Lisbon - more Day 3

This church, turns out it was a monastery, overlooked the miradouro. San Pedro de Alcantara.

Inside; tiles

more tiles

and still more tiles, lining the walls of the chapel.

There were also inlaid coloured marbles on the walls

and a very subtly painted ceiling.

Down at the miradouro I was disappointed to find that they were doing some work on it. The edge was fenced off and all the statues were imprisoned at the end.

I could see across to the castle

and admire the mosaic work.

Further down the street I followed signs for a free exhibition, at the back of yet another church

This one, Sao Roque, was very ornate

with some unusual tiles

and a magnificent ceiling.

but I was more interested in the display, called Weaving Hope, of clothing made for the Virgin Mary statues in various churches in Italy and Portugal.

I have noticed in former travels, the statues, having their clothes changed.

Perhaps it is seasonal.

Some of them were labelled as being ceremonial

for when the statues are paraded through the streets.

Getting hungry, I walked down

what seemed like a thousand stairs

I found another of those weird little heads.

I ate at this restaurant and had my first "rip off" meal.

The guy at the entrance was very pleasant, the prices on the board there looked reasonable and the fish was cooked to perfection.

But the waiter was downright rude. I asked for a glass of wine and a glass of water, as I always do, and he told me that I could only have bottled water. That no restaurants in Lisbon will give you tap water. (I have eaten out 3 times here and always been given tap water when I asked for it!). Next he bought me bread, butter, olives, cheese and pate. I am used to this, they charge for all those things so you just indicate to the waiter what it is you want. I said I would just like the bread and butter and he grunted and left it all there. I ordered one of the "specials" off the board at the entrance (that's the word the guy used there) and the waiter said they were not specials just smaller portions and didn't include vegetables.
When the bill came I had been charged the equivalent of $5 for a slice of bread and a pat of butter (most restaurants here have the prices for those extras on the menu, usually a matter of 50 cents) and a "cover charge" of another $3. I did not tip! When I looked on tripadvisor to give them a bad review and warn others all the reviews duplicated my experience, some even worse.

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.

Lisbon - Day 3 - Castelo de Sao Jorge

A chocolate croissant with my custard tart this morning, I'm going to have to keep up the walking to burn my breakfast calories.

Waiting for the first bus of the day to come along I was glad I had looked at the weather forecast. Although it was going to be 20 it was currently 10, therefor t-shirt, long sleeve shirt and wind breaker.

The other routes use the traditional double decker, open roofed buses but for the castle route they have to use this smaller version. I was early enough that I was the only person on a lovely ride through narrow cobblestone, steep streets.

Somewhere on that trip I took a picture of this very ornate church entrance. I'm not sure I could find it again.

Nor the Lisbon Duck Store, but I'm not sure why I would want to.

St Vincent, the patron saint of Lisbon, he of the crows.

I disembarked at the same stop as the #28 yellow tram. The guidebooks indicate that this one has the most picturesque route and therefore there are always long queues and often standing room only on them. I think my little Hop on Hop off bus was probably just as good a trip.

Across the street was a Miradour and the sun was just burning off the dense fog over the river.

It was still a steep climb

and I felt as if I was being watched.

Beautifully rendered.

Then the laneway you expect

then the unexpected and then music ....

I haven't seen one of these since Paris.

Finish climbing, line up, buy a ticket and then your out onto a wide open space that surrounds the castle

Fabulous views

nice and clear now and warming up too.

With a careful analysis of columns in squares and green space I can figure out where I am staying.

There are the requisite cannon

and an extremely noisy flock of peacocks.

Its 10:30pm, I'm tired and I am not even half way through today's pictures but I will have to split the post up (again) and finish it tomorrow.