We have been astounded with how friendly and helpful every one is here, so unlike some of our previous experiences. We were catching the bus into town this morning and we came close to receiving a personal guide to make sure that we got on the right bus and going in the direction, and then he hopped off when we did just make sure that we understood how to get home again. So far, we love the Portugese. What has also surprised us is how many things are translated into English, but when you look back through history and see how they aligned themselves with England, rather than the French, I guess this makes sense.
We took a walking tour around the city today, with a lovely guide called Maria, and well … we were the only two being guided so it felt like a personal tour. It gave us the opportunity to ask lots of questions that you wouldn’t normally be able to ask, so we learnt quite a lot. The tour took us all over the old part of the city, through the various squares, and even on one of the vintage street trams that shuddered and ground its way up the hill. After a few minutes on the tram, it made me wonder whether the ‘Portugese Sardines’ that my grandfather used to rave about weren’t actually fish at all, but rather the occupants of the trams.
Being a more personal tour we got to go inside some of the buildings that they would normally just stand out side of. One of these is the old casino, and the other is a church (I can’t remember the name of it). But what is remarkable about this church is that it was demolished and rebuilt several times and for several reasons, so when the 1755 earthquake hit it with both demolition and a thorough ravaging by fire, they decided to leave it as it was and to just rebuild a shell around it. Inside you can see the pillars all broken, chipped, and blackened. It is like being inside a functioning ruin. The effect is incredible.
We have been told that the earthquake was about 8.7 on the Richter scale, it devastated much of both Portugal and Spain. When the earthquake hit, what didn’t fall down, caught fire from the candles. In Lisbon those that sought refuge from the fire by heading to the water, got hit by the tsunami that followed. No one really knows how many people died here that day as the records were destroyed in the church, but it has been estimated at about 60,000.
We found the elevator that was designed by the same guy that did the Eiffel tower. This takes you up to the upper city and you can definitely see the Eiffel design influence. Looks like a Meccano set.
We finished the tour by winding down through the old Moorish part of town, with its extremely narrow streets, run down houses, and what appears to be an extremely poor part of town. But we know that appearances can be deceiving, but you would certainly need to know your neighbours very well to live here.
We stopped at Belem on the way home and found the Monument to the Discoveries, which was very cool. Further along the waterfront we came across the war memorial next to the Pirate Museum. The eternal flame and the thousands of names on the walls is very sobering, however the sound of the Beatles ‘Ob-la-di Ob-la-da, life goes on …’ that was blasting out from the speakers next door was a bit unfortunate.
It’s still very hot and humid (30 degrees plus) so it was time to call into that fine Scottish restaurant … McDonalds, for a beer and WiFi. Yep … they have beer on tap at McDonalds. And that followed by another late night swim, seemed to work quite well to quell the temperature.
We took a walking tour around the city today, with a lovely guide called Maria, and well … we were the only two being guided so it felt like a personal tour. It gave us the opportunity to ask lots of questions that you wouldn’t normally be able to ask, so we learnt quite a lot. The tour took us all over the old part of the city, through the various squares, and even on one of the vintage street trams that shuddered and ground its way up the hill. After a few minutes on the tram, it made me wonder whether the ‘Portugese Sardines’ that my grandfather used to rave about weren’t actually fish at all, but rather the occupants of the trams.
Being a more personal tour we got to go inside some of the buildings that they would normally just stand out side of. One of these is the old casino, and the other is a church (I can’t remember the name of it). But what is remarkable about this church is that it was demolished and rebuilt several times and for several reasons, so when the 1755 earthquake hit it with both demolition and a thorough ravaging by fire, they decided to leave it as it was and to just rebuild a shell around it. Inside you can see the pillars all broken, chipped, and blackened. It is like being inside a functioning ruin. The effect is incredible.
We have been told that the earthquake was about 8.7 on the Richter scale, it devastated much of both Portugal and Spain. When the earthquake hit, what didn’t fall down, caught fire from the candles. In Lisbon those that sought refuge from the fire by heading to the water, got hit by the tsunami that followed. No one really knows how many people died here that day as the records were destroyed in the church, but it has been estimated at about 60,000.
We found the elevator that was designed by the same guy that did the Eiffel tower. This takes you up to the upper city and you can definitely see the Eiffel design influence. Looks like a Meccano set.
We finished the tour by winding down through the old Moorish part of town, with its extremely narrow streets, run down houses, and what appears to be an extremely poor part of town. But we know that appearances can be deceiving, but you would certainly need to know your neighbours very well to live here.
We stopped at Belem on the way home and found the Monument to the Discoveries, which was very cool. Further along the waterfront we came across the war memorial next to the Pirate Museum. The eternal flame and the thousands of names on the walls is very sobering, however the sound of the Beatles ‘Ob-la-di Ob-la-da, life goes on …’ that was blasting out from the speakers next door was a bit unfortunate.
It’s still very hot and humid (30 degrees plus) so it was time to call into that fine Scottish restaurant … McDonalds, for a beer and WiFi. Yep … they have beer on tap at McDonalds. And that followed by another late night swim, seemed to work quite well to quell the temperature.
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