Belém Tower

Can’t visit a country without some geological element. Spent our last day in Lisbon visiting Quake: the Lisbon Earthquake Museum.

The museum is an interactive 1.5 hour experience that takes you through seismology lessons and then immerses attendees in Lisbon before, during, and after the quake. The museum also educated attendees on being prepared for the next big one and other larger events such as San Francisco and Japan Tsunami March 15 2011. The most interesting section was simulating the morning of: we were all in the streets and entered a church for the All Saints Day Service. We got through the first 7 minutes of the service before they started shaking the pews and mimicking the initial shock and aftershocks for several minutes. The moment you exit the church, they had smoke machines and made the room glowing red and warm to represent the fire and trying to navigate the streets to safety. And of course 10 minutes later in this room they used museum panels to visualize the approaching tsunami coming towards the city.

We also really enjoyed the last room which dove into leaders’ thoughts to repair the city. This included building the streets wider and in a grid format with planned roads and material (first urban planning); sending out a paper survey to ask witnesses questions about the earthquake (first systematic data collection); and planning how to protect the population from disease and starvation (first civil protection service). Wonderful museum and recommend it for all ages!

We also stopped by Mercado de Campo de Ourique for lunch. Visited an oyster stand which had a deal for two oysters and a glass of wine; the owner is such a delight. First, he selected two different types of oysters to try and let us try two different wines before picking. We saw he sold barnicals and admitted we never had them before. He lets us try them for free! Mary loves oysters and has tried them in Newport (best in US) and Norway (originally her favorite) but now the oyster from MEROIR is the best oyster she has ever had!

With the owner, we chatted about global warming and the impacts to oyster farming. We learned so much about oysters and specifically Portuguese oyster farming in such a small interaction. Before leaving, we grab bocadilla sandwhiches and some lemonade/beer.

We ended the day hopping on a flight to Ter Azores.

Restaurants:
Afonso dos Leitões - Food Store Belem
MEROIR

Food:
Fried Pork Belly & Sandwich
Portuguese Oysters
Barnacles
Bocadilla Sandwhiches

Spots:
Quake Lisbon Earthquake Museum
Mercado de Campo de OuriqueRead more