Portugal, a country that I hadn't
been to before. We flew with Air Portugal to Lisbon airport, and then caught
the metro to our Airbnb apartment.
Following ancient European
tradition, our accommodation was on the fourth floor😒. The apartment had a fully
equipped kitchen, where Dad cooked all manner of delicious foods. We had a nice
balcony, with a view of the street below.
On our first full day in Lisbon,
we went for a walk to a nearby square. The Praça do Comércio (the square)
was quite impressive.
After our walk to the square, we
went to the local market and bought some fruit, vegetables and meat, whilst
testing our Portuguese language skills. Later that day we walked to the Convent
and an old church that was partly destroyed in the Great Earthquake of 1755.
Outside the ruined remains of the church, there was a guard wearing a very
funny helmet with what looked like hair coming out the top.
Inside the Convent, there was
relic from hundreds of years ago; there were pots, swords, engraved loom
weights and mummies from South America. We also saw tombs, statues and, outside
the church, an old elevator designed by a friend of Gustav Eiffel (the designer
of the 'Eiffel' Tower).
We were very busy in Lisbon, and
were doing something every day. The next day we caught the tram up to a castle
on a hill, but unfortunately it was too expensive to go inside. We walked
around this area of Lisbon, with lots of small streets. On the walk back, we
passed the place where Saint Anthony was born. At the church we visited the
crypt where they even had one of his bones!
A little bit out of main Lisbon,
was a suburb called Belem. Here we visited Jerónimos Monastery, a very old
and beautiful building with lots and lots of rooms with walls depicting
different things. Mum enjoyed taking pictures of gargoyles. From the monastery
we walked (for ages) to the Belem Tower. I thought entrance to the tower was
included in our ticket, unfortunately it wasn't, but it still looked pretty
cool from outside.
All through Lisbon, there were
electric scooters that could be unlocked using the Uber app. There were some in
Belem too, and as we didn't really feel like walking all the way back, we rode
electric scooters. You had to be 18+ to ride, so Em and Mum went on one, and
Dad and I went on another. Very fun!!!
The last place we visited was the
National Museum of Archaeology. My favourite exhibit was the Ancient
Egyptian one.
We caught the tram from Belem back
to our accom, and that adventure was over.
Our final adventure in Lisbon was
to Sintra. First, we caught the train and then we walked up through the old
town to Quinta da Reguleira, a huge piece of land that was filled with old and
beautiful structures. We wandered up to a well, which you could walk down
underground.
There were lots of towers and
tunnels at Quinta da Reguleira, and you could climb up and through them to explore
the area. We got a photo from the top of one of the towers.
Now, after a lovely 6-night stay
in Lisbon, we’re off to Evora. A small town about two hours’ drive away.
