Exploring Lisbon Day 2

After having a great night’s sleep the night before, we both had a different opinion of last night’s sleep. I don’t think either one of us slept well and we both woke up a little tired and cranky. We got out the door by 9:00 and went to the ruins of Igreja do Carmo (near the Santa Justa Lift) but when we got there we discovered that they did not open until 10:00.

We decided to make our way to the trolly to take the famous 28E line. The trolleys and funiculars are all free to us with our Yellow Bus tour ticket and a great way to see some extra sights without climbing the massive hills. There was a small line and we had to wait for about three trolley’s before we were able to board. We got lucky with seats and didn’t have to stand. We weren’t really sure the route of the trolley but knew we wanted to get off in the area of St. George Castle (Castelo de Sao Jorge). Thankfully Tom was able to follow along on the map with GPS and I think we ended up getting off at a pretty good stop.

We walked a short distance uphill to the entrance of the castle where we paid 15 Euro/person for a ticket into the grounds. We had discussed getting the Lisbon Card which would give us either free access or discounted access to many of the sites around town, but we ultimately decided not to get it. You know this meant I kept a mental tally going if we made the right choice or not. Certainly this $15 entrance fee would have put a dent in the 27 Euros it would have cost for a 24 hours Lisbon Card.

We walked around the grounds taking in the views of they city. It’s only been a couple of days but we are now able to recognize landmarks and places we have been. From this viewpoint the city didn’t seem so big and confusing as it had when we first got here. We walked around the inside of the castle walls and I did a virtual geocache, but other than the views there was not much to see in the castle.

At the entrance of the castle was Casa Portuguesa Do Pastel De Bacalhau (https://www.pasteldebacalhau.pt/en/the-delicacy/). This is a chain restaurant in Portugal serving their famous codfish cakes. It is made with codfish, potato, egg, parsley, and olive oil and if you choose, you can get one filled with cheese. Tom and I each tried one with cheese along with a glass of beer. I thought it was ok and Tom really liked it. I don’t have to have another one. We did like watching the chef in the window make them though. She really took her time and felt like she massaged it with the spoons forever.

From here we went to Se de Lisboa (Lisbon Cathedral – https://www.lisbonportugaltourism.com/guide/se-cathedral.html), Lisbon’s oldest catholic church. It cost 5 Euro to enter and it would not have been included with the Lisbon Card. Tom was feeling super tired and needed a 15 minute power nap, so I left him in a small chapel area of the cathedral for an intense meditation session (a.k.a. nap). I walked around the cathedral before I came back and rested myself (albeit with my eyes open). I woke him up after he had been asleep for at least 20 minutes in which he felt somewhat re-charged. It’s amazing how quickly this man can fall asleep. We then went upstairs to check out the view from the balcony between the bell towers.

Next on our list of things to do today was to go to the top of Rua Augusta Arch. This cost 4.50 Euro/person and would have been free with the Lisbon Card. This must not be a strongly advertised thing to do because there was just a few other people at the top. I’m honestly surprised that it was not more packed. I’m not complaining . . I was just surprised. Again nice views and interesting to be up close to the statues at the top.

We decided to go to the indoor TmeOut Market (https://www.timeoutmarket.com/lisboa/en/) next. We saw this in an episode of “Somebody Feed Phil” on Netflix. It was pretty loud and one giant food court, but we found a place that had some cured ham toast that we tried. It was good, but not as good as the ones we had in Obidos and this was more expensive.

We were both feeling blah and tired but decided we still wanted to go to the ruins of Igreja do Carmo. We decided we should take the funicular back up the hill. I said I knew where one was and started leading us to it, but as much as I thought I figured this city out, I found we weren’t close to where I was taking us. Tom pulled out the GPS and led us back to a funicular that was actually pretty close to where we had been at the TimeOut Market. There was a small line but we were the last two that fit on the car that had just come down the hill. The ride was free with our Yellow Bus tour ticket. It was nice not to have to walk up that giant hill.

Tom navigated us to the Igreja do Carmo where we paid 7 Euro/person. The Lisbon card would have saved us 2 Euro/person at this location. It was interesting to see the remains of this church and trying to imagine what it would have looked like if the ceiling was still in tact. Besides viewing the architecture, this place also held many archeological artifacts from Portugal and around the world. We even saw a sarcophagus and mummy’s from Egypt.

When we were done looking at all the old stuff we decided we needed to head back to the apartment for some down time. It was 6:00 and our feet hurt and eyes were tired. Tom took a nap and I started writing this entry. At 8:45 we headed out for dinner.

Tom picked a place close to our apartment but when we arrived they had a 45 to an hour and a half wait. We chose to leave and went back to an Irish Pub we had spotted. We took a seat at the table and got a menu, just to learn the only food they had was fish and chips. We just order a small beer watched a soccer match between Germany and Greece before we moved on. We wandered the street and came upon a restaurant that had food other than just fish. They had assorted meat dishes and pasta so we chose to go there. We shared a bread basket, caprese salad, and pasta dish with chicken, ham, and mushrooms. It was pretty good but not phenomenal. We got back to the apartment at 10:30.

Tomorrow is our day tour to Sintra.

Stats of the Day

Steps: 17,853
Geocaches: 1 Virtual
How Much We Spent On Out-of-Pocket on Admissions: 31.50 Euro/person
How Much We Would Have Paid For A Lisbon Card and Admissions: 37 Euro/person
How Long It Took The Chef to Make 1 Codfish Cake: 8 minutes