Lisbon, the so-called ‘white city’, sure is colourful! I love the fact that it is built on hills and has plenty of Miradouros (viewing points), so I was able to get a good bird’s eye view of the city. Her Ladyship’s creaky knees were put through their paces on those steep hills. She cheated a bit at one point though when she insisted we take the Santa Justa Elevator rather than climb the hill up to the ruins of the Carmo Church. This lift was built back in the early 1900s by Raul Messnier de Ponsard, a student of Gustave Eiffel, and there is no mistaking the similarities to the famous Parisian tower. It sure beats walking and it’s a great way to get up that hill in style!

Back on ground level again, Her Ladyship was still not happy. This time she complained that the pattern in the cobblestones on the Rossio Square made her feel rather seasick. I loved it! Somehow, it made me feel quite at home…

Not far from this square, I found the best shop in Lisbon. Imagine, a shop that sells nothing but tins of sardines! This is my idea of shopping!

For me, after our visit to this wonderful shop (which the Oldies had to drag me out of, flapping and screeching), everything else that Lisbon had to offer just paled into insignificance. Curiously enough however, the Oldies were more impressed with sights such as the São Jorge Castle, the museums, cathedrals, basilicas and monasteries, the remains of the Roman amphitheatre… They both bemoaned that fact that there was far too little time to see it all properly and they resigned themselves to just strolling around, soaking up the atmosphere and getting an initial taste of the city.

The Oldies especially liked the Alfama district, the oldest part of the city, with its narrow, cobbled streets and tightly packed houses. For drivers though, it’s definitely not for the faint-hearted. I don’t know how they manage to squeeze through, and it seems miraculous that the quaint old trams are still running up and down those steep hills.

We did have time to do our real ‘tourist bit’ and visit the famous Belém Tower and the Padrão dos Descombrimentos – Monument to the Discoveries on the banks River Tagus. The tower was smaller than I had imagined and the monument bigger, but they both offer great views of the city. I could have happily stayed up on the top of the Belém tower for hours (like this lucky chappie), but no. His Lordship dragged us all into the Cultural Centre which houses, among other things, the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. Apparently it is full of ‘wonderful’, ‘stunning’, ‘incredible’ and ‘amazing’ works by artists such as Picasso, Dalí, Miró, Warhol, Hockney, Pollock,… blah, blah, blah. But I wouldn’t know, would I? No. I am unceremoniously packed into Her Ladyship’s rucksack and locked up in the gallery cloakroom for the duration of the visit. The Oldies are under notice that it will take a minimum of one return visit to my sardine shop to make up for that transgression. They have been warned!

Good. Negotiations have proceeded swimmingly and the Oldies had no hesitation in agreeing to a return visit to my shop. Which, of course, entails a return visit to Lisbon. We’ll be back!

For now, we are back in lovely Lagos for our last couple of days before catching the flight home from Faro, and His Lordship has just picked up this napkin in one of the local cafés. The English translation is a little iffy but I get the message. Yes, I definitely ‘came back always’!

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