Lisbon, Portugal

For October break 2016 we went to Lisbon, Portugal, and absolutely loved it!  We hadn't done as much traveling to new countries this year due to Elise's back surgery in New York and our new vacation house in San Diego.  So it was really fun to be exploring a new city again!

We flew on Friday evening and took a tour of the city on Saturday.
No, this is not the Golden Gate, but it's twin, the 25th of April Bridge in Lisbon.  It was apparently designed by the same company as the Golden Gate.  This one, however is a double decker.

 We took the elevator to the top of the Christus statue for a great view!  Aren't you glad you came to the top, Dad and Nate?

 From the bridge and Christus statue we went to the Belem District of Lisbon.  This castle was at one time in the middle of the river.  It's Manueline style, which is Moorish with some nautical influences.

The Monastery of Jeronimos, also in the Belem District, is beautiful.  Inside the tree-like arches are reminiscent of La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.

 And we stopped at Pasteise de Belem for the original cakes.  They are small cream tortes - the original recipe coming from the monks many years ago.  You can also see the tilework that is so prevalent around Lisbon.  They came as a result of the earthquake and resulting fires of 1755 which destroyed much of the city.  The needed to rebuild quickly and wanted it to be beautiful, so they added tiles to adorn the facades of many of the buildings.  Absolutely beautiful!

 There are several hills in Lisbon, affording beautiful views.  Here you can see the Castle of St. Georges on the hill.

 The food wasn't bad, either!  Nathan had the whole fish :)

 A highlight of our trip was a cooking class.  We joined a group of other interesting and diverse people from around the world to cook a typical Portuguese meal.  The chef got everyone involved - the kids were working hard!  And Dave talked with a lot of interesting people :)

 Monday we took a tour to Sintra.  The small old town was beautiful.

 We then went to Quinta da Regaleira to do some exploring - which was amazing!  There are towers and tunnels galore.  The waterfalls were especially interesting.

 The above picture was after Elise had a bit of a mishap!  The waterfalls were beautiful.  You can see in the photo below, that the water was covered by a neon green moss.  Elise thought it was grass and walked (actually ran) right into it!  It was over a meter deep, so she was soaked (luckily her iPhone survived).  So with some help and extra clothes from Dad and from our friends the Stitts who were on the tour with us, she made it through the rest of the day.

 We then went to Pena Palace, the most visited place in Portugal.

 After Pena Palace we visited Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in Europe.  it was beautiful!  A bit like the southernmost point we visited near Capetown in South Africa.

 Dave had to leave for a work conference in Barcelona, but we continued touring (and doing a bit more shopping) without him.  This restaurant is Cervejaria da Trindade, the oldest brewery restaurant in Lisbon, and also a former monastery.  Again, the tile mosaics on the walls were incredible!

 After a great dinner, we happend to see the Magnum Shop!  What a treat.  You create your own Magnum ice cream bar, complete with gold flakes if you like.

 For our final day trip we went to Obidos, just over an hour from Lisbon.  It was incredibly beautiful, and the coolest part was the wall around the city (without any walls).

 Some of us were more scared than others!

 Although we don't have as many photos of our walks around the town, we had a great time walking.  And the best treat after a lot of walking was gelato...especially from Santini's.  Amazing gelato.  Were were very spoiled!  We also did some shopping for cork goods, and Elise got a nice leather jacket for her birthday.

 

It was a great trip!