The room was indeed quiet – no earplugs required.
I went down
around 6:30 AM for another wonderful breakfast – this time out I tried the
sunny side up eggs (they were good with the automatic pancakes) – (the number
of pancakes you order is controlled by a wave of your hand in front of the
apparatus (pretty cool). The pancakes,
themselves are pretty good. Again, Ellen
came down later and I had some of their fresh bread with some more coffee. All good.
Our destination today is the Bairro Alto (“Upper Neighborhood or District”). The Bairro had a complex history of construction in the 1400s and 1500s. The area consists of narrow streets built on the hilly terrain of Lisbon.
There
are buildings still standing from the 17th century but there are
also many restaurants, parks, and bars.
The neighborhood had a sketchy history but Lisbon has put money into
cleaning up the neighborhood. Bars used to be open all night but now they need
to close at 3 AM due to noise restrictions.
The area is safe but we always never allow anyone close to us
(pickpockets) and secure our valuables in non pickable places (in our zippered
combo pants). No fancy jewelry or
cameras, either.
We made the
decision that we would use Ubers to get around today – the trains are OK but I
want to save my steps for the area and the train route to Bairro Alto is not as
straight forward and simple as that to Rato and takes a bit longer (more
than 45 minutes).
We have taken
Ubers in foreign countries before but not in Europe or in big European cities
like Lisbon. Using the Uber app, I
requested a ride from Melia Lisboa to Bairro Alto. We would be picked up in
front of the Hotel is just a few minutes by Andreia (in a gray Mazda, I think)
in the “Green Ride Uber” Category. We were picked
up right on time by Andreia (a grown woman not a kid like we find a lot in the
States) who spoke almost no English but got us through the rush hour traffic to
our destination safely. The car was
comfortable. The ride costs $13.00 (E9.99 plus E2.00 tip) and took 26 minutes. What
was nice was that she had pre-written texts indicating she was on her way.
She dropped us off on a major street (only two lanes but major for this area). The side streets were typical of the narrow passageways of the Bairro.
I checked out Google Maps to see where we were. Up the hill a little ways was an overlook, Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara and its associated Garden. We decided to go there first – maybe even find something local food to try. It was only a few uphill blocks to the Miraduoro. There are two levels to the Garden. There are food booths but nothing that would work for us. There was also a pretty impressive fountain.
The top level, where we went first had benches with some shade.
We settled in on the top level and spent some time listening to a guitarist and enjoyed the view, which was spectacular. There is a 180 degree view of Lisbon (Avenida da Liberdade and all the way from the April 25 Monument to the Vasco de Gama Bridge on the Tagus). You can also see the Castel de Sao Jorge. There were lots of teenagers about – mostly eating take away that they got from the several food vendors at the Miradouro. I took a lot of pictures and a nice panorama shot. The air temp was perfect and the benches comfortable enough. There was a tile on the pavement that gave away the year the garden was opened – 1876.
We went down to the lower level,
features some grassy areas (that could use some care), an interesting fountain – called the “Fountain of the Guardians” tucked into an alcove.
It is more of a decorative structure and resembles a
grotto. The garden area was lined with
several statues – I tried to identify them but their inscription had weathered
away. One of them was supposed to be
Vasco De Gama but I couldn’t tell. There was no shade on the lower level so we
didn’t stay as long. I took lots of
pictures.
We started walking down the hill North of Bairro Alto – this time looking for something to eat. There were a lot of motorcycles parked alongside the buildings.
As we went along, we stopped at a large park in the “Royal Prince” neighborhood named for the area Praça do Príncipe Real. The park is home to a huge umbrella shaped 150 year old Cypress Tree that is supported by a cage like structure so it is safe to sit under.
Not too far from
the tree is a Monumento de Homenagem às Vítimas de Homofobia. The
monument depicts a closet with cutout male and female figures.
There was a restaurant at the far end of the park and we actually sat down and checked out the menu. There were too many smokers there so we couldn't stay - I did take advantage of the facilities.
We came across a small middle eastern restaurant called the Kebab Hut, which had reasonable prices and atmosphere (there were only three or four tables). The people were friendly so we got the last available table in the back up the stairs but near a fan. We ordered two falafel sandwiches (combo with fries) and a can of Coke Free – it came to a total of $14.10.
The falafel was really fresh and good (crispy
falafels) – the pita was soft and the tahina sauce tasty. The fries, which came in a huge pile, had
just come out of the fryer. It was a
good meal and worth the price. The place
was a little tight but the fan kept the air moving and the atmosphere was
authentic. Not only that, but the people
preparing the food all wore gloves (one of my requirements not always met). Ellen took home part of her meal – I finished
mine.
We kept going down the hill – across the street was an interesting building I identified as the Palmela Palace.
What caught my
attention were the two figures in front – I thought they represented Athena (a
book in hand) and Hephaestus (Vulcan) (hammer in hand). Some of my interest came from the fact that
Wonder Woman’s Lasso of Truth was also fashioned by Hephaestus and divinely
transformed by Athena and other Goddesses.
I could not find any information on the statues (some sources said they
were two women – didn’t look like that to me).
The Palmela Palace itself in a very impressive structure – it took two
years to build and was finished in 1794.
It started off as a private residence but today is the home of
Portugal’s Attorney General (since 1980).
We continued
down the R. da Escola Politecnica, passed by the Thai Spa we visited yesterday
and got to Lago de Rato (the street the Synagogue was on). Basically, we had gone full circle. The Rato Metro Station was across the
street but it was getting to be rush hour and we decided not to mess with the trains.
Instead I called
for an Uber. He had our location but I
texted the driver and told him to meet us in front of Rodas, a
restaurant on Rato – this would give him a place to pull over. He said OK.
I tracked the car’s progress and got a good feeling for how the traffic
patterns flow around the area. It took
the Uber a little while to get there. Our
car this time was a white Tesla Model 3 driven by Jose (who did speak a little
English). The pickup was perfect and it
took about 25 minutes to get to the hotel.
The car was comfortable with the exception of the huge sunroof which was
most of the roof of the car – too much sun on the passengers. The ride came to E7.91 including an E1.00 tip
($9.66). It would have been a much less
comfortable experience on the Metro.
I confirmed
our flights for tomorrow on my phone.
Our flight is at 10:00 AM so we have to be at LIS at 7:00 AM to allow
enough time to go through all the lines (mostly security) so that we will be
able to board on time.
We didn’t
unpack much so we are pretty much ready to go in the morning. The shuttle runs continuously and the
breakfast opens at 4:30 AM. Shouldn’t be
a problem.
Ellen had her falafel for dinner and I found something to eat in the food goody bag.
I requested a wakeup call from the Front Desk for 5:30 AM so we could get to the airport and start the three hour window.
The room is still quiet and the toilet has been behaving.
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