Our last couple of days in Lisbon were like the first couple of days, lots of walking around. Sunday we again went to Belém, this time to see the monastery and church and to visit several museums. All that walking and visiting is hard work, so of course we had to have more pastéis de Belém. The weather was warm and the tourists were out, so there were crowds everywhere.
Monday, we did more walking tours, around the Castelo de S. Jorge, then through Baixa, Alfama, Bairro Alto, and Chiado. We ended the day with a relaxing beverage at the rooftop terrace of of the Hotel do Chiado, with fine views of central Lisbon.
Tuesday, we visited the Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, a wonderful building set in beautiful grounds. I was particularly impressed by the collection of Oriental art as well as by the amazing Art Nouveau decorative pieces by René Lalique. I had never seen anything quite like his Libélula, or dragonfly woman.
Gulbenkian himself is an interesting character, one of the richest men of his day, and his statue with the Egyptian god Horus behind him stands on the museum grounds.
We ended the day by walking towards the center, down lovely Avenida Liberdade.
Walking, walking, and more walking. We also realized that we were getting tired of walking and that it was probably time to go home. Next time we might have to rent one of these:
Wednesday we left Lisbon and headed to Madrid, where we stayed at the NH Barajas Hotel near the airport. We didn't do much except visit the huge Plenilunio mall ("the largest commercial center in Spain," with over 200 stores) before going early to bed to rest before the long flight back to DFW on Thursday.
One thing we noticed is that the second most common language in Portugal was English, both written and spoken. We heard lots of Italian, some German and French, very little Spanish. In Spain, there was much less English and no Portuguese.
And what about those custards, eh? After all, that's why I went, right?
I had at least two custards a day, sometimes more. (Terri thought my reason for going to Portugal was silly, but she put aside her misgivings and graciously helped by eating almost as many custards as I did.) I bought them at famous old shops, at the mall, in the airport, at a museum, at neighborhood pastry shops across the street and around the corner, in department stores. They were all wonderful, passing my critical taste tests with flying colors. The best of them all, I'd have to say, was the pastéis de Belém, when eaten at the counter, still warm from the oven with plenty of cinnamon and powdered sugar sprinkled on top.
Never content to sit still, we're off again on Monday, on a short road trip to visit family in East Texas. But that's another blog post.
Enough of writing and reading, it's time for pictures. Here's my Flickr photos from Lisbon. Or, if you prefer, the slideshow version.
P.S. The main advantage of having access to the AA Admiral's Club is that you get to go into other airlines' lounges (Iberia, BA, Blue Lounge), all of which are much better.
[I bought them at famous old shops, at the mall, in the airport, at a museum, at neighborhood pastry shops across the street and around the corner, in department stores.]
ReplyDeleteReading this was akin to having sugarplums dancing in my head, only better. Way to go!
It's been over a month now -- I'm ready to go back.
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