Sat 7 Nov - Lisbon R&R Day 1

Today was walking Lisbon some more. Even though the place is hilly, it is mostly very walkable indeed. 

Instead of wandering to the centre via Av. da Liberdade, I decided to walk as one of the hop on / hop off tourist buses go. I had the expectation that the bus would pass interesting places. And it did. 

This park is called Jardim de S. Pedro de Alcantara. One of many places with great Lisbon views that I visited today. 
Jardim de S. Pedro de Alcantara had this unusual feature. A cut out where greens were growing, water running and pigeons resting. Peaceful. Where is the vortexing?
I soon also passed the end stop for one of the old Lisbon teams, presumably to get to that park Jardim de S. Pedro de Alcantara that I just passed. 
I now entered that old bohemian neighborhood of Bairro Alto I visited on the walking tour yesterday from the north. I wanted to explore it more and take a few photos. The word Bairro by the way means neighborhood in Portuguese. Barrio in Spanish. 

Of course, 10am is not action time in Bairro Alto but the signs from last night were still there for everybody to see. 
A few more Bairro Alto streetscape photos. 

A neighborhood like Bairro Alto will of course have some good street art. 
Now check out the lower left corner of this piece of street art. 
Yes, a soldier with a flower. This, including another image with the flower inside the barrel of a gun, are symbols of Portugal's bloodless revolution against their very long dictatorship in 1974. 
I don't want to elaborate on Portugal's dictatorship in this blog. 
If anybody is interested, please refer to this article which describes it well:
http://www.themilitant.com/2005/6919/691950.html

I then stumbled onto the same square Praça Luis de Camões where yesterday's walking tour commenced. 
Ha, I could even see yesterday's tour guide doing the rounds again with a new group of punters. 
I continued walking towards the river Tagus over several road bridges. Great looking down and along the streets. 
I was not sure what the pink meant but the thoughts obviously go towards some gay and lesbian event. 
Down by the river Tagus the fishermen mingled with tourists. 

Note the familiar looking bridge in the background, the Ponte de 25 Abril. A fleeting similarity to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francicso perhaps...?

As both Lisbon and San Francisco are subject to earthquakes, this type of bridge is apparently most likely to withstand an earthquake. 
This statue in Almada across the river Tagus looks also familiar. The statue is called Cristo Rei or Christ the King. 

It was inspired by the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, after the Cardinal Patriarch visited that city and thought that Lisbon also needed a similar type of monument. 
Selfie time. I had a great time exploring the riverfront. 
More fantastic street art of what looked like an old customs or harbour building. 

After exploring the waterfront for a while, I slowly wandered up the hills towards the castle. 

I stumbled onto a servico publico, public toilet, which many times are tiny and set among residential buildings. 

The reason why I include the below photo is that: 
1. This is the view when standing up doing business, not bad. 
2. There are stairs and a public path immediately outside. You feel really exposed and I don't think that the outside punters want to see or hear you either. 
OK one more photo from the servico publico. Not quite sure what this means...
Further up the hill and the views were brilliant. Lisbon had a visit from an American warship anchored by the river. 
Tram number 28 is the most notorious for pickpockets according to the tour guide yesterday. We will soon see evidence...
Forget the Castelo de Sao Jorge. Nothing remains of the castle apart from walls and this long queue to get into... What?
To see the views...

Undoubtedly, the views would be fantastic from the tallest point in town but I will not queue for who knows how long and then pay 8.50€ to see views. 

Plenty of views to be see with no queues and no cost. 
Remember the pick pocketing comment. Walking down from the castle, I saw the below. 

Among the papers are 2 copies of identification, a passport and a driving license. A poor bloke from Romania must have lost his wallet and quite possibly on the 28 tram. 
More street art. This is referring to fado, that Portuguese sentimental music that has been referred to as blues for the Portuguese.  
At around 1.30pm it was time for lunch and I really like the small square Largo do Carmo opposite the military garrison called GNR Comando Geral. There are 2 outdoors restaurants there and you sit in shade underneath big trees. 

Today there was a very good busker. This lady a la style of Michelle Shocked played melancholy songs and plucked her guitar very lovely. She was seriously good and got a lot of donations. 

I took the photo from my lunch table but I forgot to take a photo of my food. 
I had a variation of bacalhau, that very popular Portuguese cod dish. Small cod pieces mixed with scrambled eggs, potatoes and who knows what else to make a large fish cake. It was really yummy. 

By the way, I understand that Largo is a small square in Portuguese while Praça is a larger one. 

Very close to Largo do Carmo is the Santa Justa lift. The lift was out of service but you could walk up to its top for more views. Selfies in 3 directions follow.

South.  
East. 
North. 
West was where I came from and it is the hillside so no photo. 

I wandered down to Rua Augusta, the main pedestrian mall from the river, and stumbled onto this "boys choir". 

Not sure what the event was, university related?, but the boys sang and played beautifully. 

For a while, there were girls dressed similarly opposite them who the boys sang for. Very nice. 
A bit more exploring but no more photos before wandering home and past the mini mercado. I picked up "dinner", red wine, crackers, cheese and mortadella. Perfect. 

Football on TV again, it's Saturday, so no more going out today for me. 

7 hours of walking the pavements and the hills is tiring even for a pilgrim...

Foot note: I have been approached numerous times on the Lisbon streets and asked if I want to buy hash. In comparison, I have not been asked once if I want to buy a selfie stick from any of the numerous black guys who sell them everywhere. 

In addition, beggars approach me for money while watches and razzle dazzle sellers do not. 

Now, does that say something about me and my appearance?

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