Go Cars

Driving in Lisbon in our rental car was an exciting challenge for George.  He did admirably well.  I would have pulled to the side and cried! Hardly anything ruffles that man including busy multi lane traffic circles with tons of cars going at high speeds.  I am sure there is some Portuguese in his blood somewhere!

So taking a tourist spin in a 'Go-Car' seemed like a sensible thing to do.

A 'Go-Car' is a three wheeled cycle with two seats and yes you do go right out in the traffic like everyone else, including big trucks!

As I expected, George remained calm and in total control.    I have read that Lisbon is a bit reminiscent of San Francisco since both are cities built on hills by water.  I think this looks like it could be the Golden Gate Bridge in California, rather than the 25th of April Bridge in Portugal.

Portuguese Cathedrals

"Why do we have to see all these cathedrals?  They are all just alike."  That was the frequent complaints we heard from the back seat on trips during our years of living in Europe.  I'm here to testify to the fact that the cathedrals in Portugal are different.  Portugal wasn't blessed with the marble of so many cathedral building countries.  What they were blessed with was gold, lot of gold from Brazil.!

Yes, lots of gold!  Lots and lots of gold!

Portugal also has beautiful tiles everywhere including in their cathedrals

And sometimes they combined the gold and the tile to stunning effect!

 King Manuel started his own architectural style, called, interestingly enough Manueline!  It's nice to be the king!  The ornate, elaborate and intertwined carvings most notably around doors and windows  are distinct to this style.

King Manuel was the ruler when Vasco De Gama sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and Portugal was at the pinnacle of it power.  

 Manueline carvings also were used on the columns.  Many of the symbols are from the sea.  I couldn't understand why artichokes are part of this motif until I learned that sailors ate them to prevent scurvy.

 I think even our children might have been impressed with these cathedrals!

Sunset over the Atlantic

Cabo da Roca - The westernmost spot in Europe

"Where land ends and the sea begins"

It was cold!

But watching the sun set over the Atlantic was worth it!

Sintra, Portugal

Years ago when we were traveling in Northeast Spain I wanted to drive the 10 km. to the border with Portugal just so we could add another country to our count.  From the back seat came a chorus of "No, no we don't want to drive anymore" and that sentiment was seconded by the handsome guy doing the driving so we didn't get to add Portugal to our list.  Now I'm glad we didn't because we had a perfect excuse to plan a quick trip to Portugal on our recent jaunt to the Iberian peninsula and we loved it!  We spent two days in the quaint little town of Sintra.  A wonderful tourist destination!

A Moorish Castle built a thousand years ago and taken by Christian forces in 1147

 A magical hilltop palace built by King Ferdinand,  a cousin of "Mad King Ludwig" of Disneyesque Neuschwanstein fame.

It is a crazy neo-fortified fantasy castle with Gothic towers, Renaissance domes, Moorish minarets and a disney playfulness.

 And finally the 15th century palace of King John with its, according to my guide book, Madonna bra chimneys!   The whole kitchen is essentially the fireplace with a spit large enough to roast a whole cow.

Loved this unique ceiling.  It seems that King John was caught kissing a lady-in-waiting by his queen.  Frustrated by the court's gossiping, he had this ceiling painted with magpies.  But just to show what a good-spirited guy he was, around each magpie is painted the king's slogan -'por bem', "for good".

 We thoroughly enjoyed Sintra!

Segways in Lisbon

I read on Trip Advisor that a favorite way to see Lisbon was by Segway.  I admit to being a bit nervous at one comment.  After going on and on about how wonderful it was, this comment was added, "A couple of the old people in our group did fall off".  Hmm!  Would that be us 'the old people falling off'?  I'm happy to report that we are not 'old people' yet and we had no problems, in fact it was really fun and George thinks we should buy one!  Not too practical for commuting here in the Pacific Northwest though!

After a few minutes of instruction we were almost like pros!  See the fellow on the bench behind me?  He was quite entertained during our lesson.  Every time I headed his way, he grabbed up his little dog in a protective embrace like I was sure to crash into them!  I can report that the dog and man both survived me!

 Here I am just about to turn to go down that narrow street!

 Lisbon is hilly so going up on the Segways was easy and going down was so fun!

George and I can hardly wait to explore another city by Segway!