Another beautiful day dawns, except there are ominous black clouds on the horizon behind us – so we are keeping our fingers crossed they stay behind us! But a beautiful sunrise up ahead as we sail down the River Tagus and into Lisbon. We clear the “big” bridge, which looks like the golden gate bridge in SF, and sail past a P&O ship and into a berth at a harbor that is much closer to town than what we had expected. The ship is selling shuttle tickets for $12 each to go into town, but from the look of the map – it’s only 1 mile if you go directly to the shuttle drop off – and we plan on wandering…so off we go.
Well, off we try to go. We got in early, at least it seemed that way. But the Captain either isn’t comfortable docking this ship, or he won’t dock until exactly the time it says on our Schedule (to save m9oney probably!) because he sits in the harbor - about 50 yards from the dock – forever! We queue up in the hallway and listen to the staff when they say to stand back behind a table. Of course our fellow passengers don’t pay any attention to that and try to shoulder their way in front of us. Ed tried blocking the path, but the guy pushing through was way bigger and kept hitting him with his backpack – so finally he just let him through. Even the staff there saw it and tried to stop it – but they don’t listen. Honestly, a line is a line….but whatever….we were off by 9:15 and on our way.
First stop – the Sao Jorges castle up on the hill above Alfama. We wandered through the little streets of Alfama – the city’s medieval quarter that completely escaped damage in the 1755 earthquake that devastated the rest of the city. it’s a sleepy morning in the narrow cobblestone streets, restaurants just getting deliveries and setting up for the day, cafes beginning to open, typically with a lone male customer smoking and drinking his espresso. the buildings are a mix of architecture, but so many have the famed azulejos tiles for which Lisbon is so famous. It’s a nice introduction into Lisboan life.
Up the winding, hilly streets we go, until we get to the Castle. Perched at the top of Alfma, there is a fabulous view from the courtyard and even better vistas when you climb to the top of the castle walls. We spent about 30 minutes wandering the walls, taking panoramic pictures of the city below and generally enjoying the atmosphere and the day.
Managed to scoot out of there just as the tours were arriving (they had to walk up the hill too because the buses couldn’t make it through the narrow streets). As we were heading down toward the Baixa district, we spotted a cafe on the plaza with a sign advertising Fada at 12:30. Fada is a uniquely Lisboan style of music, sung by a lady with 2 guitarist accompanying her. The songs are sad and heart rending, and supposedly you shouldn’t smile or act like you are enjoying the music or the musician will take offense. We decided if at all possible, we’d try to come back to hear it.
Heading down tot he Baixa, the streets began to open up a little and the neighborhood becomes more cosmopolitan – or at least more city-like. We ended up winding our way down to the main plaza, Rossio, at the end of Ave Agosto – which is the main shopping street of the city. Above the plaza is the tree-lined Ave. liberdad – which ends in a park with sweeping vistas of the city. We decided to save the park for another visit, and headed up to the Bairro Alto – the residential area perched on the hills opposite the castle. Instead of walking up the steep hillside, we took the funicular which was fun – but jam packed – which made it hard to really see where we were going.
Once up top, we strolled through the back streets where many Fado clubs exist (but only at night) and gazed upon all the tiled houses and people watched as we made our way back down to sea level. After a brief stop at the post office (the first PO we visited, there was way too long a wait, this one, not so bad), we headed down to an internet cafe for a bite of lunch and free wi-fi.
Mar Adeniro Cafe was a great choice. Light lunch of salad and antipasto plate which tides us over until dinner. Free wi-fi is a big bonus too – so we checked 9our mail, skyped our voicemail and made sure we were up to date with everything.
Headed back in the direction of the ship, passing by Placa Commercio where the shuttle dropped you off. what a rip off. It wasn’t more than a 15 minute walk – and all flat! Not even remotely worth the $12 they were charging for it.
So back through the shopping street, up into Alfama, we figured we had time to see the Fado at the cafe by the castle. Made it there a little after 1:30. Beer and wine, sitting outside in the sun. No Fado. Well, what the heck – its’ nice, the drinks are good. No one speaks english really, so we are kind of on our own. We ask one of the guys standing around if there will be Fado – he says Si, a dos. Ok, at 2. And yes, at 2, here comes an older lady singing Fado – and the guy we talked to who also sings. But he had a sore throat, so he couldn’t sing as well as he wanted – of course he told us all this in Portuguese – had a great conversation with him! Turns out he and his family own the cafe and are the Fado singers. He also has a CD which we are now the proud owners of – autographed of course (can’t read a word he wrote except for per Katy and Eduardo)!
Finally dragged ourselves away and back down toward the ship. Restocked our pantry – and headed back for a nice quick sail to Vigo the next morning.
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