Happy Birthday Kim!

June 22 was Kim's birthday and we made special arrangements to be in Lisbon one day early to celebrate. She wanted to take a walking tour of "Old Lisbon" and made arrangements through a tour guide that she found on the internet. We advertised the tour to the rest of the International Convention attendees from 5190, and ended up with 12 folks signed up. We were to meet our guide, Michal at Pedro the IV Square (Praça de D. Pedro IV in Portuguese) at 13:00. It turned out that the Metro had a stop right at the square. We walked the one block to the nearest station to our hotel, and hopped on a train for "Old Town".

As we emerged from the subway station, we were in an entirely different city it seemed. The area around our hotel was very built up and modern with the International Convention Center, numerous high rise hotels, and many many shops and stores. The city we now saw before us old. The original heart of Lisboa, it was destroyed in the middle of the 18th century by a massive earthquake and tsunami. Everything except the higher parts of the old city near the Castle of Saint George (Sao Jorge) was totally destroyed and eventually rebuilt.

A view of Pablo IV Square where our tour began from the heights
of the upper neighborhood. This really gives you a sense of the
grandness of this beautiful place.

We wandered around a bit into a nearby plaza. Here was the Lisboa we were expecting. The old buildings around the square were beautiful, and very impressive. They seemed to be in more decrepit condition than we expected of such grand historic structures. As we examined them more closely, some of them had their roofs caving in, and broken windows with stained and decaying facades. At the top of the hill above this plaza was the Castle of Sao Jorge. Built by the Moors during their rein here, it has been restored, and we had reservations at a restaurant there on the coming Tuesday evening with about 35 folks from our district. It was exciting to see this view and to think we would be up there in a few days enjoying great food and friendship!

The Castle of Sao Jorge as seen from the square. We had dinner
there later in the week.

We ran into Jon and Martha Greene as we wandered the area and decided to get a bite to eat and a Cerveza. The Portuguese word for beer is very similar to the Spanish, so it wasn't too hard to order. Besides, the waiter spoke excellent English. 

Martha and Jon Greene and I pose with Pablo IV
Square in the background.

Our first round of cerveza (pronounced  "ser-vay-jha".

After lunch, we went to Pedro the IV Square, and joined up with our other Rotary friends and our tour guide. It turned out that he was a PHD student (Information Technology applications in medicine) and his name was pronounce "Mee-sha-ou". The equivalent of Micheal in English. 


We spent nearly 5 hours with Michal, and had a wonderful time. Here are a few of our "discoveries":

This fellow was happy to pose next to his salted Bacalau Codfish.
A staple of Portugal.

This Dominican church burned down in the '50's and was rebuilt.
However, none of the fire damage was repaired on the walls and
columns and can still be plainly seen.

Ginjinha is a cherry liqueur that is considered something of
a national drink in Portugal...at least in Lisboa. 

I bought a bottle of Ginjinha, and we toasted Rotary together
in our tiny paper cups.

This street car is called a trolley lift. It is not a long ride hoizontally,
but it is around 100 feet vertical, so well worth it. Our day
transportation pass got us on all public transportation
(unlimited) for 24 hours. Only 6 euros.

It was perfectly level inside the car!

After we got to the top of the Lift Trolley, we continued our climb on a much gentler grade to a beautiful small park that overlooked the old city. We could see the Castle of Saint George on the skyline, and a treed park below it and to the left. This place was called Grasso, and our plan was to make our way there from our current overlook. The oldest part of Lisbon is called Alfama, and it is situated below the castle, and towards the Rio Tejo. This is the only part of old Lisboa that was spared in the Earthquake and tsunami in 1755 because it was built on a more solid foundation, and was high enough to be above the tidal wave.

This photo was taken from the Upper Neighborhood. Alfalma
is the area below and to the right of the castle.

As we continued our tour, we came to the Institute of Port Wine, and decided to go in and try a glass. It was cool and dark inside, a welcome respite from the climbing. We all got our glass of good Port, and sang Kim a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday. We enjoyed the pause, but finally got up and headed out for more discovery.

My kind of "higher" education!

We went in, sat down and "tested" the world's finest Port wine.
We also serenaded Kim with a happy birthday toast and song.

Definitely the best maintained building we saw was
military police headquarters.

A cathedral that was destroyed in the great earthquake, sticks out like a sore thumb on the Lisbon skyline. At first I thought it was just more "urban blight". However, it turns out that it was never restored, and exists today as a monument and museum to the quake and its victims. It was interesting thinking about ruins that had been preserved for all this time.

At first I thought this burned out cathedral was more urban blight.
Not so. Unfortunately it was not open.

