As I mentioned after returning, I had a wonderful time on my spring break trip to Portugal. I kind of hit the ground running a couple of days after getting back so the stories and the pictures were put to the side in order to recover from jet lag and go back to work. Almost TWO months have gone by, and I’ve finally finished going through all my pictures. I must say, I was discouraged going through them. Between the unusual rainy weather and my camera giving me fits because it kept shutting down, it was frustrating to go through the photos and not have them look like what I saw with my eyes. Anyhow, here are some highlights…
Lisbon City with the Castle of São Jorge sitting on the hill and the Tagus River in the background. It is a very old city, but much was rebuilt after an earthquake in 1700s which destroyed most of it. 
Jeronimos Monastery in the Belém parish.
Pastéis de Belém said to have been created by the monks in Jeronimos Monastery. They were all warm and cinnamony – yum! I must point out the smudgy mark my camera left on about half of my pictures in Lisbon.,
Tower of St Vincent, right on the water in Belém.
Many of the walkways have beautiful stone tile work. We were told that at one time, the city needed something for the prisoners to do and so the stone walkways were born. The tile work in Portugal is amazing. Unfortunately, none of my building tile pictures in Lisbon do it justice.
Cafe Nicola in Rossio Square. It’s been around since the 20s. The food was so so, but the location was great for watching people in the square.
Castle of São Jorge – mostly in ruins now, but the views of the city are amazing.
Lisbon is a beautiful city. After a few days (and pretty much our last glimpse of the sun) we headed north to Porto.
Normally that time of year would be the very best time for Lisbon and the northern Iberian peninsula. The month before for southern Spain or North Africa. Paris in the spring means the end of April to mid May. In theory, London in late May to mid June. That's why the RHS Chelsea Flower show is usually the third week in May. While Ireland you take a number and youz takez yar chances. You could find January the most lovely month ever.
ReplyDeleteLovely photos. I really like the fort.
Throughout the trip, everyone I met said something along the lines of, "Oh, we're so sorry. It's never like this." It rained buckets and buckets though. Just a fluke I guess. Although I've been to London 3 times and arrived in the midst of a heat wave all 3 times. Before leaving for Ireland I was told it'll rain the whole time...it was sunny and beautiful for 95% of the trip. And spent a couple December weeks in Germany where the weather didn't go below 60f during the day. Fluke seems to be synonymous with my travels.
ReplyDeleteYour pictures are lovely. I hate it when you can't get good pictures. that's why I like digital, you can usually tell right away whether they will be good or not.
ReplyDeleteYes, thank goodness for digital! On the other hand, digital is why I came home with 700+ pictures. :)
DeleteWell, I like the pictures you shared. I'd like to see everything in person even better.
ReplyDeleteIn person is definitely better, especially in this case. I had a really hard time capturing Portugal the way I saw it.
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