Farewell Vila Viçosa - Hello Again Lisboa

Alluring Alentejo: Day 8

Sunday, 13 October 2024

After six wonderful nights in Vila Viçosa at the lovely Alentejo Marmoris Hotel & Spa, it was time to head to Lisbon — or Lisboa as they call it in Portugal (I love that word for some reason).

A big (literally) deal in Portugal is the large number of storks. Yes, like the ones that bring babies. 😂 They are protected under Portuguese law, which creates challenges as they love to nest in power line towers. So the utility companies and the storks have to find ways to get along as the storks create their “storkdominums.”

To us, it looked as though the power company builds platforms for the storks to encourage them to nest where they are away from the energized parts of the lines.

As we crossed the bay into Lisboa, the oldest part of this famous maritime port was in full view.

And of course, a very old aquaduct:

Our first stop was the city center to see a park and get a beautiful view of the bay we just crossed.

As mentioned in earlier posts, the sidewalks throughout this part of Portugal are all made out of marble. Here in Lisboa is a monument honoring the work masons have done to build and maintain these sidewalks.

Note also the nod to Portugal’s maritime history.

The sidewalks are all marble tiles. The streets are all granite cobblestones.

And of course, there is a fort…

And other interesting scenes.

Interesting things like this medieval monastery among the much newer buildings.

Many interesting things to see…

We then visited the magnificent Jerónimo’s Monastery, designated a UNESCO World Heritage site, which exemplifies Portugal’s power and wealth during the Age of Discovery. Commissioned by King Manuel I in the 16th century to honor explorer Vasco de Gama’s successful voyage to India, it features richly ornamented buildings in the Manueline style. The church and cloisters include many carved decorations inspired by the sea.

Note the astrolabe above the church dome above.

As mentioned in a previous post, mason’s marks were readily visible in this 500-year old church and monastery.

Here’s the inside of the monastery:

Another mason mark:

Here are three in a row by the mason who makes a cross with five dots:

He was rather prolific…

Frieda and at least a couple other folks thought I was silly being so interested in these mason marks but to me, they are cool. To think some craftsman made these marks over 500 years ago to ensure he got paid correctly and to this day, they stand as his personal mark on these stones!

The maritime theme is everywhere…

And note, yet another mason’s mark:

And yet another:

No tour of Lisboa is complete with a taste of the traditional local pastry — pastel de nata — a custard tart with hints of lemon, cinnamon and vanilla, often sprinkled with powdered sugar. It resembles a tiny pie with baked, creamy egg custard in the center. It was simply delicious and we appreciated our lovely tour guides getting them for us as a surprise.

Let me assure you, it was phenomenal!

We then made a quick stop at the Monument to the Discoveries, a huge, 20th-century sculpture in the shape of a caravel, a historic Portuguese sailing ship.

After this very busy afternoon of sightseeing, we checked into the Dom Pedro Lisboa hotel to freshen up before heading out for Fado at Adega Machado.

Our view for the 40 minutes we had in the room before heading out to the dinner and show:

I had sea bass several times this week and each and every time it was spectacular, including tonight:

And the Fado show was great!

The street scenes at this hour in this music district were very interesting.

And that’s a wrap for today. Tomorrow, a leisurely noon flight out from Lisbon to Washington Dulles and then to Knoxville. Should be in our own bed by 9:00 pm local time. Or so we thought. Little did we know what Boeing and United Airlines had in store for us tomorrow, and Tuesday, and into Wednesday…