Portugal

Airport: talked to red headed family about Lisbon. They recommended aquarium and Cascais for families. Alas, we were not planning to go to Cascais (beach). 

Arrived around 7am, but airbnb wouldn't let us check in until closer to 1p. Yikes, AB was pro-dad and let Baobao sleep in the carrier while I slept on the uncomfortable airport chairs.

Restaurant o Portas: grilled octopus (most tender and best octopus I've ever had), seafood rice (kind of salty but huge amount of seafood). Family restaurant, so delicious! 

I got asked if I was Japanese and AB got asked if he was Russian or Azerbaijan. 

Day 2:

Baobao woke up 6am, and I slept with him on the bed until 8:30a.

We went to see the Jeronimos Monastery, and it was gorgeous. So much detail, every column carving was different. 

We walked to the Padrão dos Descobrimentos monument that celebrates the Portuguese age of discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries and commemorate the death of Henry the Navigator. It was definitely much bigger in person. It consists of a boat with sails and great figures of Portuguese history on either side including monarchs, cartographers, artists, explorers, scientists, and missionaries with Henry the Navigator at the front. There is an interesting map on the ground showing when the Portuguese reached different places in the world. 

We then walked to Belem tower while Baobao napped. The tower was where Portuguese explorers started and ended their trips and acted as a ceremonial entrance to Lisbon on the Tagus river. It was built in Manueline style during the Renaissance. It consists of a bastion with moorish bartizan turrets and a 4 story tower. Armillary spheres and twisted rope/knots represent nautical exploration during King Manuel's reign. Going up the tower required a going up a really narrow spiral staircase. We saw the king's room and also the chapel. 

 

For lunch Ab had fried cod (too salty), and I had octopus salad. Never had octopus salad before but it was so tender again! They really know how to cook their octopus. And so cheap ($11.50)! Later found the cod is so salty because even though cod is found everywhere here, it comes in salted and dried.

Day 3: Aquarium

Apparently largest indoor aquarium in Europe. It was pretty cool with 5 tanks showing the sealife from different parts of the world.

Baobao had a lot of fun looking at the fish and sharks

Wed night AB got gastro! So terrible. So change of plans and we decided to sleep in. I walked around a bit with Wes using the Rick Steves audio guide. 

Day 4: Praca de Comercio celebrates the commerce that made Portugal wealthy.

1755 earthquake and following 20ft tsunami destroyed most of Lisbon. The statue at Praca de Comercio is of King Jose and his prime minister Pombal who rebuilt Lisbon afterwards in the Pombal style: 5 story high, symmetric, rectangular windows, wrought-iron balconies, no-nonsense.

Arch with Lady Glory on top celebrating Portugal's glory days. Flanking statues of river Tagus god, river god Douro (source of port wine), Lusitanian, general who freed Portugal from other domination in 1400's, Vasco de Gama (first to India), Marquis de Pombal.

Rua de Comercio: now bustling street, fun shops. Entire street and many other streets are made of mosaic aka calcada from black basalt and white limestone. 

Church Saint Nicholas was built in the post earthquake era. Pombal didn't want building of churches to overshadow the needs of the people, so the churches are very no nonsense style and stark. 

Praca de Figueria: statue of King John the first who defeated the Spanish in 1385 at the battle of Batalha. His marriage to England's princess helped form a strong tie between them and he resigned during the Golden Age. His son was Henry the navigator.

Confeiteria national: sweet shop since 19th century. Portugal big on sweets because of cheap sugar from Brazil and eggs from convents.

Sweets from another shop. The Portuguese like their pastries. A must try is their egg custard which is similar to the Chinese kind, but more sweet. 

Went to Cod shop. Apparently Portugal has no cod in the nearby ocean, but now it's famous for salted cod. Saying goes Portuguese are fisherman, so when they heard newfoundland had boats stuck due to abundance of fish, they had to go there. And there they found cod, preserved with salt and drying to bring back. No wonder all the cod dishes here are so salty. No more cod for me!

Church of Sao Domingos shows signs of the earthquake and destructive fire of 1755.

The spherical monument in front is a reminder of the inquisitions. This area is also where slaves were traded. 

Fancy Theater

Fun Christmas Market at Rossio Square

We tried to visit the Jesus Chris statue, but didn't realize the connecting bus only comes once an hour on the half hour. So it was too late to wait for the bus because the sun was going to set :(

Dinner: tried a bifana (traditional Portuguese beef sandwich): it was ok... Kind of salty. 

Day 5

We woke up late so we went to the Cristo Rei (Jesus statue). We took the Metro to Cais do Sodre, a ferry to Calcihas, and then the 3001 bus (leaves on the half hour once an hour) to the statue. The monument is very tall, but the statue itself didn't seem THAT big, probably because we were on the bottom of the pedistal. The view was great toward the bridge and city. But we couldn't go up to the 80m viewing platform because it was 6 euro per person and they only took cash. No ATM anywhere nearby either! Oh well, the online guide says the pics from there are bad anyways because of the security bars. But it would've been nice to see exactly how big the statue it was! 

Came back for Baobao's nap. I ate some sea bass, but the fish was small and mostly bones. Also learned seabass (robalo) isn't even native to Portugal. Sighs. Apparently Portugal fish includes sea bream (dourado), mackerel (cavala), hake, tuna, sardine, squid, octopus, clam, barnacles (avoid oct-april when forbidden to capture them, also dangerous to obtain), oyster, cuttlefish (Choco).

Castilo de Jorge: 

Many people came up to the castle to see the sunset. So beautiful to see the city and its red roof tops:

Peacocks in the courtyard

The castle was so much fun to walk around. It was recently renovated, so you can walk around the wall. Would be so much fun to play hide and seek here. 

Uma: supposedly the place with best seafood rice (also only thing on the menu).

Evening: Baobao started vomiting every couple of hours. It was terrible. Sheets got dirty, clothing, and his lovey. And then we moved him to another bed and put towel on the bed in case he vomited again, and sure enough he did more times throughout the night. Ran out of towels and sheets. And he had to sleep with a stinky wet lovey (his peter rabbit bunny). Sighs...what a night.

Day 6: 

Despite a crazy evening, we slept in, and in the afternoon went to Sintra since it was our last chance to see Pena Palace. 

Pena Palace was built on a monastery that was built in the BC's. It was in ruins until King Ferdinand (of Spain) decided to fix it up. It's so strange because it's a mixture of different styles of architecture and it has very bold bright colors. 

Merman guards the door

Built around a central cloister with classic tiles

Super long line outside to get in, but thankfully with a baby we got to go to the front

Quinta de Regaliera:

Known as the Palace of Monteiro the Millionaire. There is a Romantic palace with an extensive park consisting of lakes, grottoes, wells, fountains, caves, secret passages. He wanted features related to alchemy, masonry, the Knights Templar, and the Rosicrucians.

Great wikipedia article on the park, symbolism, tunnels.

Castle-like structures at the entrance (East side)

The outside is the coolest here with wells, caves, secret tunnels.

Entering the Well of Initiation

Well connects to tunnels and waterfalls/lakes and ends at the grotto of oriente

Labyrinthine grotto was like a labyrinth

The palace itself has Roman, Gothic, Renaissance, and Manueline styles. 

Of note, only the 434 bus goes from Sintra train station to Pena palace (3 euro for one ride, 11 euro for unlimited rides on all the different Sintra buses). 435 bus (small bus) goes to the Quinta de Regaliera, but the way back is a long ride (45 min?) b/c it's a one way loop.