LISBON – Portugal (Sun 11 Oct)

Our first stop in Lisbon today was going to be the castle ‘Castelo de Sao Jorge’, but we got way laid along the way. On the way up the hill we went into the church. It was quite disappointing as it was quite drab, and despite the silence that you expect from the outside world, this wasn’t being respected at all.

We bought what we thought for ourselves a lovely lunch to have on our way up, but as is often the case with the interpretation, what we bought, wasn’t quite what we thought it was. So after eating half, we contributed the rest to a beggar woman nearby and it seemed to make her very happy. We often feel that we don’t mind in the least contributing to those in need in the form of food. Unfortunately you often get the feeling that the beggars are taking advantage of gullible tourists. But judging by the reaction today this woman had a serious case of need. In one sense this makes you feel happy that you can help, in another it makes you feel sad that there are people around you that are unable to feed themselves. As we walk through the streets, you have the sense of how desperate some of these people are. The living conditions are appalling, the buildings in any other country would be condemned. You can understand why this is the home of ‘Fado’ music (translated as ‘Fate’).

We continued up through the narrow streets to the castle. What we found when we got there that this is actually the ruin of a castle, but interesting none the less. Over the years this has been the home to Phoenicians, Romans, and Muslims. So it has had quite a checkered history dating back to the 6th Century BC, but the castle has only been around since the 11th century. What seems to be a dominant conversation piece in the history of the old structures in this area, is the earthquake of 1755.

We walked through the grounds, up around the parapets, through towers and back down again. This isn’t a particularly large castle, but it is quite a complex little puppy, weaving its way up and down stairs, through a labyrinth of towers and walkways. Quite a cool castle really. On our way out we saw a tout selling ‘recycled wallets’, and in the light of our recent experiences we thought this was quite amusing. A slight translation issue we feel.

We spent the afternoon walking around the old town, thinking just how lucky we are, and looking for the promenade that we had been promised by the waterfront. As it transpired the promenade was quite some distance away. Where we were walking, the waterfront was protected by huge barriers and a container wharf. So we drove back to the camp and finished the day with a swim in the pool before dinner. We are still having temperatures of over 30 degrees here.