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Jardim das Pichas Murchas

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    • TravelerEurope 2022
      Day 35

      Lisbon Letter (2)

      October 12, 2022 in Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

      As well as having fun in Alfama, choosing badly in restaurants and eating too many custard tarts, we made a couple of day trips.

      Firstly, Evora, a couple of hours away by train, and probably most famous for the Capela dos Ossos, part of the Church of St Francis. Faced with a dearth of interior design ideas, and having 5,000 exhumed bodies on hand, the entrepreneurial Franciscan monks thought that lining the walls of the chapel would be a good use for all those hard-to-store bones.

      It was strangely aesthetic rather than gruesome, although the building trade are unlikely to offer it to would-be buyers anytime soon. Still, for DIY…

      There was also a museum displaying, among other things, a part of the monastery’s collection of over 2,000 nativity scenes, some of which were magnificent pieces of craftsmanship and others just plain weird.

      Evora also has a Roman connection, and we took a walk past the ruins of the Temple of Evora, another part of the town’s UNESCO heritage.

      We also visited Sintra, set in a lush, beautiful bunch of hills just northeast of the city.

      Joining a surging mass of tourists, we queued up for our turn in the Pena Palace, a fantastical faux fortress built in 1838, by then King Consort Ferdinand II (although it was on the site of a ruined fortress that had existed since the Middle Ages). It had spectacular views of the surrounding countryside (at least, after the fog lifted) and the clambering around the ramparts was fun, but we had to sort of flow through the interiors along with the rest of the sea of visitors and didn’t really get a chance to savour the experience.

      More interesting in some ways was the National Palace, in Sintra township itself. With heritage dating back to the Moors and additions made, mainly in the 15th and 16th centuries, by a succession of kings and queens, it was a quite fascinating look at the way the royal court lived and interacted with the rest of us.

      The National Palace also has a pair of very distinctive tall, white towers and we pondered over their use until, at the end of the tour, in the kitchen, we found out that they were the chimneys!

      Our time in Lisbon has now come to an end, almost as soon as we had mastered the metro, taken the tram and learnt the labyrinth of the local area. We are off to the Algarve tomorrow for - hopefully - some time in the sun.      Read more

    • TravelerEurope 2022
      Day 33

      Lisbon Letter (1)

      October 10, 2022 in Portugal ⋅ 🌧 18 °C

      No Lisbon travel story would be complete without a shot of tram 28 winding its way through the tortuous streets of the Alfama district. The photographs, however, don’t convey the shaking of building, rumbling and rattling of machinery and screech of steel wheel on rail that accompanies the passing of each one past our apartment. Two metres from our apartment. Every fifteen minutes (and often much more frequent), six-ish in the morning to after ten at night.

      Actually, despite the noise, the discovery that we were on the route for tram 28 was quite exciting, and we loved watching the trams squeeze through the narrow passageway near our place and being able to use them for some of our commuting into town. The Alfama district was a great and welcoming place to stay.

      We started our look around Lisbon on the bank of the Tagus River, staring at the vast, prosperous-looking Placa do Commercio, with King Dom Jose I in its centre and the massive triumphal arch of the Arco de Rua Augusta guarding the way inland.

      We visited the very well-presented Lisbon Story, an audio-visual telling of Lisbon’s history, especially in relation to the earthquake of 1755, which quite possibly resulted in 90,000 deaths as well as the flat, regular grid system of the downtown Baixa district, while the areas to the east and west are completely higgledy-piggledy.

      We walked up to the Miradouro de Alcantara, one of a seemingly endless number of viewpoints around the seven hills of the city, then rode downtown again on the funicular Ascensor de Gloria.

      By far the best views of the city and surrounds, however, were from Castelo de Sao Jorge (another Saint George - he seems to have utilised his dragon-killing skills in lots of places), where we also stumbled around the battlements and looked into some archaeological diggings.

      On our second day, the Lisbon Marathon took place. How they found enough relatively flat streets for it is anyone’s guess, but there was a great carnival atmosphere downtown, accompanied by cheers from the spectators and limping and groaning from the competitors.

