After a relaxing morning and breakfast at the cafe and mercado outside out door, we decided we would try doing one of Rick Steves’ walking tours. Try being the operative word as his stream of consciousness way of giving directions is always quite fun to follow. While we couldn’t follow it exactly, we did manage to find a few of the spots and better yet, some other things along the way. One of our best finds today was a short cut down (and more importantly up) the hill from our apartment.
There are several funiculars in Lisbon to get you from the lower levels of the city to the upper levels and one is right by our apartment. The Ascensor da Bica is a quick ride to the top of a very steep hill and used by locals and tourists a like. It was quite funny to watch folks along the route crazy enough to try the walk stopping and taking pictures of those wise enough to pay the approximate $5.
After reaching the top of the hill, we made our way to a Praça (square) and then up another long hill with thankfully a lot of great shops to take rest breaks along the way to Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara for a great view of the city. There was a little market at the top with stalls with food, trinkets and drinks.
A little back down the hills was São Roque Church. We had passed it on our way up but because a mass was taking place we couldn’t go in but by the time we came back down, mass was over and we were able to check it out. So glad we did as it was unbelievable. The Chapel of Saint John the Baptist was made in Rome for the a papal mass in the Vatican. After the one mass, it was disassembled and shipped to Lisbon.
After a little lunch, we somehow we managed to find our way to the Convento do Carmo and the Elevador de Santa Justa. Fortunately we were at the top of the Elevador de Santa Justa so we were able to walk across the bridge to the platform for some great views. You can ride up or down the elevator which connects the upper and lower levels of town together but it is really just something tourists will do…and ones that are crazy enough to wait in a line that today I heard someone say was 2 hours long! The steps down to the lower level are easy to navigate, less crowded and important on a sunny day, in the shade.
One of the things we had read about before coming to Lisbon was the Tram #28 but let me tell you, it is not easy to find a tram stop in spite of seeing them go by continuously. We finally found a stop about midway along the route and took it to the end. As the trams are popular with tourists and locals, they are quite crowded and we had to stand most of the way. At the end of the line, we found a little snack shop and did some people watching. We were able to get window seats on the next tram and rode the entire route and so glad we did as it took us through the entire historic part of Lisbon to the foot of the Castle São Jorge (we’ll visit later in the week).
A quick taxi ride later, we were back in our hood at Time Out Market where we had an amazing burger and fries with garlic aioli and more people watching. The Market is a very popular spot and finding a seat is like finding the Holy Grail so we split up and went on a search. While enjoying our burger, we laughed at the look of excitement on people’s faces as they would score a seat and wondered if that is how we looked when we got our coveted seats. It’s been a long day of walking so it was time to head back to our apartment via our newly found shortcut to enjoy some the chocolate we picked up in the market and port we brought from Porto.
Boa noite!
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