A Travel Blog
Here are some of the buildings in the more upscale Príncipe Real neighbourhood of Lisbon. It felt a bit like Nolita in NYC with its eclectic mix of interesting shops, bars and restaurants.
One of the most impressive sights at the Jardim França Borges park in the heart of Principe Real is this giant white Mexican Cypress umbrella. It is over 100 years old.
After Sunday’s visit to the more famous landmarks in the Belém area of Lisbon, we found lunch and then wandered through the nearby Jardim Botânico Tropical.
Much of these tropical gardens were originally installed for an exhibition in 1940, and the original intent was to showcase plants native to some of Portugal’s more tropical colonies, including Brazil, Goa and Macau.
We took the tram to try the original Pastéis de Belém at the Antiga Confeitaria that has been making them since 1837. These tarts are called Pastéis de Nata elsewhere in the Lisbon, and they are available almost everywhere. But these are the originals made with a secret recipe.
They are truly the best Portuguese custard tarts I’ve ever had. Crispy crunchy flaky crust filled with light creamy custard.
On Sunday we visited Belém, a district of Lisbon about 20 minutes from the city centre by tram. Historically this area was where the royal and religious elites of Lisbon lived and built their palaces and other buildings of importance.
By far the most dominant building in the area is the enormous Mosteiro dos Jerónimos (Jerónimos Monastery) which was constructed over several decades beginning in 1501.
After waiting in an unnecessarily long line to enter, we were finally able to circle the very large cloister, which has two levels of incredibly ornate carved pillars and windows looking into a grassy courtyard.
One of my more vivid memories of my short visit to Lisbon in 2003 was the Convento do Carmo, a convent and church constructed in the late 1390’s and then destroyed in the earthquake of 1755.
The arches of the convent can be glimpsed from the viewing platform of the nearby Elevador de Santa Justa.
After admiring the Castelo de São Jorge from many different angles since we arrived, we finally made a proper visit yesterday evening a little before sunset.
The Romans had created fortifications here by 48 BC, but most of the castle was built by the Moors in the 11th century. It was in ruins by the early 1900’s, then heavily reconstructed in the 1930’s and 1940’s, which is probably when most of the walls we see now were actually erected.
Here’s a short video of our ride up on the Elevador De Santa Justa from Baixa to Chiado.
The lift opened in 1902 and was designed by an apprentice to Gustave Eiffel, who designed the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
We left the historic Alfama and Baixa areas and took the ludicrously crowded Tram 15E along the riverfront out to the Alcântara neighbourhood. There, at the foot of the Ponte (Bridge) 25 de Abril, we visited two of the more recent additions to the Lisbon map.
The LX Factory reminded us a lot of Toronto’s Distillery District. In 2008 an abandoned 1840’s textile factory was converted into artist studios, cafés, shops and market stalls.
One last blast of freezing rain and flurries blew through Toronto just before our plane was scheduled to take off. We felt lucky to be delayed by only one hour, which we spent watching the robotic arms of the de-icing machines spray down our plane with a fluorescent green liquid.
After a stop in Montreal and six more neck-wrenching hours trying to doze on the plane, we arrived in Lisbon around 7 in the morning. Even from high above, the famous “light of Lisbon” was already evident, glowing on the orange rooftops of the buildings we flew over.
London is such a vast city that even a full week spent exploring as tourists meant we barely scraped the surface of a few neighbourhoods.
In between all the other major landmarks, museums, pubs and restaurants we visited and blogged about, we also came across other things that caught our interest. Here’s a random compilation.
Our time in London was suddenly running short, but conveniently many of the remaining essential London sites we wanted to see were quite close together.
Our first stop on the Westminster side of the river was Downing Street. Due to understandable security concerns, the street is gated from Whitehall and heavily guarded. The Prime Minister’s residence at 10 Downing is barely visible through the bars.
Nearby, we saw some democracy in action, in the form of a loud protest on Whitehall.
We made good use of the Millenium Bridge, built over the Thames in 2000. It’s a pedestrian-only bridge, and after the initial opening it was closed for 2 years to fix a “wobble”. We’re happy to report it was nice and stable when we crossed.
