Are We There Yet?

When we began our three week adventure, it was supposed to start in Lisbon, Portugal, but we got delayed in London at Heathrow airport. Portugal, Spain, and parts of France had a mass power outage and those countries had to shut down. We were about to board our flight when they got the announcement, and we had to get a room for the night at a nearby hotel. We almost had to change our plans and things were not looking good... The next morning, we were able to get on a flight headed to Lisbon and were relieved. We lost a day in Lisbon, so we had to do three days worth of sites in two days. We got over 20,000 steps a day getting the job done.

Mr Grumble and I on the plane headed to Lisbon.

When we arrived at our hotel and got settled in our room, I looked out the window and noticed cats were everywhere. In this pic you see three, but we checked this spot every day and saw around six in this spot alone. Cats are everywhere, and I loved it.

We walked all over the city. We saw a thriving city with a market in the main plaza, a cool fountain, and many places to enjoy a meal.

Our travel buddies and we found this cool fountain in a plaza

Even the pigeons are enjoying the water.

We ate at Ramiro's and had the best garlic shrimp I have ever tasted.

They have these adorable trolleys all over the city.

Then we visited the historic Castelo de Sao Jorge. It has spectacular views of the city and is fun to explore.

Look at that view! Beautiful!

We heard this peacock and another one squawking while we were there. It took me a bit of time to find them and their attitude! Made me laugh!

After we stormed the castle, we visited the Lisbon Cathedral or the Cathedral of Saint Mary Major. It is the oldest church in the city and was built in 1147.

When we walked out of the cathedral, we saw a bunch of these motorbike tour transports. We were going to walk by them, but Ivan (our soon to be guide of the city) talked us into taking his tour. Normally, we would not do these type of tours, but since we lost a day, we decided a personal tour might be best. We told him what we wanted to see and he went above and beyond to make it happen. He really was a blessing and much appreciated.

This was the type of transport we were on. I did not get a pic of Ivan, unfortunately.

Random city street in Lisbon.

One of our stops was to the Belem Tower (Torre de Belem) It is built on the edge of the Tagus River and was originally built as a fortress. Later it served as a ceremonial gateway and was a symbol of Portugal's maritime power.

Across the river from Belem Tower is Sao Sebastiao da Caparica (Torre Velha). They were used together as part of a defense system for the Tagus River.

The Monument of Discovery. Mr. Grumble requested we see this monument and it is quite impressive. It celebrates the Portuguese "Age of Exploration" and was built by architect, Cottinelli Telmo.

Fun facts: See that statue on the hill? This is the Cristo Rei (Christ the King). It was erected in 1959 and is visible throughout Lisbon. It is modeled after Cristo Redentor in Rio to represent the close ties between Portugal and Brazil.

See that bridge that looks like the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco? It is the 25 de Abril Bridge and was built by the same company as the Golden Gate Bridge. The Lisbon bridge opened in 1966. This was almost thirty years after the Golden Gate bridge was built.

When we finished the tour, Ivan took us to one of his favorite restaurants. The seafood was delish and a great finish to our day. I have to admit, it takes some getting used to when all seafood is presented with their heads on them. My food was looking at me and I did get a little self-conscious!

I hope you enjoyed our little adventure into Lisboa! I know I did and next we will be touring Sintra, Portugal. Tchau-Tchau.