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| Quinta Vales Winery |
The ship leaves from Portimão to avoid our first night being in the rough part of the Atlantic Ocean. This region of Portugal was known for Sardine canning. Today it is a resort community with many golf courses because of its mild climate. Before boarding we stopped at the Quinta Vales winery. It used to be a fruit farm, but now is a 21 hectares vineyard, producing 15 varieties of grapes. Seventy percent of their production is white wine.
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| The Corinthian |
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| Laura rolling out the mud |
In the town of Azeitão, we visited a tile artisan shop.
Dagmar demonstrated the process beginning with rolling out the river mud, it is
dried for one to three months before being fired for 19 hours, then a white
glaze is applied. They primarily make traditional tiles in blue, white, and
yellow, but can make many other mineral colors. We were given the opportunity
to hand paint our own tile. They’ll fire them today.
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| Our cheese makers |
Then we visited a nearby dairy farm, and they demonstrated the traditional way of making their local sheep cheese. They use wild artichoke, cardon, to provide the unique taste. Milk is poured through a cheese cloth that has salt to begin the curdling process. Six of us were asked to help separating the curds from the whey. Then we were treated to four differently aged version of the cheese.
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| View from Castle |
In the afternoon I did a walk of the Alfama District. I started at the Cathedral, the church was closed, then the Church of St. Anthony, tradition says he was born here. Then up the hill to the Castle of St. George originally built by the Moors. The Castle as several great viewpoints over the city. The outer walls and the castle walls remain. I walked the castle walls. There is also a small museum with artifacts from the castle. From here you walk down this hill and walk up a nearby hill to view the castle from the Church of Christ, famous for its Christ carrying the cross which is carried through the streets during Holy Week.
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| Entry to the Monastery |
Down the hill is the Monastery of St. Vincent de Fora. The entry to the Monastery was stunning. Throughout the walls and staircases at traditional blue and white, azulejo tiles. The sacristy is decorated with marble statues and paintings. There also was an exhibit of tiles pictures depicting the Fables of La Fontaine published in 1668. Further down the hill is the National Pantheon where many famous figures are buried. I hurried past the Fado Museum because dinner was approaching.
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| Belém Tower |
We bussed and walked the major sights of Lisbon as indicated by the vast tourist crowds. We started in the Belam (Bethlehem) neighborhood visiting the Belém Tower built in 1521 on an island to defend the harbor. The 1755 earthquake moved the Tagus River, so it is now on the north side of the river and the tower had to be rebuilt. A tsunami followed the earthquake, together a third of the people died. The old monastery, now housing several museums, was closed off because the President of Brazil was visiting Lisbon. Then we went to the Monument of Discoveries celebrating Portugal’s golden age when their navigators discovered the coast of Africa, the Cape of Good Hope, and the routes to India, SE Asia, Macau, and Japan. Henry the Navigator leads this collection of 32 important figures. The only woman is the wife of King Juan I and mother of Henry. In 1500 they discovered Brazil after a storm blew them off course from Africa.
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| Monument of Discoveries |
We headed to the Al Fama neighborhood which was 90% destroyed by the earthquake. Only 16 houses remain with their unique design where the ground floor is narrower than the upper floors so that carriages could pass through the narrow streets. We saw the Elevador de Santa Justa we had visited earlier from street level as well as Rossio Square. Lunch was cod, Portugal is 2nd next to Japan with their consumption of fish. They have over 300 recipes for cod. Our final stop was Church of St. Domingo, which burned in 1959. The roof and altar have been replaced, but the walls remain fire scarred.
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| Elevador de Santa Justa |
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| Azulejo (blue tiles) in the gate to Óbidos |
The town of Óbidos was taken from the Moors in 1148 by Portugal’s
first king, Afonso Henriques. By tradition, the town was given to the queen as
part of her dowry by many subsequent kings. The town remains surrounded by its
medieval walls, but the keep is now a hotel. We walked the streets where the
shops cater to tourists. The church of Santa Maria is known for its paintings
by Josefa de Óbidos,
a female painter from the 17th century. We wandered the town in the
rain before sampling Ginja, a cherry liquor from chocolate cups. Then we had
lunch in town. As we left it was pouring rain.
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| Santa Maria in Óbodos |
We drove to the nearby coastal town of Cascais. Once a fishing
village, in 1870 it became the residence of the Royal family. During World War
II it became the home of many royal families escaping the Nazis including,
Spain, Italy, Hungary, and Bulgaria. Today it is known for its beaches and
marina.
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| Palace of Sintra |
We learned that Portuguese is the sixth most popular language in the world, largely because of Brazil and Portugal’s many former colonies. The second largest concentration of Portuguese people is in New Jersey. We drove along the coast to the Western most point on the European continent. Then up into the hills to the town of Sintra. Here we toured the oldest royal palace in Europe, built in 1385. Most of the rooms are tiled with tiles as old as 500 years. The rooms also had unique ceilings: the swan room with 27 swans (the age of Isabel when she married Philip), the magpie room with 136 magpies (the number of her handmaidens). The tiles in the third room were newer because they featured corn stalks – corn was discovered in the new world. The most spectacular room was the Coat of Arms room with 72 coat of arms. King Manuel I is in the center with the king’s children surrounding and other relatives below. On the walls are large scenes in blue and white tiles from the 15th century.
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| Coat of Arms Ceiling |
The Castle is unique because of its two symbolic chimneys above the kitchen. Fires were maintained in the arches above the floor, then the coals were moved to the holes beneath the shelves where the pans were heated. This was a different royal palace.
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| The Kitchen |
We had lunch across the street from the palace. After lunch, I climbed the hill, trying to reach the Castle of the Moors, built in the 8th and 9th century. I got to within 200 yards but ran out of time.
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| Castle of the Moors |
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| Our guide Maria and the Elevador de Gloria |
This morning we learned how to use the metro, then used the
same ticket to climb the hill on the Elevador de Gloria. From the Miradoura de
Sao Pedro de Alcantara viewpoint, we could see across the valley to the Castle
of St George and the Cathedral. Lisbon was founded by the Phoenicians around
1200 BC. In 1755, a major earthquake destroyed most of the city. Nearby we
found the church of Sao Roque.
In the afternoon, we went to the Calouste Gulbenkian Gardens and Museum. The museum had eclectic collection from ancient coins to Chinese vases, Turkish rugs, paintings, and jewelry.
Love of the Centaurs by Reubens
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| 19th Century Dragonfly Ornament |
We arrived about noon and miraculously our room was ready,
so we caught a nap. I explored the neighborhood to find that the Altis
Grand Hotel was 2 blocks from Independence Avenue, the major street in the
downtown area and about 3 blocks from the Botanical Garden.
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| Lisbon from Edward VII Park |
That evening we met the group over some port wine. We had dinner in a nearby restaurant 39 Steps, a converted movie theater named for the movie by Alfred Hitchcock. Beautiful building with reasonable prices.
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| Interior of 39 Steps |
