And then we.....

So some more samples of the beautiful capital of Portugal. I really do like this location. A) Portugal and B) Lisbon. I think it would be easy for me to make the transition there to live, well apart from the language, lack of local knowledge and my fear of walking up too many hills. The town just exudes a great warmth, not just a climatic one, but a nice loving one, as if the place is a lot from the heart. That said the climatic warmth was nice too.
A coat of arms on a random building, I must say this lion is indeed well hung!
The streets of the Alfama, such a lovely place. Somewhere you actually want to get lost. We would continually stumble over small bars, cafes or coffee shops. People doing washing and contented cats sitting outside. It really is a beautiful part of the capital.
Of course hard to escape any form of religious enlightenment..... but makes a decent photo.
What ever could she have bee-n thinking? Maybe, that I would make a good pun! :)
The crowded open windowed trams are always something nice to see.
Sitting down to a brunch in one of the nicest cafes we had found in the capital. Marty had a leek soup and a long cold glass of Elderflower lemonade.I settled for a panache (a pretty way of saying a shandy), and a really nice mix of ham, mushrooms and eggs with a great grainy bread.

Then it was just a stroll down the street we came across a wonderful coffee house/bakery. Full of things that make your mouth drop open.
Little thin biscuits that are made to resemble crepes.
Real carrot tarts, just look at that colour. Reminds me of some bad fake tans I saw in the UK.
Cream and Almond.... not for me. But, they look good.
The Australian name for these are rock buns. Anyone who ever went to my grandfather's house knows what they are all about. He loved making them. Sometimes unfortunately they would hang around too long and would actually take on more the rock category than the bun side of things. He made them with love though.Cinnamon balls! This is one of the greatest smells, hot cinnamon. It screams something warming, something homely even in the heat of Lisbon in the middle of summer. Could you get a better smell? Marty didn't think so!
Then we ducked into a church, partly because it was a nice relief from the heat outside also because it was the church associated with Marty's mum back home in not so sunny Poland at the time.
Marty lit a candle for her mum as a gesture.
I just continued to take photos. There was something nice about the light cast from the hundreds of red candles. Also these candles made it a little less cool in this part of the church.


So it is true miracles never cease, I went into a church and didn't catch fire, and the grannies didn't shout to cover your eyes as I may change form.... incredible.

Lisbon: Life on the streets

Just some of the stencil art that is out and about on the streets of Lisbon. It is a popular thing by the looks. Maybe they all have bad hand writing so prefer stencils..... Being a very simple man myself, I prefer to view stencils than to see tags or pieces (yes this is Garth trying to re-live his wild graffiti language youth days).







Stencil it in!

Day 10: Into the World of Lisbon, Capital of Explorers

So we arise early for a dash into Lisbon, as we needed to drop off the little Black Beast and check into our hotel. So with a huge amount of pottery, wine and stinky clothes, we decided to drop off the bags first before our black and competent transportation device was returned to the airport. After the fun of this, we jumped on a bus into the city and walked to the water's edge. At the edge of the "harbour" there really wasn't a great deal to see or that was happening, and they were working on the main square down there. So we strolled about, mostly map free, as we tend to do these days. Instead of boring you all with stories, I will just put up some photos of Lisbon.... fair deal?

But I will give short little comments about them too :) happy days.

Ok, so on the water front, they have these olive trees in big plastic holders with seats in them. The best part is that they are on wheels and you can move them around the place. It is a great idea especially for a big yard. The homeless people who sleep in them seemed to think so, too.
We had lunch in a restaurant on the second floor of a building. It was a great place to people watch but we thought it was strange as everyone was stopping and pointing or taking photos just next to us. We came out to find that it was the Elevador Santa Justa . We are such funny tourists sometimes.
Just being a tourist photographing the fountains.
This was when Marty realised she was going to marry a photo monster. I dragged her, after I almost had a tantrum on the tram, through the blustery conditions in a huge rush to get to the Monument of Discoveries so we would be there at sunset. We were probably about 10 minutes late as you can tell by the light. Sorry Marty.
Who is blowing on Australia now?
Marty with her great bounty from Pasteis de Belem. Oh the joy to be had from a small bag full of custard, pastry, cinnamon and powdered sugar.
ohhhhhhh yeah!
The famous Belem and his tiny little bronzed brother.
Belem the classical concert goer?
Nearby Monastery built with the proceeds of Latin America pillage, I mean, proceeds. Right?
So it was cold, compared to what we had earlier in the trip. And we really really liked these pastry covered custard delights. So we ordered 6 and then two glasses of cherry liquour. Result? We finished them all warm and joyful, and still made the last tram back home!

The night time of the first days night

Not too much babbling here. Just some photos of the night, the one that was the first night in Portugal, Peniche.

It also appears to be a great place to pick up some nice fried eats. These pictures show why I lug my tripod and cable release with me on holidays. long shutter and movements were the call of the night.

It was a Thursday, that apparently is fair day in Peniche. Day of Farturas, here in the photo being a fartu, hehehe. Rude I know! Farturas are basically really fat Churros, "What are Churros?" I hear you think... let me see if I can show you....



Ok so when there are options........



and more options......



and low and behold more options.....



you get in close to the eager assistance....



Stare and the fabulous flavours abound.....



Then you order! No matter how scary the decor!



That is the Churros story. :) If you don't order the flavour filled ones as seen above, then they come hot from the fryer in Portugal, with Cinnamon and sugar, a lot like hot donuts in Australia and the States. Just bloody delicious.

Then you get on some of the below and see if you can find the Churros again.



The good old Dodgey Dodgem cars.





This ride was a little crazy as the movements show. Still, it looks pretty.



Spin, spin, spin, spin and round she goes. Where she stops nobody knows, but is normally with the kid who ate too many farturas, and so needs to throw up.



The tea cup ride with Giraffes for some Portugese reason.