Lovely Lisbon - March 2017
Lisbon is known as the City of the Seven Hills and is twinned with San Francisco. They both still have the old-fashioned tramcars and the 25th April Bridge spanning the River Tagus resembles the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.
We arrived early last Thursday morning and having checked into the hotel and unpacked, we set off to explore. First stop was the tourist office to buy our hop on – hop off bus pass. I would recommend this to everyone visiting any city as it helps you get your bearings and gives you a great overview of the City. We chose the pass for the ‘Tramcar Hills Tour of Lisbon’ and I felt it was great value for €20.00 for a 24 hour ticket. The Hills Tour takes around 1 ½ hours to cover the various districts but it also included access to the Santa Just lift and the Lisbon Funiculars. Lisbon is full of castles, palaces and churches and is split up into several areas or ‘bairros’. Alfama and Mouraria are ancient medieval areas with lots of narrow alleys and whitewashed houses. The former is known as the birthplace of Fado, the music genre which can be traced back to the 1920s in Lisbon. Chiado is elegant and sophisticated with theatres, bookshops, cafes and expensive shops. Lapa is the diplomatic quarter and the Bairro Alto is where is all happens at night!
Once we had finished the tour, we retraced our steps back to the Castle of Sao Jorge which was once a Moorish royal residence. It is situated on top of one of Lisbon’s 7 hills with a fabulous view over the historic centre of the city. The streets and alleys all around the Castle were full of beautiful tile shops and small tapas bars. After exploring for a while, we took the ‘Santa Just Lift’ to the bottom of the hill and headed back to get ready for the evening.
The next day, we used up the rest of the 24 hours left on our hop on-hop off ticket and we headed to Belem and saw the spectacular 52m high Monument to the Discoveries and the Belem Tower which was part of the defence system at the mouth of the Tagus. We then continued on by train to the resort of Cascais. I have to say, this is a great option for a sun holiday during the summer months – lovely resort with great hotels, beaches, proximity to Lisbon (40 mins by train) and close to the UNESCO Heritage site of Sintra.
On our last day, we were up early and headed to Sintra which like Cascais, was also 40 minutes by train from Lisbon. I suppose I was not too sure what to expect but we were bowled over by it. Once again we purchased the hop on-hop off bus pass and headed off from the gorgeous town of Sintra to our first stop at the Palacio de Regaleira whose origins dates back to 1697. We spent almost 2 hours here exploring the palace, chapel and beautiful gardens with grottoes, wells and fountains. We then visited the Cabo da Roca which is the most Westerly point of Mainland Europe but the highlight of Sintra for me was the Palacio de Pena which is a national monument and one of the Seven Wonders of Portugal.
Our money was mostly spent on food, drink and taxis and I found all to be extremely reasonable. Another highly successful weekend for myself and friends. Lisbon surpassed all our expectations and we could easily have done with another night or two there.