Três Dias em Lisboa (Three Days in Lisbon)

Ok, so with flight scheduling, it was more like two and a half days, but I tried to pack a lot into each day. Lisbon ended up being a pleasant surprise for me, primarily because I didn't know its major landmarks prior to planning my trip there, but then found that the city's sites were just as impressive (if not better than) their counterparts in Europe's other major destinations.

Note that I am writing this post as I pack for a trip to Switzerland, so I'll try to keep the narrative short. Essentially, my goal was to watch the two football matches that were scheduled in Lisbon for that weekend and visit the major landmarks, with a focus on enjoying the miradouros (points of view) of the city (but getting to each one on foot without using any trams/elevators).

Day 1

I started the day with a short walk to Parque Eduardo VII, which had a very ordinary view of the city. The park is on a hill, but the slope is very gradual, so the view of the Avenida da Liberdade was very distant.

A view of the Parque Eduardo VII, facing south. The statue in the distance is at the center of a large roundabout called the Praça do Marquês de Pombal.

From Parque Eduardo VII, one can walk along the Avenida da Liberdade, which happens to host a flea market on Saturday mornings. Although, I think the locals would have called it an antique fair as the prices were certainly not bargains (not even in haggling territory).

I then strolled through Praça dos Restauradores and then Praça do Rossio. What I noticed is that there are a lot of statues, monuments and town squares in the Baixa area. From there, it was a short climb up to Igreja de São Roque. I have to mention that the Igreja de São Roque was an impressive church. While the exterior is plain and the church is small, the interior was filled with side chapels containing very ornate, finely sculpted gold works. The lavishness of this church could rival anything in Rome.

One of the several side altars at the Igreja de São Roque.

The Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcãntara was just down the street from the church...

A view from the Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcãntara, facing southeast. The Jardim de São Pedro de Alcãntara is in the foreground and the Castelo de São Jorge is at the top of the hill on the horizon.

The walk back down led me to the coastline (or riverfront? I didn't know what to call the body of water just south of Lisbon), where I saw Lisbon's version of a Triumphal Arch. Again, this was a beautiful landmark that I thought looked much nicer than its counterparts in Paris or Barcelona.


The Rua Augusta Arch, shot from the Praça do Comércio.

Heading west brought me to the Castelo de São Jorge. The castle has been rebuilt and restored several times over the past 800 years, so it's hard to say when the current version was built, but it certainly has a rustic Medieval style in its design. The castle also had great views of the city in every direction. My only complaint is that the walls and stairs lacked safety railings in several places, and I ended up developing a new fear of heights walking the crowded castle walls that were only two persons wide.

A view from Castelo de São Jorge, facing north by northwest. The trees took up too much of this shot, but this was the only photo I took (without sun glare) that captured both the great view of the city and a castle battlement. The trees on the other side of the courtyard below had peacocks perched on the branches, although a few bolder peacocks flew down to a café two levels below to feed on whatever the tourists tossed their way.

I took the subway north to watch a football match between SL Benfica and SC Braga at the Estádio de Luz. While the subway in Lisbon is very modern and efficient, I misjudged the time it would take me to get to the stadium and I ended up missing (by two minutes!) the Benfica Victory Eagle that flies around the stadium before each match. A video of the eagle can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpJfDvtJuOU, although it only captures the end of the flight as the eagle is released from the roof of the stadium.

Anyways, with Benfica and Braga both being near the top of the table, the game was intense and rough, with a lot of fouls and yellow cards issued. While the quality of play was very high, there was also a lot of diving and acting that went along with the rough play. One Benfica player even received a yellow card for diving in the second half. Benfica won 2-0, although it was an easy game for them after a Braga player was ejected for getting a second yellow card.

The Estádio de Luz (Stadium of Light), home of SL Benfica. The photo was taken during the opening ceremony before the match against SC Braga.

Lisbon happens to have three Primeira Liga football teams, with Benfica and Sporting Lisbon as the two major powerhouse teams who usually play in Lisbon on opposite weekends. However, the third team, CF Os Belenenses, was also playing at home that night, so I quickly took the train out to Belém to watch their match against GD Estoril Praia. While I normally would not have gone out of my way to see a second match, particularly as Benfica and Sporting are the two big name teams in the city, I've always had an affinity for Os Belenenses because they have the coolest team name in football (even better than Istanbul's Galatasaray SK). CF Os Belenenses! With a name like that, the Os Belenenses scarf is now the favourite in my collection.

