July 2 - Head downtown on the metro to the same area I visited in March. The most touristic way to walk through the historic district to the water is down the Rua Augusta to Arco da Rua Augusta.
Note the tiled surfaces on the walkway. These are a standard throughout this part of Lisbon. All are small squares that have been hand-chipped to this shape, then packed into place using a large hammer that resembles a miniature piledriver.
Lisbon is a very old city, thought to be the second-oldest European capital after Athens. It was originally settled by Pre-Celtic tribes, and much later by the Phoenicians (about 1200 BCE). It was an important city of the Roman Empire (siezed by Rome after the defeat of Hannibal in 202 BCE along with the rest of the Iberian peninsula), and occupied by Visigoths after the fall. The Moors took over in 711 (Ummayad Caliphate) and Muslims ruled until 1147, when Crusader forces reconquered the city for good. It became the capital of the newly formed Portuguese territory in 1255.
We walk back up the hill to see a few sights close by.
From here we take a long tram ride along the coast eastwards to the Restelo district.
The above tower is a fascinating little structure, completely surrounded by water at high tide. We saw it only from the outside, as there was a two-hour wait for the interior tour.
It was a defensive fortress built along the Tagus by Manuel I in 1519. It served as a ceremonial entrance for vessels and a disembarkation point for VIPs during the ‘Age of Exploration’ that the Portuguese pioneered. The architecture is unusual and is a mix of styles, including the addition of symbolic Moorish minarets.
The way back is a pain. The trams decide they will strike for the rest of the day, dumping everyone at the same stop halfway back to downtown. This means that now hordes of people, many confused about where they are, must sort out their own way onward. We eventually find a bus that takes a circuitous route but lands us back where we need to be.
I wasn’t feeling well by this time, so we had lunch back on Rua Augusta and split up. I went back to the room to sleep. Janet and Odette went to the aquarium. They judged it to be a very good aquarium but not up to the standard of the one in Genova.
Eat at a roundabout near our apartment that has many restaurants. Ours serves mostly Portuguese food, with some fusion. Then sit below Fonte Luminosa after dark, a calm, pleasant place to hang out at the east end of Alameda Park.