Lisbon, a must see!

We took off to Lisbon for an overnight trip and found an amazing city that is overlooked as a destination. The city is gorgeous and so easy to navigate, by metro...Yancy drove but I wouldn't have been up for that! In order to get to the city by car you have to cross Europes Golden Gate, built by the same company who constructed the famous bridge in San Fransisco it is a gorgeous site to start off the vacation.

Oringially named for a dictator...the bridge was re-christened the April 25th bridge in celebration of Portugal's freedom. The bridge crosses over the River Tejo, and the cars and river are under the watchful eye and outstretched arms of a giant statue of Jesus, reminiscent of the famous statue in Rio. This was Yancy had his first look at the Lisbon traffic. He had been warned by guys at the Fire House that is was going to be rough, and it definietly had its moments.

Although this photo wasn't taken until the end of our trip it shows the river, bridge and statue. In order to get a picture free of overhead wires from their trolley system you have be quite far from the bridge and even then getting the massive bridge all in one shot is difficult. We really lucked out as the day was beautiful and let us run all over town.

We headed straight for one of the main circles, Praca Marques de Pombal so we could hopefully park, find a place to stay and just get going, and while this has often been our plan it has never worked out so beautifully. We lucked out finding a Best Western, as un-Portugese as that sounds it was perfect. Right out side our hotel was the Metro, tour buses, busline and major tourist attractions. The hotel itself was hilarious! As you stepped in the elevator you were greeted by life size images of Audrey Hepburn or Humphrey Bogart! The rooms were made up in a mod Sixties style and the part I loved was the life size furniture almost exactly what I had in my Barbie Dream house as a kid. although they weren't green with diagonal pink stripes, the more tasteful colors of red and white could not hide the same style of Barbie, late 70's early 80's. The associated restaurant was Yancy's favorite part, The Great American Disaster, a great burger joint. He loved the name so much he stole a menu!

We wandered around the first night, finding the main shopping, tourist area just watching people and enjoying the city prepare for Christmas with hanging lights and decorations.

The next day we walked through the park across from our hotel, Parc Eduardo VII. The park is on a slopping hill that ives a great view to the river from the top, over looking the Pombal circle. The park is lined with cobblestones up either side and a beautiful hedge garden that is perfectly semetrical down the center. Water gardens are also found on the edges but are over run with ducks, pigeons and other birds, and aren't so attractive.

Lisbon has been the victim of a few serious earthquakes and Pombal (as in the circle) was the Minister of the Kingdom who is credited for rebuilding the city of Lisbon after the devistating earthquake in 1755. He was really an interesting man and very sucessful. The earthquake is thought to have registered a 9 on the richter scale and Lisbon fell vistim to it, then a tsunami and many fires as a result, and he had the city rebuilt in a year. Too bad we can't seem to work that fast in the US over 200 years later! In fact he was able to rebuild the city and make it earthquake proof, in 1755! The city center of Lisbon had the first earthquake proof architecture in the world. Models were created then troops were sent to march around them to simulate the shaking. There is so much known about the earthquake becuase the Portugese government sent surveys throughout the kingdom to gain as much knowledge on the event and great strides were made in the science of siesmology as a result.

We hoped on one of those tourist buses that you can hop on and off of all day in order to see the major sites in the city. We were able to see so many beautiful places like the Modern Art Museum, Royal Palace, the Royal guard band procession (horses and all) and a monument to the great sea explores and their courage. It turned out to be kind of a rip off we found out later, as the major sites in Lisbon are pretty close together but still it was fun sitting in an open air doubel decker watching people duck the branches of the trees we passed. When we finished looking at all the sites he tried to get back on the bus...and a tip for Lisbon travelers, take the yellow tour bus, they have bus stops. Our red tour bus stopped randomly in the middle of a intersection and we had to hop on. This was after we walked from the farthest point out and tried to hop the bus a couple of times with no luck...so remember yellow!

The last stop on the tour was the Torre del Belem, which now sits on the edge of the riverbank, semi surrounded with brachish water and jellyfish that have seen better days. Before the earthquake and subsequent river move it used to be an island and guarded the river and city. The tourist information board said a similar one was accross the river but I couldn't locate it.

And per the usual routine, if you can climb to the top of it Yancy is all for it, so with the maxed out zoom, you can see him at the top. Thank goodness we need pictures of these climbs seen as I am not a big fan of the tight, winding, uneven stone staircases. I know I am a chicken and I came to terms a long time ago, so non of Yancy's tricks to try to make me go up work. I started up and I think I got about 6 steps up when the people coming down were clutching to the center pillar for support that I opted to go back down and take the picture instead! Gotta give credit to these European women climbing up and down, and being tourists all day long on teh cobblestones while wearing their stilleto high heeled boots! WOW! I am impressed.

The last two pictures have to go in here becuase it was the main attraction in Lisbon for me, the wavy cobblestone. Staring down at it as we walked was a little difficult but it was so gorgeous! Now I can't wait to go to Macau someday and see it there!

Just so you know all the other pictures are in the picasa site so you can see them. Lisbon is so gorgeous, trust me if you are heading to Europe and it is a feasible option, go! Lisbon was just rated the cheapest capital in Europe to live in, and it really wasn't too bad, for Europe!

Miss everyone! Keep in touch, and we will too!