sintra

ginny had an aunt winnie who was married to a man named roland...winnie and roland lived in the sintra area for 14 years of their (roland's) retirement...the day-long tour to sintra came highly recommended by the hotel staff and with a family connection we decided to make the journey...

the first stop was pena castle...the site was once a monastary (feels like a theme in these parts) and some of this 19th century castle saved portions of the 16th century monastery in its design...

 the castle is HIGH up on the mountain top...winding roads with frightening drops as we looked out the windows of the bus...i did think about what would happen if we missed a turn and took the drop...oy...

 this scary guy was worth a photo for sure...

 we were not allowed to photograph inside the castle...it is furnished with original items from the royal family...the last of the family left the castle in 1910...they had running water (hot and clod) and an amazing tub and shower combo that i very much wanted to document...

 the views from the castle were spectacular...

 after the tour we returned t0 the village of sintra for a little shopping and lunch...there were 9 of us on the tour...a woman from spain...a couple from brazil and two couples from croatia...we engaged in some wonderful conversation with one of the men from croatia throughout the day...an interesting soul there...

center of sintra...

 the view from the square...

 after lunch we boarded the bus and headed to cabo da roca...the western most point of europe...beautiful beautiful beautiful

 another stop later down the coast...cabo raso...

 men fishing from the tops of the cliffs...can not imagine how this works...

 our final stop was the village of cascais...a fishing village...they call it a village...really there are over 30,000 inhabitants...village bah!

we returned to lisbon...whooped from three days of buses and climbing...i said to ginny when we were arriving in lisbon that i hoped we would leave portugal feeling like we wanted more...i do...i do want more...

we will rise before the sun tomorrow to begin our 2 day journey home...we have a 24 hour lay over in amsterdam...i have been in the airport many times but not the city...we will have the afternoon to see the anne frank haus and the van gogh museum...

kir&gin

fado

day 2 in lisbon arrived and it was another blue sky morning...breakfast and we were off...friday must be laundry day...as i looked through the 200+ pictures taken today, many were like these...there is something about taking photos of other peoples once dirty laundry...

 our agenda today included a trip to the tile museum, st. jorge's castle and an evening of fine food and fado (a traditional portuguese music--very melancholy)...i think it is obvious that we enjoyed the tile museum...

 the museum is housed in a old convent...i found myself humming "how do you solve a problem like maria" as we walked around the courtyard...yep i'm a little goofy...

 tile is a major part of portuguese decor...

 this woman was later joined by others...the crates are full of hundreds of tiles waiting to be cleaned and restored...

 no convent would be without a chapel...and this one is a doozey...

 i found the combination of the painted art and guilded decor and the blue and white tile strange...

 the ceiling over the front of the chapel...

this is the choir "loft"

 back to the other areas...a small cloister...

 the spigots, once dispensing "holy water" caught the eye of this photographer...

 a little fun...

 one of those one armed couple shots....

 this was one of ginny's favorites...it is all about the monkey....

 we returned to the center of town and started the "climb" to st. jorge's castle...this cathedral was on the way...the old style street cars are part of the lisbon scene...

 we arrived at the castle...mostly ruins, reminding us of the castle on the hill in nice, france...we walked the grounds...very nice, i mean nice...

 ginny is taken by an olive tree...or taken with :)

 the view from st. jorge's...

 one of the castle's inhabitants...

 back to the bottom of the hill to catch our bus and return to the hotel before our evening out...so many of the buildings are abandoned...

 at 8"30 we arrived at faia...a traditional fado house in the alto barrio...the meal was lovely...the ambiance was perfect for this ladies night out...during the 3.5 hour experience we heard 4 fado singers...3 women and one man...these 2 were our favs...

 enjoyed the music very much...will be downloading some fado for the lindbloom-larsen collection upon our return...

kir&gin

lisboa

good morning lisboa...up and at 'em...

after a great breakfast at the hotel we hit the pavement and find our hop on hop off bus...

 there are many abandoned buildings...this block has used the space as a canvas...

 this is the lisbon arena (bull fighting)...unlike spain, bulls are not killed in the fight...

a group of 8 men overtake the bull...

 the gulbenkian museum came highly recommended (great tip friend joan)...

we enjoyed the visit very much...

 rodin...

 monet and degas...

 lindbloom...

 the sidewalks throughout the city (what we have seen so far) are made of small broken white brick...

 several times today there were decals on the sidewalks, advertising, directing foot traffic...it is no surprise that the ants on the street in front of the gulbenkian caught our ginny's eye...

 tile decorates the city...old and new...

 yep that is a super sized jesus in the distance...

 the marina...

 street "people" in lisboa too...what a surprise...

 belém tower...

 a little treasure hunting before we visit the tower...

 this is the view from the second story of the tower...

 peek-a-boo...

 tiny winding stairways...

 great views  of the rio tejo (aka tagus river)...

 shadows...

 miss virginia pulls up a rock while we wait for the bus to take up to our next stop...

jerónimos monastery...

 a quick stop in the sanctuary...

 back on the bus...some creative waterside seating...

 tiles are used decorate the outside of buildings...

 old city life...

 today was a general strike day for public workers...this very organized event was very lively and the sound of chanting crowds could be heard long before we reached the square...

we made our way from one square to another and came upon a parade of workers...

 basta...enough!

"enough stealing from the poor"

 "education is now a luxury"

 i am so glad that i have included incline work as part of my exercise regime...this city is hill after hill...on evening one we are feeling the burn...

 chestnuts have been roasting throughout the city....

a great beginning to our time in lisboa...

ate thanksgiving dinner at a local cafe at the end of the block...cod (traditional meal) for gin and swordfish for kir...yum!

kir&gin