Paris? Rio? San Fran? No, it's Lisbon!

Bill sums up Portugal this way; it's a nice blend of France with plenty of history, broad boulevards like the Champs-Élysées, and great pastries!, Rio with the giant statue of Jesus, San Fran with the sister bridge to the Golden Gate and on top of all that prices that rival Mexico. We highly recommend it, so if you get a chance, go!

Krystal & Kenzi at Obidos

We had the rare and sweet privilege of getting to see a dear friend who was graciously our tour guide for several days during our stay in Portugal. Krystal, Kenzi's friend from college, lives here and runs
a coffee shop, Con Cafe, associated with the church of the Nazarene. It has been nice to talk to someone besides just each other. Krystal was most definitely the hostess with the mostest. What a treat to spend so much time with her!

Our first day here was actually a national holiday, known as Freedom Day, honoring the Carnation Revolution of April 25,1974 which ended the regime of Estado Novo. It was a bloodless coup, so it is recognized by putting red carnations in the muzzles of guns. Krystal picked us up at the airport and took us to the Mafra National Palace, a massive building which includes a cathedral. It's much too big to capture in a photo.

Drinking Ginja in choc cups

Then we went to see the walled city of Obidos (pronounced Obeedoosh), which naturally has a castle and an extensive history. The old city wall is completely intact and you can walk all the way around it. They are known for their cherry liquor called Ginja that comes in little chocolate cups - yum! The town inside the walls is very quaint, and we happened to go on a gorgeous weather day. Apparently, there are tunnels underneath town too. Basically, it seems like it would be a dream to grow up there, climbing the old walls and exploring the tunnels. 

We also drove up the coast to a place called Nazare, which has a long history of launching sailors out into the big scary ocean (and inevitably losing some of them, which has led to a mournful style of music called Fado, which we heard often.) Just off the coast of Nazare is an underwater canyon that, when the conditions are right, causes massive waves.

Nazare

Occasionally, very experienced surfers will attempt to surf these 75-foot waves. The day we went, though, the ocean was calm, and from the lighthouse lookout, we got a gorgeous view of the town and the ocean. Another idyllic place. 

Color everywhere!

The next day we explored our neighborhood. Keep in mind Lisbon is hilly, lots of steep ups and downs. The buildings are often painted bright colors or covered in pretty tiles. The sidewalks usually have tiled designs. We found a park that had a nice view of downtown, then walked the "main strip" in Lisbon, Avenida de Liberdade, a wide boulevard, full of trees and swanky shops. There are a number of large squares in Lisbon, each with an important statue in the center. We found the iconic Santa Justa Elevator, an outdoor elevator from the early 1900s that gets people from the downtown street level up to the Carmo square so they don't have to hike up a giant hill. Our neighborhood also had the world's oldest operating bookstore, Bertrand's, started in 1732. You wouldn't really know it aside from the little sign on the wall because it's now owned by the Portuguese equivalent of Barnes and Noble. 

25th of April bridge

Lisbon is on the Tagus river, where it provides a safe launching point for sailors into the Atlantic. So we explored the river front a bit. There are two interesting iconic copycat features on the river. There is a bridge called the 25th of April bridge (see Freedom Day above) that looks strikingly similar to the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco, same red color. There is also a massive statue of Jesus with outstretched arms, the Christ the King statue, standing across the river from Lisbon. This was inspired by the bigger Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janiero. The Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon liked it and wanted one for himself, but also wanted to commemorate that Portugal was largely spared the effects of WWII. 

Us with Jesus

There was an incredibly destructive earthquake in 1755. That, and the subsequent tsunami and fires basically obliterated Lisbon, so they had to rebuild largely from scratch. Just down the river, in Belem, however, the large monastery and cathedral survived the earthquake pretty much intact.

Monastery and cathedral at Belem

Belem has the extremely popular pastry shop called Pasteis de Belem, which created the Pastel. You'll find these little pastry cups filled with custard in nearly every cafe. Bill had many during our visit.

Pastels

We also toured the Maritime Museum in Belem, filled with all kinds of nautical history, gear, and full-size and model-size boats galore. You might recognize two of their most famous explorers Vasco de Gama and Magellan. Because of their sailing prowess, Portugal had quite a few colonies around the world. Portuguese is currently still spoken in Mozambique, Brazil, East Timor, to name a few.

We also visited an enchanting place about 30 minutes outside of Lisbon, called Sintra. Sintra's lush mountain was home to Portugal's royalty in the 1800/1900s and you can immediately see why. The Pena palace, a Disney-ish fairytale palace, is perched at the top of the mountain with beautiful views in every direction.

Panorama of Pena Palace

Overall, Portugal is old, charming, and beautiful. We had a really great time there. Here's a time lapse video from the top of the arch at the main square in Lisbon, Praca de Comercio. 

We just landed in Boston, and have a couple days before Kenzi's big surgery. So no more exciting travel blog for awhile. Thanks for reading, and we'll see you on the other side!