A day of sightseeing in Lisbon, 3rd April 2018. 22793 steps and 19 flights.

  It is 6pm and we have not quite finished sightseeing yet. We slept well and long. The alarm woke us at 7.15, we went downstairs for an excellent breakfast. The highlight for me was the grilled mixed vegetables and the whole mushrooms.  We were to meet our tour guide, Filipa, in the lobby at ten.  She was there beforehand, and so were we. Off we went on foot for our first stop, the Ulisses glove shop at Rua do Carmo, 87.  Such a tiny shop, only room for two customers at a time and then not much room to turn around. I tried on two pairs and couldn’t choose between them, so didn’t, I got both. Michael had his turn next and was successful in making a purchase.   

Whenever I travel, I bring some knitting. This time it is some socks, top down, which means I am going to have to graft the toes using Kitchener Stitch. However, my little kit of knitting tools does not include a darning needle. I asked Filipa if there might be a shop somewhere selling these, and sure enough, we found one by asking at one of the many fabric shops.  We not only got the darning needle, we also got a small purple tatting shuttle.  A small memento, and useful.  The proprietors of the store were very concerned that I keep my wallet well in hand, that my handbag be over my shoulder and held in front, closed, at all times. There have been many warnings about pickpockets.

The sharp eyed among you will see the DMC logo on the awning.
 On the way Filipa described the sights, the shops, the localities, the history.  She is an excellent tour guide.  We walked to the Musée Aljube, https://www.visitlisboa.com/node/923. This was a grim place, reminding us that freedom of speech cannot be taken for granted, it must be fought for. This is where we got some of the 19 flights climbed today.  The Museo is in the Alfama district, an old part of the city on a hillside going down to the river.  There is a big  Cathedral next to the Museo, the prisoners in what is now the museum could hear the bells, their only contact with the outside world.

It was a delightful walk around, and then it was lunchtime. A very pleasant restaurant.  Michael had octopus, I had bacalhao, Filipa had green curry of chickpeas. We also had a very delicious drink of red berrieds, ginger and cardamom.

After that we made a long walk through the small streets to the tile museum.  This was wonderful. It is in an old convent, and the displays were so fabulous. I took a lot of pictures.

As a sidebar, I am finding blogging quite difficult. I tried BlogPad pro but it keeps crashing. I have tried cutting and pasting from Notepad. Getting images in is difficult. I shall continue to experiment but it is frustrating.

It was another long walk back to the train station, where we caught a train to Baix Chiado, where the museum of contemporary art was. It was a bit of a disappointment, much of it closed between exhibitions. We then went up to the square, full of people eating and drinking, music playing. One omission from many hotels is a face cloth. There was a shop nearby selling this kind of thing, so I popped in and bought two. Odd souvenirs, I know, but they will be used. We had a sit down in the Tofa cafe, and ate our first custard tart. Yum. Tonight we are coming back here to go to Fado in Chiado.