Stay, Stray, Play and Feast: Old Town Lisbon:Heart and Soul of Lisbon (Lovely Lisbon Series 17)

Old Town Lisbon
Heart and Soul of Lisbon
Lovely Lisbon Series 17

It was the first day of the European Congress of Endocrinlogy

and I attended the medical convention the whole morning,

…and later joined my family by noontime

at the Praça do Comércio where we would

begin our visit to the Lisbon’s old town district.

The Praça do Comérciois the largest of Lisbon’s

plazas located at the edge of the Tagus estuary and
was center of commerce in the past where the most of

Portugal’s main business establishments are located.

My family admired the grandest of Lisbon’s squares,

surrounded with neo- classical buildings that houses

shops and restaurants and the city’s main tourism office.

We exited at the ornate Arco da Rua Augusta,

…and strolled leisurely at the Rua Augusta,

…where we chanced upon Fabrica Das Enguias.

Fabrica Das Enguias is located a few steps away

from Rua Augusta, near the Praça do Comércio,

...housed in an ancient building,

…along the main road and a block away

from the iconic Tram 28 metro station.

The store sells nothing but their popular canned eel

and has been producing this exotic delicacy since 1942.

The store offers free tasting of bite sized bread topped
with the chunky bits of canned eel, and it tasted very good.

We bought several cans which came with

a certificate of authenticity and a Fabrica

Das Enguias passport souvenir for tourists.

We then walked uphill intending to visit the

Lisbon Cathedral as our next destination,
and when we saw a church about a block

about away, we mistook it as the Lisbon Se,

…so we went in.

I was armed with a guidebook, but we began suspecting

that we were in the wrong place as the book description

does not match of what we are seeing on real time.

There were a lot of Filipinos in the

as there was a christening going on,

..and I asked one of them if this is the Lisbon Se,

it’s the Mary Magdalene Church was the answer.

It was an awesome church nevertheless, and despite
being situated at the historical centre of Lisbon, the
Igreja da Magdalena has not been a popular tourist
destination, and we were fortunate for this visit when

we mistook it for the more popular Lisbon Se.

From the Igreja da Magdalena

we hopped at the crowded Tram 28,

…and got down at the

Miraduro de Sta Luzia,

…where the Elevador de Sta Luzia

was located at Alfama’s upper district.

It was another case of mistaken identity.

We had the ancient Elevador de Sta Justa

but ended at Elevador de Sta Luzia instead.

It was perfectly alright as the Miraduro de Santa Luzia,

was a lovely view deck that provided an awesome
view of the beautiful city of Lisbon downhill.

The ancient Viana do Costelo accress

that served as a rustic scenic shortcut,

to the Costelo de Sao Jorge uphill.

The walk to the castle was draining,

as the old cobbled road was steep,

…but we had a slow and leisurely

stroll in an ancient neighborhood,

…with centuries old buildings

of quaint Moorish architecture.

But the effort was all worth it.

The majestic Castelo de Sao Jorge

also known as the Lisbon castle,

… built at the top the hill had an awesome

view of the ancient city of Lisbon below.

Much of the present structures are in ruins,

but continues restoration is being undertaken.

Some parts of the ruins of the former

Royal Palace of the Alcáçova has been

restored and converted to a museum,

…called Nucleo Museologico.

The massive 11^th century Moorish Castle

has been restored to its original glory

Castelo de Sao Jorge is the

fortress to Lisbon’s history,

…it is Portugal’s top tourist attraction,
and not to be missed by anyone

visiting this old, beautiful country.

It was already late in the afternoon when
we left Castelo de Sao Jorge, we were
starving as we didn’t had any lunch yet.

We caught the sight of Comidas de Santiago, a rustic-

looking roadside restaurant few blocks away from the castle.

We perused the menu and it looked interesting

so we decided to dine at the al fresco section.

They initially served us several loaves of warm

bread and a platter- full of olives for appetizer

and we gobbled then fast as we were all hungry.

Everything tasted very good from

the velvety Vegetable Cream Soup,

… to the Roast Lamb with Roasted Potatoes,

…and the Cod with Cream.

Comidas de Santiago is a nice roadside restaurant

that serves excellent traditional Portuguese cuisine

that comes in massive portions, yet very affordable.

After a sumptuous dinner, we admired the

paper money collection coming from different

countries, displayed on the restaurant’s wall,

…and I fished out a twenty peso bill from my

wallet and gave it to the waiter when we noticed

that they had no Philippine money on display.

After dining at the Comidas de Santiago,

we walked down a steep cobbled alley

and ended at the Largo das Portas do Sol.

The Largo das Portas do Sol is a street in

Alfama named from the old Puerta del Sol,

a part the Moorish fence that existed here but

was destroyed by the great earthquake of 1755.

The statue of the city's patron saint, St. Vincent,

holding the symbols of Lisbon, a boat with two

ravens serves as a centerpiece of a small square.

Largo das Portas do Sol is surrounded

by beautiful earth-toned ancient buildings ,

…and on one side of the street is

the Miraduro das Portas do Sol,

...offers a s stunning view of Lisbon’s

ancient brick- roofed houses and

the historic Tagus River at a distance.

From the Portas do Sol/we again took the Tram 28,

to the Lisbon Cathedral located few blocks downhill.

We earlier mistook the Igreja da Magdalena for this church,
but this time we finally got it right. The monolithic façade of
this ancient church with two imposing bell towers looked
more of a fortification than being the city's center of faith.

Sé de Lisboa or the Santa Maria Maior de Lisboa and
simplycalled the Lisbon Cathedral in English,is the oldest
church in the city and the see of the Archdiocese of Lisbon,