Lisbon - Day 3 cont - Castle

Well it's 9:3p.m. on Day 4 and I am about to write another post that will not complete Day 3. There is so much to do here and my days are full and interesting, so there is no time for blogging. (and you wouldn't believe the coaches I saw today!) There are a couple of rainy days in the forecast which may allow me to catch up. Otherwise the catching up will be done when I get home. So, to continue with the castle .....

The surroundings of the castle have old trees, statues and random bits of columns or pots. You get the feeling that there is so much history here that they don't know what to do with it all.

Inside the castle, in an area that at one time was a palace, there is a display of artifacts found at the site. This photo is of bits of coins from when the area was occupied by the Moors, who built the original fortification here. They are pieces of silver coins. The value of the coin was determined by its weight as it was made of silver. To make smaller denominations they cut up the coins.

Roman Amphora. they have evidence of Iron Age occupation, Phoenicians, Romans, Greeks, Moors, Crusaders and then the Spanish and the Portuguese.

The castle itself is just an empty shell of restored walls. It has been messed with so many times

from fortress to palace to prison to ruin

to tourist attraction. So unlike the crumbling ruins of derelict castles that I have seen in Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Somehow its easier to imagine their lives than when they have been "sterilized" like this.

Inside the walls, but outside the Keep, is an area where they have excavated and identified the Roman level and the Moorish level but I missed the time for a tour and you are not allowed in the area without a guide.

Just outside the walls was a man painting beautiful sepia coloured paintings of the city. He was colouring the ink drawings with coffee! I talked to him about it and he said he gets slightly different colours from the different brands. It depends on the roasting. Also from the different strengths. I may have to try this.

I walked down the hill a little and then stopped for a lunch of Octopus salad and wine while watching the people walking up.

Revitalized, I found another miradour

More tiles and music, there are buskers everywhere ....

Plenty of crowded trams

and tuk tuks.

I had noticed on one of the maps Roman Teatro and went looking. Not well signed and I was the only person there.

There were photos of the excavation

and a depiction of what they think  the rest of it looked like but that is all still buried beneath the surrounding buildings.

I got back on the HOHO bus, past the Cathedral which I didn't bother with and across to the other side of the valley where I wanted to see this miradour.

Many miradours are in front of churches and this was no exception but I have so many photos from this church that it is going in another post - tomorrow.