Week 11: Lisbon

Olá from Lisboa!

When we arrived in Lisbon, hurricane Leslie was just on its way out of Portugal. We were lucky that the hurricane did not cause more damage, and that our plans in Lisbon were able to continue uninterrupted.

We began our visit in Lisbon a little differently than our typical pattern. The residual rain from the hurricane was very erratic and there were still moments of down-pouring throughout the day on Monday. We decided a walking tour would not be the best choice in the rain, so we started our visit to Lisbon by going to the aquarium. The aquarium was well set up, with a central large tank and different areas surrounding the tank to represent different oceans around the world. Our favorite sights were the sunfish, puffins, sea otters and penguins. Each penguin had different color beads as identification, leading to a wonderful game where the girls played scientist spotting and identifying each penguin in the enclosure. We had the chance to talk more about our world’s trash problem and learn about small changes that can make a big difference for the earth. Audrey and Maurene were inspired to design recyclable recycling bins that they hope to be able to build after our journey ends.

The rain subsided by Tuesday, giving us the opportunity to participate in our customary walking tour to get to know the area better. We had a wonderful tour guide, and the girls quickly befriended him. Throughout the tour, we were amazed at how steep the hills in Lisbon are as well as how many beautiful tiles are everywhere you look throughout town. One of the themes throughout the tour was the devastation that occurred on All Saints Day in 1755 when a 9.0 earthquake struck Lisbon and destroyed 85% of the city. We had the chance to see a few of the buildings that survived the 1755 earthquake and learned that the body of water that looks like a bay in Lisbon is actually the very wide Tagus River. Our favorite sights from the tour were the Igreja do Carmo Church ruins, the elevator created by a student of Eiffel, and commerce square.

Because there are so many things that we wanted to do and see in Lisbon, we had double days where we chose to do more than one activity during the day. Wednesday was our first double day in Lisbon. We visited the Lisbon history museum in the morning, and took a bus tour in the afternoon. The Lisbon history museum was partially closed for renovations, but we enjoyed the part of the museum we could see. The girls particularly enjoyed the models of the statue that we had seen in commerce square. We also all found the sketches from the aftermath of the 1755 earthquake fascinating. We looked at pictures from Lisbon throughout time and enjoyed exploring a park full of animal sculptures that was nearby. In the afternoon, we took a bus tour provided by Caravel On Wheels. This bus tour was particularly enjoyable for Audrey and Maurene because it was a video based tour. As we drove past different sights, the video screens in the bus would teach us about what we were seeing. We got to see the Belem tower, Padrão dos Descobrimentos statue, Lisbon Cathedral and more. Since our walking tour was mainly in the center of Lisbon, this was a great way for us to see a larger overview of the city and learn the history at the same time.

Thursday was also a double day. We spent the morning at the National Tile Museum and spent the afternoon exploring the part of Lisbon that is across the Tagus River. When visiting Lisbon, I would definitely recommend that the National Tile Museum be on anyone’s list. We learned about the different ways tiles were made throughout history and saw many different sets of tiles. Our favorite part of the museum was the giant tile depiction of what Lisbon looked like before the earthquake. The girls also really enjoyed the touch stations set up throughout the museum that were set up with braille and gave the chance to feel the designs in the tiles. The girls loved feeling the tile designs as they looked at them, and the stations gave the museum a much more tactile way to explore than was expected. In the afternoon, we took the ferry across the river and ventured first to visit Fragata D. Fernando II e Gloria – an old navy ship from the 1840’s. We enjoyed looking around and imagining how so many people could have fit on a ship and where they could possibly have all slept. After the ship, we went to visit the Christ the King statue. We were surprised to learn that the Christ the King statue, inspired by the Christ the Redeemer statue, was built as an offering and thank you to God for Portugal not having to participate in World War II.

Friday was a highly anticipated day, because we went to visit a town near Lisbon called Sintra. We took the train to Sintra in the morning, purchased a hop on/hop off bus tour pass for the day, and headed straight to the Moorish Castle. The Moorish castle was amazing! The origins of the castle were from the 8th century when the Moors had control of the Iberian peninsula. Over time, the castle turned to ruins. The ruins were then romanticized by King Ferdinand II, turning them into a beautiful space to explore. After leaving the Moorish castle, we went and visited Pena Palace. Pena Palace was also made by King Ferdinand II. The red section is the old monastery, and the blue and yellow sections are additions added on by King Ferdinand II. We loved the colors and enjoyed exploring inside and outside. Our favorite rooms were the rooms with a view of the Moorish Castle. Audrey and Maurene loved the idea of having a view of a castle from outside their palace window. Before going back to Lisbon, we got some queijadas de Sintra. Queijadas de Sintra are yummy little cheesecakes, but the coolest part was that the recipe can be traced back to medieval times! Sintra was a hit, we all loved it! Audrey and Maurene even asked if we could come back next week instead of going to see pandas at the zoo since there was so much that we didn’t get to see!

Saturday was a day for relaxing Lisbon style. We went to the Carcavelos beach since it is the closest beach to Lisbon that is an ocean beach. Carcavelos is a beautiful beach, with a wonderful view of the fort that marks the end of the Tagus River and the beginning of the Atlantic Ocean. We enjoyed the sunshine, people watching, ocean breeze and sunset before heading back to Lisbon. In the evening, Kris and I went out to have dinner and explore the city nightlife.