A blustery day in Lisbon

On our first trip into Lisbon we experienced a little difficulty with obtaining the travel card necessary to tap and go - required here on all buses, trams, trains and the metro. The ticket office in Belém was closed and the automatic machine to buy and "top up" was out of order. Quite a few other tourists - all of them younger than us couldn't figure it out either, so we had no chance! Most of them wandered off, but 2 young Portuguese men who obviously knew what they were doing tried the machine and realized that it was indeed broken. After a little debate between themselves and thanks to translation apps on phones, they each gave us one of their cards to use. These cards were valid for a couple of journeys. They refused to take any payment, but after we insisted they compromised and accepted just €5. This act of kindness enabled us to tap the card in order to validate the start of our train ride …and more importantly tap when we arrived in Lisbon, a necessity to exit the platform! Just 3 stops and 10 minutes later, we arrived at Cais do Sodré in downtown Lisbon, feeling very grateful to these kind Portuguese citizens. Before exiting the train station we made sure to buy and add money to our new cards!

The weather was very blustery, the skies were dark and the water was choppy as we walked along the waterfront promenade alongside the river Tejo. About 1/2 way to the Arch of Triumph that signifies the entrance to the city, we were caught in a huge downpour that left us quite damp for the rest of the day. It wasn't unexpected - and no complaints from us, we were in Lisbon - and whatever the weather, it's a great city!

Continuing along the waterfront we reached Praça do Comercio (Commerce Square). Know to locals as Palace square due to the Royal Palace being the former residence of the King until the massive 1755 earthquake and the tsunami that followed. Lisbon was almost completely destroyed, but planning and rebuilding of the devastated city began just a couple of months later. On the waterfront at the bottom of the square stands a pair of pillars that signify Lisbon's gateway to the sea. With steps leading down to a small beach it's easy to see from this perspective how tidal the Tejo is…the ocean is "just around the corner."

It's a lovely square and a great place to enter the city. In the middle of the square sits a statue of King José I, on horseback. He actually escaped to Belém after the eathquake and never returned. The city was rebuilt by his chief minister, the Marqués de Pombal - a military man - who had the city rebuilt in the grid system of today. He also restored and added some of its former flair, which is often compared Paris. The king never slept in a stone building again and moved the Royal family to Brazil.

Surrounding the square is a lovely arched arcade with restaurants, cafés, a tourist information office and some wine tasting establishments. Passing through the arch leads onto Rua Augusta - a wide pedestrian avenue lined with shops, cafés and restaurants. Black and white cobblestones (calçada) cover the whole walkway, laid by prisoners in the 19th century and now maintained by skilled workers. With safety in mind and memories of the earthquake, these cobblestones move with shifting ground. Spreading tree roots cause "waves"and "humps" without cracking. Beware, they can be very slippery when wet and there's talk of replacing them with a more modern pavement …apparently something not favoured by locals (or us:).
In the 19th century after Portuguese colonists in Brazil learned that tiles on outside walls protected against humidity, the exisiting plain stone buildings were decorated with lovely Azulejo tiles.

Continuing along Rua Augusta we made our way to the Baixa district. Along the way the way we stopped at one of the many churches to see what we initially thought was a wedding, due to all the well dressed people who were milling outside. After watching for a while, we came to think it was actually some kind of graduation - many of the young men were wearing the traditional cloaks that students wear in Portugal.

A few streets further and we were in Praça de Figuera (Fig Tree Square), which is a bit of a transportation hub. Sitting in its centre is a statue of King João I on horseback. Around the perimeter is a shop that's been in business since 1829, Manteigaria, now a chain that sells pastries including the famous custard tarts. Another longstanding business (since 1890) is Bacalhiria, a very small place with lots of dried cod! Completing this roster of old establishments is A Ginjinha which was the first shop in Lisbon to sell the beverage made from fermenting cherries in brandy. Water, sugar and cinnamon is added to produce the sweet and cheap liqueur which has become famous in these parts…it's very potent!
This square also has a more serious history. The church of Såo Domingos was damaged by 2 earthquakes - one in 1531 and the other in 1755, after which it was repaired. In 1918 it was declared a National Monument. In 1959 after a huge fire it was completely gutted. Over 100 fire trucks fought the blaze throughout the night and by the next morning all that remained of the interior of the church was the gutted shell. Two of the firefighters lost their lives. Working together the neighbourhood congregation began to clear the debris and with the addition of folding chairs began to hold services. In 1960 a temporary metal roof was installed and Christmas could be celebrated, sheltered from the elements. Re-opening in 1994, the vaulted ceiling had been carefully reproduced except for some differences in the pigmentation of its colour. It was decided that the scars from the fire should remain on its stone walls as a reminder of the disaster.

Corner to corner with "Fig square" is the larger Rossio square and the front of the beautiful Rossio Train station. The entrances are horseshoe shaped with "Estaçao Central" carved into them. Topping this lovely stone building is a clock - always handy for travellers and commuters - the station has connections to both trains and the metro. For added convenience there's a large Starbucks inside the front entrance!
The square itself is decorated with the traditional black and white cobblestones. They've been skillfully laid to give the optical illusion of a striped and very wavy pavement, which can be very disorienting for those of us with motion sickness…my tip is don't look down when walking on them! Rossio square is surrounded by wide busy roads - in fact due to its long oval shape it was used in Roman times as "racetrack." On the outer perimeter is a broad sidewalk with many shops, restaurants and cafés - it's a busy social and gathering place, at its centre is an area with many places to sit and take in the surrounding scenery. At the top of Rossio is the National Gallery built after the earthquake. It was decided to remove all traces of the former palace due to it being the headquarters of the Inquisition.

From here we turned around and slowly strolled back to the train station - retracing some of our steps, but finding some "new" streets along the way. We were already making plans for more days of exploration of Lisboa!