Lisbon!

 Usually I plan trips in advance but sometimes you just want to get away, and not think about it too much.  So off we went to Lisbon, in Portugal, with no planning except an Airbnb, and it was great! The weather was good and we basically just spent a lot of time wandering up and down. Literally up and down - it's a really hilly city!  This street below was typical. 

Or else the streets consisted of great big flights of steps. Our Airbnb was on top of a big hill and I'm sure it was good for us! 

There are a variety of trams in Lisbon, but the old ones are very small and so they're are perfect for the most twisty, turny and hilly streets where the larger trams or buses would get stuck.  If you're lucky enough to get a seat, you can watch life from close up outside the window. My eye was caught by this woman waiting for the tram to move away so she could cross the road.  She had such a presence, and I loved the colours behind her too.  What do you think?

If you've ever been to Portugal you'll know about the fantastic tiles to be found on so many of the houses. It sometimes seems as if you'll never see the same design twice. This old place caught my eye, combining a formal blue and white look (and 1920s decorative frieze at the top) with an abstract design at ground level. 

This 19th century tiled building still housed a tile shop

I like the monkey by the balcony

Lisbon is built around the wide estuary of the River Tagus. This is the view down Rua Augusta, one of the major streets of Lisbon. It was Saturday night and people were strolling around, watching street entertainers and going into the little cafes. And, at the end, beneath the arch, is Commerce Square, which fronts on to the Tagus waterfront.  The statue is of King Dom José I.  

Lisbon has become far more affluent since we last visited, years ago, and this area has changed I think, since I seem to remember a lot of little old shops selling dried codfish around here. There is about the right mix of quirky and traditional now. 

 

Just off Rua Augusta is the famous Elevador Santa Justa,  built over 100 years ago by a pupil of Eiffel.  It is a practical bit of public transport, offering a quick and easy route from ground level up to the Largo do Carmo district at the top of the hill. I didn't want to goto Largo do Carmo, but considered going up to the top in the evening ... but something distracted me.

And here's what it looks like in the daytime - a striking sight, over a hundred years old and still in daily use. 

We spent a lot of time around by the waterfront at the bottom of Rua Augusta.  The waterfront faces directly south at this point, and at most times of the day you'll find people ambling around, or sitting with their friends, watching the sea, looking at other people or having a coffee or a beer in the square.   

Each part of the day had its own character. Below is a photo of the same location as above, but this time in the evening, when the tide was in, little boats were scudding to and fro and the sun was sinking behind us.

At the weekends, the square and waterfront had their share of entertainers, but one person who was on the shore the whole time was a pleasant, benign old man who pottered about creating a curious stone sculpture garden. Actually, he simply balanced rocks from the shore one on top of the other. He had painted some of them with faces or colours to create a quaint little family of characters. These were quietly compelling in their surreal way. Some seemed to represent people, male and female; some were animals, mostly quite lovable; and some were fantastic monsters. We noticed that every time we came back, he'd changed something about the group - since the rocks were only balanced I suppose it was not hard to change them about. In the end they began to seem almost alive, you never quite knew how you were going to find them.   Here they are in the bright morning sun with the tide out, all of them seeming fairly cheerful.  See the little white figure sitting on a large bollard at the far right?

 By the evening, the sea was beating against the shore, and she - or he - was marooned.  To me this pile of stones began to look like a contemplative Indian figure, sitting cross legged and detaching itself from the foaming water surrounding it.  

We also went to some of the important sites and museums, although again in a relaxed way.  I did want to see the wonderful early 16th century fortified tower at Belem, a western suburb of Lisbon.  It is the area from which the Portuguese explorers set out in the 16th century; a golden age in Portugal.     

The tram ride to from central Lisbon to Belem is mundane - a mish-mash of commercial areas, a scruffy railway and an absolutely sensational overhead bridge - but when you reach it, it has the most spectacular monastery.  In fact, the monastery is so good that it really deserves a post to itself, as I don't feel I can do it justice here.  Dating from 1502, it also houses the archaeological museum of Lisbon.  The best way to get an idea of how it looks is to take a look at some of the photos here on Tripadvisor

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g189158-d195318-Reviews-Jeronimos_Monastery-Lisbon_Lisbon_District_Central_Portugal.html

The fortified tower is built in similar style to the monastery, but because it is smaller (even though it's four storeys high) it does have a particularly fantastical air, specially when the tide is in and the water swirls about.   We walked from the monastery- about half a mile - and crossed the dismal railway into a park which surrounds the tower.   Although it was early February, the grass was green and lush and studded with little flowers.  We walked down to the shore.

There are too many spiral stairs to count in the tower and the authorities have installed a rather hokey-pokey traffic lights system so that not too many people are trying to go up and down at the same time. Nobody mentioned the system when we went in, and it was a bit broken anyway, so there was much confusion, but in the end we did manage to get right up to the top and back again. It's beautifully restored and it's a fine experience to be standing within in the fortifications (below) with the water swirling all around outside.  It must be so exciting to be there when it is storming wildly.  

But it was all calm and blue.  The tower is reached by a drawbridge, with a windlass, and its interior is well restored and full of cannon, all strategically placed to set off a bombardment against enemy approach.  I can't imagine how noisy and smoky it must have been when the cannon were in use down there. 

Despite its ethereal appearance, the tower also has a fairly nasty dungeon, although they have done their best not to make it too scary.  I was so glad to have seen it at last.  To me the architecture reflects both the strength and the civilised culture of Portugal in those confident days. 

We had a coffee in a jetty cafe a little further up the shore, sitting on the deck with a good strong coffee and a pastel de nata (those delectable Portuguese custard pies) while the sun blazed down and winter felt a long way away.

I'll finish with a view of the balcony of our Airbnb, which overhung a steep drop, and had a side view of the castle on top of the hill on the left.  And, also I've put in a little video I took of some fado musicians who we came across playing in a little park overlooking the city.  I thought the singer was terrific but have no idea who they were. Fado is still very much alive in Lisbon, and there is actually a fado museum, which we didn't visit.  Ah, well, another time - I am glad that mostly we just wandered around and relaxed.