[Travel] Lisbon, Portugal

I had a dream a few days ago where my flight ticket for a trip got cancelled in the middle of the flight.  It was the flight to somewhere in South America(I’ve never visited South America and I would really love to!). Weirdly, the transfer was in Congo, Africa and the flight to South America was cancelled because of a skirmish in the capital city. I woke up from the nightmare. I was relieved that I was not middle of skirmish in Congo but in Sweden. However, the reality is not much better than my dream now. My sister in Korea could not send masks to me because there is no flight between South Korea and Sweden. About a month ago, Americans traveling abroad had to make immediate return because Trump suspended travel from Europe to the US.

I went to Portugal for family reunion a little bit more than two months ago. It felt like a dream to rewind how peaceful it was back then or I’m having a nightmare of the world suffering from this new strange virus. But it is much more pleasant to think about the trip in the past than present so now I’m writing this blog to bring back the memory.

My mom, sister and I met at Lisbon airport and took a taxi to our hotel. I enjoy watching landscape outside on the way from the airport to the city center as it gives me the first impression of the city. Coming from Sweden and Korea, we were surprised how trees and leaves are big and green. When we were close to the city, there was a bridge which looks so similar to golden gate bridge.

25 de Abril Bridge(Source:Wikipedia)

Our taxi driver was eager to explain about the history of bridge: the bridge was actually built by the company which also built Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. April 25th is very important day in Portugal because it was the day when a military coup to resist authoritarian government and overthrew in 1974. The bridge itself was built earlier than the revolution and its original name was “Salazar Bridge”, named after the Portuguese dictator but the coup changed the name after its success (Joanne K Rowling got his name and created ‘Salazar Slytherin’)

Santa Catarina

 

Our hotel was located in Santa Catarina district so it naturally became our first destination in Lisbon. It was very hilly area so we had to used to climbing every morning.  Near our hotel, there was a viewpoint where locals and tourists are chilling enjoying the view of Lisbon.

 

Belem

Belem is located in the west corner of the city.  Belem district is popular especially for the very first egg tart in the world. According to what I heard from the tour guide with Sintra trip, egg tart was made in monastery in Belem and egg tart was born with the idea of how to use leftover egg yolks. Pastéis de Belém was born with this egg tart in 1837 and it now became one of the most popular tourist destinations. The bakery place was quite enormous that it can accommodate a few hundred people. Usually people queue for take-away but you don’t have to wait if you are dine-in.

Near the egg tart bakery, there is Jerónimos Monastery but sadly it was closed on Monday and I was supposed to leave Lisbon on the next day.  In Belem, there were some monuments commemorating Age of Discovery as Belem was a crucial port during the age of discovery. It’s astounding how Portuguese sailors sailed to Asian continents in the 16th centurty. The idea of sailing the mysterious and exotic countries full of spice could have been gambling.

In the district, my sister and I found a hidden gem: Museu Coleção Berardo. The museum’s display was mainly focused on modern art which both my sister and I enjoy. It was definitely less crowded part of Belem. It was quite a big museum that it took more than one and a half hour at least. So if you like modern art and are traveling in Lisbon, I would highly recommend this museum.

 

Alfama

Alfama is very hilly and old district in Lisbon. On All Saint’s Day in 1755, there was a big earthquake ,which subsequently caused fires and tsunami, and it destroyed major part of the city but Alfama survived. Therefore, Alfama became the place where it still keeps old atmosphere in Lisbon. On the top of Alfama district, there is a fortress castle, Castelo de S. Jorge. On the way to the castle, there are a lot of souvenir stores alluring tourists climbing all the way up to the castle.

Finally, we managed to climb all the way up to the castle for about 20 minutes. Since the hill is historic place, there was a group of young kids, probably visiting for school picnic. The hill on which São Jorge Castle stands has played an important part in the history of Lisbon, having served as the location of fortifications occupied successively by Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, and Moors, before its conquest by the Portuguese in the 1147 Siege of Lisbon. Since the 12th century, the castle has variously served as a royal palace, a military barracks, home of the Torre do Tombo National Archive, and now as a national monument and museum. Since the castle is located in one of the highest spots in Lisbon, it offered visitors spectacular view of Lisbon with the bridge and the town, full of red roofs.  It was a fortress back in the day but now several peacocks entertain visitors with their beauty.