I noticed that a lot of the locals on the westward train (who live in Belém or even further west from Lisbon) were wearing Benfica scarves from the afternoon match, and yet I arrived to a near empty stadium for Belenenses. The one other tourist in my section of the stadium also commented to me how the locals were all on the Benfica bandwagon. Such is the state of modern football. The game was still moderately loud though, as at least 200 energetic Estoril fans made the short trip to Lisbon and chanted the whole night.

As Belenenses and Estoril are middle-ranked teams, the quality of the football was decent although not as good as Benfica-Braga, but the game was a bit cleaner and there was much less diving. I say only a bit cleaner because each team scored a goal on a penalty shot because of fouls in the penalty area. The game ended as a 2-2 draw.

The Estádio do Restelo, home of CF Os Belenenses. The photo was taken during their match against GD Estoril Praia.

Day 2

The second day started in the eastern side of the city (Xabregas), where I could see two sites highly ranked by various travel websites: the National Tile Museum and the Igreja da Madre de Deus.

Three of the many tile displays at the Museu Nacional do Azulejo (also known as the National Tile Museum).

The main altar of the Igreja da Madre de Deus.

The conference room at the top level of the Igreja da Madre de Deus. The opposite end of this room had a viewing window overlooking the main altar and pews one level below.

After the two eastern sites, I took the subway west to the Alfama area, and climbed up to the Igreja da Graça and the neighbouring Miradouro de Graça.

A view from the Miradouro de Graça, facing southwest. The Castelo de São Jorge is at the top of the hill on the left and the 25 de Abril Bridge can be seen in the distance.

I took the train west to spend the rest of the day in Belém (as it was too dark and too late when I arrived there the night before to see any of the sites). What surprised me is that Belém was much more crowded with tourists than the Bairro Alto, Graça and Baixa areas of Lisbon. The long boardwalk with the Padrão dos Descobrimentos and the Torre de Belem likely contributed to this.

The Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Monument to the Discoveries), with the 25 de Abril Bridge and the Cristo Rei (National Sanctuary of Christ the King) in the distant background.

The Torre de Belém. There are very few beaches close to the city center of Lisbon, as most of the coastline is set up like a boardwalk, but there was a very small beach facing this tower that enabled tourists to get their feet in the Atlantic.

Since the Berardo Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art was also in the area and had free admission, I figured I'd also take a quick look. The museum was moderately sized, so I was able to quickly look over all of the works in about an hour. Now I happen to prefer classic art, so I probably don't appreciate modern and contemporary art as much as an art buff, but I try to keep an open mind to different genres. What bothers me is when I come across art that is either really lazy (I saw a painting of a black square there; no textures or shading, just a black square) or really weird. This museum had a mix of some interesting pieces as well as some items that would fall under lazy/weird.

One of the laziest pieces of art that I saw in the Berardo Museum. I decided to use this photo as a means to add my own layer of artistic expression to the artwork. This new layer can be interpreted as an extension of what the original artist is saying to the viewer, or what the viewer wants to say to the original artist. I guess this is an example of how contemporary art can work on so many levels. :/

I also visited the Jerónimos Monastery, but the inner cloister closed 10 minutes before I arrived (a few minutes late again!), so I only saw the main chapel area.

Day 3

The third day was a chance to relax after two fast paced days. I walked to two different miradouros and then stopped by the Parque das Nações on the way to the airport. While the park doesn't have much tourist appeal, some travel sites recommend it, I guess because it offers a look at more modern architecture in Lisbon and it's a change from seeing historical sites the whole time.

A view from the Miradouro de Santa Catarina, facing southwest. This was one of the most southerly viewpoints in the city, so most of the view was overlooking the river/ocean.

The Jardim and Miradouro do Torel, facing west. This must have been the least known viewpoint in the city, as it only had a small fraction of visitors compared to the other miradouros.

So that was Lisbon in two and half days. I'll say that, like Monaco, this city is well-suited for stair-climbers if you forego the trams/elevators. The warm weather and beautiful landmarks added to the experience. I should also mention that the local (non-touristy) bakeries there also made some excellent pastries that I highly recommend trying.