Happy to be Traveling

After arriving at the Porto train station, we were shooed towards the next cab in line where our driver, after Ella told him, “Viela Ilha de Ferra 12,” looked at the printout of the address and then started wagging his finger at us, “Porto, no Porto!” I was confused. Was this a warning? Or was…

Here is what the inside of our Lisbon AirBnB looks like. I am guessing it is a typical layout for an apartment in Lisbon. It is old but spotlessly clean and well kept. You can see in the kitchen, the range is about half the height of a regular range. The microwave and washing machine…

Another sunny day? It’s beginning to seem like normal weather for Lisbon. A nice soft light (not sharp and intense like back home) along with a big river breeze that doesn’t kick up any dust. Balmy. One could go out and conquer the world. Like the Portuguese duke Afonso de Albuquerque did in the early…

The weather channel promised a rainy morning and why yes, we did have a 2 minute shower as we moseyed down to the bus stop. That’s it. Then followed yet another weather perfect day. We boarded the crowded 727 bus to the Belem district to visit two museums we missed when we visited the Tower…

Photos from the little oasis https://photos.app.goo.gl/L6o8jyi9ZWimFpSHA Museu do azulejo (Museum of Tile) https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ti1V8p2CKSR84Z9C7 Museu Nacional de Arte  Contemporânea do Chiado https://photos.app.goo.gl/gAQvFiGzyuY2CnFo6 Marionettes https://photos.app.goo.gl/7MfhtKt4P392SpAF7 A taste of Lisbon 4 https://photos.app.goo.gl/eTfAEjwKNKnfTnAf8

Speaking of masks, not devil masks, but the Covid masks that are still required indoors in Lisbon, I can’t resist including a shot of a woman exiting a somewhat formal event a few days ago as we were somnambulating towards the riverfront. It’s not a closeup, but if you look closely you’ll see the lady…

Grubb will be on board soon to take you through the Museu Nacional de Arte  Contemporânea do Chiado and the Museu do azulejo (Museum of Tile). In the meantime, I will just say it was another weather-perfect day and skip ahead to the food. The meal, because I know you want to know I had a…

This morning when I stepped out to get coffee from the kiosk of my dreams, the streets were damp and the moisture in the air spritzed me intermittently. I thought, “This is it, Lisbon as advertised, rain soon to follow.” Ella, on the other hand, chooses to make weather predictions from reports on her cell,…

We started with a morning walk through mist-like moisture. Not quite rain. Up (despite Google’s continued assurances that the route was “mostly flat”) to the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, which I’m leaving to Grubb to enthrall you with. Estufa Fria. Released from stodgy art…no I shouldn’t say that…there were some beautiful tiles, rugs, tapestries and fine…

Photos from the Torre de Belém (Tower of Belem)  https://photos.app.goo.gl/8NCdRCYzoJ7jpWaT8 Photos from the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos (Monastery) https://photos.app.goo.gl/HMMC9oEBPanFmJ4q6

Okay, we made it to the Bélem tower around noon. (Third day in a row without rain. Spooky.) Take your regulation castle and subtract everything but one of the towers and you’ve got a good idea of where we ended up climbing the spiral stone staircase to step around the obligatory cannons poking their barrels…

First up this morning…purchase a Viva Viagem card. This is the magic way to ride public transport in Lisbon.  One can ride the metro, trams and busses by waving one’s card at the fare reader. Only sold at metro stations.  There was a bit of a tussle between Me and the card-selling Machine. It politely declined…

Uploading photos to a blog post is painful so we limit to a select few. For those of you who like to see more photos, we will create google photo albums and post the link. Here is a selection of photos from today. lots of roof top views. https://photos.app.goo.gl/Qo29nN5Pavz52gju7

I dunno, I welcome all suggestions. That’s what we felt like this morning. Halfway back from zombification. We managed to clear the cobwebs and were ready to forage for some caloric and caffeine input by 10am. The coffee kiosk across the street was just opening. Our timing was spot on. But first, we walked at…

First day in, we trekked over to a famous indoor market that was on the waterfront. Unlike the Sawmill Market in Albuquerque it sported cooking show chefs dolling out precious portions of highly decorated seafood (except for one tiny booth offering octopus hotdogs, which intrigued me but at 12 Euros and a long line, I…