcony and Scott went up and put some coins in. It was definitely a unique arrangement but a fun memory. Loved this area up by the Lisbon castle.
Loved this little area of town. We headed to the Largo Santa Luzia - a small terrace with a panoramic view (above) - for the second night in a row. But this time it was a little earlier in the evening so the view was a little more colorful and beautiful. The streets below are the twisty lanes of the Alfama neighborhood. Cable cars ran down the connecting streets every few minutes. Bands and guitarists played on the corner and lots of people were out walking around. And the temperature had settled down to near perfect. I love these series of pictures of Chris and the cable cars.
From one lookout to another. We decided to head back up to a lookout by the Lisbon Castle and parked ourselves on a park bench to wait for the sun to set — along with everyone else in the city. Nice to have a seat and rest a while. What a beautiful view of Lisbon.
After taking a few pictures, we decided that we’d take a restaurant recommendation from Rick Steves and with already exhausted legs we hiked from one hillside, down through cool graffitied stairwells and streets, through the grid like streets of Baxia and back up the other hillside into cool Barrio Alta. It was well worth it.
We picked the Restaurante Bota Alta - a good two dollar sign $$ restaurant that was fantastic. It was cute too - decorated with boots everywhere. We were on the early end of European dining times and didn’t have a reservation but they still fit us in. Seriously tight quarters in there maximizing how many tables they could fit! Chris and Scott both order steak which I think was their top meal of the entire week. Elisha and I ordered Salmon which came with carrots, and little potatoes covered in butter sauce. It was AMAZING.
From the restaurant we walked the 15 minutes back to our cute two bedroom apartment which gave us a total of 14 miles walked throughout the streets of Lisbon. One full day and I think got Lisbon covered. So fun!