LX Factory

 

LX factory was recommended twice from a taxi driver and a tour guide who both know Lisbon very well. The entrance of LX factory is kind of hidden but once we entered this place,we were marvelled by its very hipster vibe. As you can guess from the name, this area used to be industrial area but now it is unveiled and transformed into a place where there are a lot of unique stores and restaurants. In LX Factory, we found a really nice and vintage style bookstore, Ler Devagar. My sister and I enjoyed taking pictures with this cool backgrounds. Even the cafe menu was not in coffee’s name, it was replaced by famous authors such as Albert Camus. It was kind of a bookstore that I wished it was near my neighborhood. Whenever traveling, it is always interesting to learn and read its famous literature and it is one of the great ways to learn deeper about the country.  So I bought Fernando Pessoa’s only published book, “The Book of Disquiet”. I’m very slow at reading books I have but I hope I’ll read it soon.

Now the first week of May already passed and we don’t know how long this situation will continue. While hoping about traveling in near future can be a wishful thinking, at least we can recall how much we enjoyed in the previous trips.

[Trip] Sintra, Portugal

When it comes to think about traveling Europe, Portugal is definitely not the top destinations that most people include in their plan. Portugal is often overlooked by tourists compared to its neighbor, Spain. However, Portugal was more charming than I thought and I’m recommending to visit this country whenever I get asked how my trip to Portugal was. I stayed only for 4 days but I wish I can visit other cities in Portugal as well in the future (after this virus calms down for sure).

We went to Sintra on the second day of staying in Portugal. It was early Sunday morning which is generally quieter time in Europe. Sintra is only about 30 km away from Lisbon so I highly recommend to visit Sintra as a day trip. On the way to Sintra, I was amazed by how green Portugal is! The area is full of big green trees which is unusual landscape compared to where I have lived.

Based on what I heard from a tour guide for the day trip to Sintra, Sintra had been a resort town for royal family and now for rich people. It’s one of the wealthiest cities in not only in Portugal but also in Iberian peninsula. The area has also a lot of farms harvesting various organic products so it is also famous city for having many high-quality restaurants.

 

Quinta da Regaleira

Initiation Well

After 20-30 minutes drive, we arrived Sintra and Quinta da Regaleira was the first destination. Quinta da Regaleira is a lavish mansion and garden established by António Augusto Carvalho Monteiro who was one of the richest people in Portugal at that time. The whole place was designed by Luigi Manini. The former owner himself was This place was full of symbolism from Freemasons so it gave me a feeling that I’m in a movie where it’s trying to find a secret tomb of an eminent freemason member.

The highlight of this tour was definitely be walking down the stairs in Initiation Well. A spiral staircase runs down the well walls, with nine levels of 15 steps, signifying the nine levels of Hell from Dante’s Inferno. From the top of the well, one stares into the pits of the earth; from the bottom, one sees the glimmering sunlight of the surface. Returning to the earth from whence we came, and re-emerging into the light from the cold embrace of darkness. It is impressive how the design of the well contains this metaphysical meaning. Indeed, when I walked down the stairs, it felt like I was submerging to the darkness.

Adraga Beach

 

After walking down to the “hell” and back to the brightness of the world, we went to Adraga beach. It was a cloudy day and the waves are some of the biggest waves I have ever witnessed. In fact, Portugal is well known for surfing. There is a beach town called Nazaré (1,5 drive from Lisbon) and it is famous for surfing because of high breaking waves. But Adraga beach is lesser known than Nazaré so it is a nice place to enjoy being immersed into the sound of wave without too much sound from people.

Cabo da Roca

 

Cabo da Roca is the most westerly point of Europe so it was crowded with people. The atlantic ocean is quiet a contrast from Pacific ocean in California. While Pacific Ocean in California has more relaxed, flat and relatively warmer atmosphere with sand beach, atlantic ocean in Portugal has much bigger waves, big and steep cliffs and is much windier. In the first picture, there is a statue with a cross and it has a poem written by Luís de Camões who is a Shakespeare of Portugal. This place has such a breathtaking view and it would be also wonderful to visit here again when it is sunny.

In fact, Sintra is part of Sintra-Cascais Natural Park and the national park is full of tall trees covered with moss. It was a really foggy day that makes this misty forest more mysterious and alluring than usual. It’s kind of a place that you would not be surprised to encounter elves from Lord of the Rings or dementor in Harry Potter especially on foggy day.

It was nice to explore out of Lisbon for 8 hours. We have been many places during the trip but did not visit Pena Palace. Maybe it’s an excuse to visit Sintra again.