Hoping to photograph the cruise liners I repeated my morning run; no liners just hung over still-partying Portuguese youths!
Choosing the iconic Lisbon tram 28 to take us up to the Moorish castle, Castelo de S George, we joined the tram queue. I was not popular when it proved to move extremely slowly as the sun rose, and the temperature with it. I did really relish my iconic tram ride through the winding narrow, tile clad, packed, ancient streets; I admit the trams are very similar to the ones in San Francisco!
More queuing, fortunately short, and we were in the castle, a mixture of ramparts walkways, towers and ruins, with a museum, set in an idyllic shady hilltop park with spectacular views across the city, river and countryside. We queued to see the camera obscura inside one of the towers. Spectacular to see the horizon reflected below as the guide talked us round the city.
Fortified with more pastel de nada and coffee, we left the cool breezy hilltop and followed a walking trail down to the river passing local land marks; overlooks, plazas, the Sé and even a Roman amphetheatre. The highlight was a graffiti comic style mural depicting Portugal’s history in a tunnel off the stairs under the Miradouro das portas do sol.
Arriving back at the hotel, I had ring-side view from the bathroom of Lisbon’s gay pride parade, whilst others, fatigued by the heat, took forty winks! We ate in a boutique fig restaurant close to the hotel, where there were intriguing Disneyesque fig trees and curvy banquette, strange bathrooms and yes I did eat figs!
Photos - just my snaps!
Iconic tram 28 ride
Views of and from the moorish castle, Castelo de S George
Amble down back to the hotel
Early morning riverside run
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