Just past the ruined cathedral, and another way to get up to the high part of the city (other than the "Lift Trolley" we took) is a huge public elevator called the Santa Justa Elevator. Built entirely of cast iron, it was designed by an engineer who apprenticed for Gustave Eiffel. It connects the downtown area around Pablo IV square (Baixa or "Bye-jah") with the upper neighbor hood we were in (Barrio Alto). Its about a 25 meter lift, but we just used it for the scenic overlook. It is connected to the high ground by an iron catwalk about 50 meters long.

I got this picture off the internet to show you the view of
the elevator from below. It was built in 1902, and was
originally steam powered.

I am standing just outside one of the two elevator cars here.
Tremendous views from this vantage point.

We eventually got on a cable car to make the trip to the hill overlooking Lisbon from the opposite side (near the castle).

We all enjoyed the ride. It was fun sitting in the car and watching
people.

Some of the narrowest streets we have seen in our travels.

Tile facades are common in Portugal, and less common in Spain.

Once we made it to our other overlook, We took another breather in the little park our guide called "Grasso". It was another great opportunity for photos of the city and river.

This is the bridge over the Rio Tejo (Tagaus River) that all of the
early Portuguese explorers navigated to begin and end
the age of discovery. 

After a short breather, we started down into the old neighborhood of Alfalma. This area of town is very old, with extremely narrow streets that often descend in stairways because of the steep hillside it is built on. Many more decaying buildings were located here. Our guide said that rent controls to provide low income housing don't provide enough for the owners to do proper maintenance, so when a building becomes uninhabitable, they are often abandoned. This urban blight appeared commonly in all of the Portuguese cities we visited. However, the rural towns seemed to be much more well kept and prosperous.

A typical rundown tenant house. It is a bummer to see 200
year old building decaying like this.

Here we are looking over a SERIOUS one-way street.
This van pretty much takes it all!

Portuguese tile roofs have an almost oriental feel to me.
They seem very distinctive from Spanish roofs, but I am not
sure I can put my finger on the big difference. 

The maze of Alfalma from above. That pink building is the
 "Fado Museum". We didn't have time to visit. The Rio Tejo
is in the background.

Many of the Alfalma streets devolve into steep stone staircases.

 The "Alfalmans" celebrate the month of June as Sao Joao (Saint John) month, with street parties every night. There are numerous temporary cafes, bars, and restaurants set up all through the winding narrow streets. Lots of music, and delicious smells. They were getting ready for a late night of celebration as we walked through.

June is Saint John month. A month long block party, on every
block.

Temporary party facilities are everywhere! I was disappointed
 not to get to sample the food and drink at the party.

 Finally, we wound our way to a very tiny bar nestled in a narrow street corner. It was about 2 meters by two meters inside with an entrance on one side and a serving window on the other. There was only room for one small table, and the bar counter inside. We sat at several small tables outside and enjoyed a cold cerveza together! It was a well earned rest.

Thirsty Rotarians crowd in to the tiny bar.

Michal bellies up to the bar. What you see here is the whole thing!

The bartender comes out from behind the bar to serve drinks through
 this opening to folks on the street. In this case...us!

We pretty much took over the entire street corner!

Sufficiently refreshed, we headed out again continuing down hill towards our eventual destination....Pablo IV square. On the way we found a public (coin-op) laundromat. It was pretty basic. Essentially several large wash basins complete with corrugated washboards and some waiting benches. We could not see any provision for drying, so folks probably haul their wet clothes home to the line! This facility was very new, and there was a flyer advertising a Fado concert inside the following week. So, residents can wash their clothes and listen to traditional Portuguese music all at once. Maybe it helps with rhythm on the washboards. We also encountered a tiny supermarket. One room, but seemingly well stocked.

Check out the washboards in the cooin-op sinks!

A super market with one isle. Makes
shopping quick and convenient I think! This is
the only entrance and exit.

We bid Michal goodbye when we made it back to Pablo IV Square. He recommended a local restaurant called Pinoguio's for dinner. He even wrote down his suggestion for what to order: Fried shrimp (Gambas), Bacalaou codfish, clams in a garlic and parsley sauce, a boiled potato dish, and grilled chunks of beef tenderloin. All I can say is WOW! the seafood was excellent, all of it was amazingly flavorful, and we had a wonderful dinner together to finish off the day.

Fresh seafood at Pinoquio's restaurante!

Carol Hatch and Liz Feutsch prepare to dig in!

Grilled beef tenderloin (Pica Pau), salted cod (Bacalau), Fried shrimp
(Gambas), boiled clams, and "baked" potatos were a fabulous
combination set off with excellent bread (pan), and fresh made
potato chips. Oh yeah, and some great vino to finish it off!

Our dinner together was a great end to a fabulous day of touring!
Can you tell by the smile on the face of the birthday girl?

 After dinner, we made our way back to the metro for the 15 minute ride back to the hotel. It had been a fantastic day. A great way to begin our Portuguese adventure, and a great way to celebrate Kim's birthday.

Happy Birthday sweetheart!

That's All!