After reaching our final destination, take a rest, it was a Wednesday, January 4th when we took this great walk around Lisbon... We had a "local tourist guide" and it was one Hivian! I'm not sure if (s)he would mind if I use a tag here, so I will skip doing it... 😃
So, we were planning this trip to Lisbon for a long time and we have finally arrived, but don't worry, there will be more posts from this journey as we picked a different road to come back home... So, more amazing cities will be documented in this series! As you have noticed from previous posts, on this journey, other great cities took the "glory" of this final destination, like Cádiz, Tarifa, Almería or Málaga!
In the beginning, one of the most recognizable marks of Lisbon is these wooden trams! You can see them everywhere, but to my surprise, I took only this ONE photo! 😃 Yes, they can be longer, bigger, and more efficient, but making them in an old-fashioned way gives that "Lisbon touch" as you can't see something like this somewhere else...
This photo was taken from the Praça do Comércio (Commerce Plaza), which is a huge square that looks, on one side to the river Tagus, and on the other side this beautiful Arco da Rua Augusta, or in English, Rua Augusta Arch. I think that the construction of the building began in the 18th century, but this was finished 100 years after as there are some photographs from the second part of the 19th century when this huge arch was constructed...
On the right side of this photo, you can see the statue of King José I (Joseph I of Portugal), by the famous Portugues sculpture Machado de Castro... Of course, I forgot to take a closer photograph, but you can see the king riding a horse... The sculpture was built around the same time when the whole square was renovated, around 1775 in memory of the big earthquake that hit the city in 1755...
We have passed the big "gate" (look at the photo above 😃) and heading toward the city through one of the main streets...
Another big "mark" of Lisbon, and Portugal in general, are their specific cakes... There are many pastry shops and we had a lot of difficulties to pick the right one... Spoiler alert: We did enter one and got some of these custard tarts, but they weren't that good... 😒 The bakery was in the city center and probably one of those "for tourists"... But, we found one gem a few days after this walk and they were delicious!!!
One of the most emblematic buildings in Lisbon is this Elevador de Santa Justa (Santa Justa Lift)... Its primary function was to connect the lower street with the upper street as that part of the city is very steep... This beauty was one of the designs of architect Raoul Mesnier du Ponsard, who did a couple of other projects in Lisbon which involved complicated cable-car lines... What is interesting is that some of those lines are still operative!
To ride the elevator you have to buy a ticket... As we were 5, we chose to go on foot, sparing some money (for cookies 😋... lol...), and doing some footwork on the stairs...
On the way up we saw this great old automobile that was probably an advertisement for the popular Portuguese music genre Fado...
You know that I like street graffiti and this was an interesting one, fulfilling the white wall that was on the stairways... A lot of messages on this "small" artwork...
When we reached the top, we saw the rest of the Convent of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in front of us, and on the right side was a narrow bridge/passage that led to the above-mentioned Santa Justa Lift...
I don't have to explain how amazing the views from the top of the elevator... You can see it for yourself from these photos!
And now, a couple of photos of how the lift construction looks from a very close view!
Look at all those small details in every possible place... On stairs, railings, ceilings, etc... You gotta love the Neo-Gothic style!
It was time to go back on the ground and we are currently on another emblematic square of the city, Praça Dom Pedro IV, or Rossio square, whatever you like more... On one side, you have this big Column of Pedro IV (look under), and on the other side is a fountain that I forgot to take a photo of... 😃 But, I did have a second chance to do it late in the evening when we came back to this same spot! (You can find that photo at the end of this post)
On this intensive walk, the next stop was the old Church of St. Dominic which had a long and painful history behind it... It was built in 1241 and it was the biggest church in Lisbon, but it was almost completely devastated by the earthquakes in 1531, and later in 1755, too!!!
But, the "bad luck" for this church didn't finish then... After finishing rebuilding in 1807, 150 years after, a fire devasted it again! In 1994 the church was opened to the public again and it is classified as a National Monument...
I'm only in the middle of this walk, so let's speed up a bit... 😃 Above you can see another great building, the St Anthony's Church, while under, you can see the Lisbon Cathedral, which was also devasted by early mentioned earthquakes, but rebuilt after them!
As it was already late afternoon, the next stop was the shore of the river Tagus (Tejo)... On the way there, I had to take photos of these typical house architecture for Lisbon...
And here we are, close to the end of this great day, looking at the last sun rays of the day over the bridge on the river Tagus...
We are the same spot where @ewkaw took her photos and published a post a few days ago... If you are a sunset lover, don't forget to check it out!!! Here is the link once again @ewkaw/sunset-for-everyone...
...and it's gone... Fantastic airplane trails and sun under the bridge... 😍
...a lonely boat coming back to the port...
... and we are back to the Rossio square, to the fountain that I have promised to you... With these lights, it's even prettier than it was during the day...
Thank you for your valuable time and I hope that you liked this short/long tour around Lisbon,
ph
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