      We also took in some culture at, among others, Mosteiro dos Jeronimos, west of town and containing the tomb of Vasco da Gama, as well as at Igreja de Sao Roque, a quite beautiful church with a museum devoted mainly to holy relics. Fortunately there were no saintly body parts on display this time.      Read more

    • TravelerPortugal
      Day 12

      Sardines and St. Anthony

      July 2, 2022 in Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 73 °F

      I made my way back to Lisbon by way of the Museu do Oriente, an Asian art museum. It was a little disappointing, with more decorative furniture and Chinese opera and less porcelain and painting than I had been hoping. I returned to the Alfama district for an excellent food tour - three and a half hours of going from place to place, learning about local dishes and eating and drinking. After the tour, I couldn't resist wandering around the Alfama to enjoy the ongoing St. Anthony Sardine Festival. Apparently it's a joint celebration of St. Anthony of Padua, who was born in Lisbon and is revered in Lisbon although St. Vincent is actually their official patron saint, and the arrival of fresh sardines. It seemed like the whole neighborhood was out on the streets, selling grilled sardines on toast and ginja, a sweet cherry liquor, drinking Sagres, listening to bands and djs, and dancing. Some locals taught me how you're supposed to eat the drinking-snack snails - you suck them out of their shells and only use the toothpick for the difficult ones. Much faster than my toothpick-only method.Read more

    • TravelerEurope 2023
      Day 44

      Wandering around the Alfama

      October 27, 2023 in Portugal ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

      After a little rest - I needed a lie down after our lunch at Belcanto - we decided to take a bit of a wander around the Alfama district in the evening. We headed upwards, climbing lots of stairs as we wound our way through the narrow streets. There are so many little bars and restaurants, and many of them offer Fado which is a style of singing that originated in the Alfama as this is where fisherman used to live. Fado is about longing and loss, as the job of a fisherman in Portugal is a dangerous job, even to this day. During our walk we came across some great lookout point that provided good views down to the river.Read more

    • Nadine und DominikLissabon 30.09. - 5.10.2019
      Day 2

      Pátio de Dom Fradique - Ruine & Graffiti

      October 1, 2019 in Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

      Auf dem Weg zum Castelo sind wir durch eine kleine Seitenstraße, welche uns einen sehr ungewöhnlichen Blick bot. Hier sind einige Ruinen von alten Gebäuden, welche voller Graffiti sind. Das gesamte ist umzäunt, sodass niemand in die Ruinen kann. Ob das Graffiti erwünscht war oder verbotenerweise angebracht wurde, wissen wir nicht. Sieht aber trotzdem sehr cool aus. Da hier in der Gasse auch ein paar kleine Stände sind und zudem öfters Musiker spielen, ist dieser Umweg jeden Schritt wert!Read more

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    • Vera and TomEurotrip

      Alfama, Lisbon

      April 3, 2019 in Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

      Today we woke up full of energy to go out and start exploring on our first full day of this trip. We found a funny little local cafe and had a coffee and a chicken toastie for breakfast and then headed towards Alfama, a famous old district in Lisbon.
      Alfama is beautiful and we happily spent hours just wandering around the winding cobbled streets and up and down all of the many many hills. We found some lookout view points, a convent, a castle, lots of cool murals and hundreds of little bars and cafes to go back to if we can remember where any of them are, the whole area is like a maze.      Read more

    • TravelerPortugal & Spain
      Day 9

      Lissabon (2)

      October 8, 2020 in Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

      Walking through the center, you pass along the tram rails and the famous tram 28. Coming from Ghent, Belgium I must say it was still impressive. How can a tram drive so elegantly through tiny streets with steep hills like it has been doing for ages. The houses were colourful, just like the tram. Beautiful city !

      I tried the typical pastry called “Pastel de Belém” (or “pastry from creme”). It is usually served with a little powdered sugar and cinnamon on top. For us Belgians, it tastes a bit like a typical “cremekoek” with vanille creme and puff pastry (“bladerdeeg”). Very good but expensive. €1.20 for 1 tiny piece.. Commercial Lissabon !

      In the evening it was time to check in my hotel just 20min away from the airport (40min from the center). It was called “TRYP Lisboa Montijo Parque Hotel”. The area Montijo was just across the famous impressive bridge Ponte Vasco Da Gama.

      Finally it was time to pick up my friend Camille from the Lissabon airport around midnight. We had a good sleep and we’re ready the next day for Portugal !      Read more

    • SixBridges Revival Tour 2023
      2
      Day 11

      Lissabon am Abend

      September 19, 2023 in Portugal ⋅ 🌙 18 °C

      Noch lange in Lissabon rumgetrieben. 13000 Schritte und 35km mit dem Rad heute... echt anstrengend so ein BigCity SightSeeing...

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    • TravelerRoadtrip Portugal
      Day 14

      Lissabon 1.0

      April 1, 2019 in Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

      Nachdem wir etwas ausschlafen konnten, machten wir uns ganz entspannt auf den Weg nach Lissabon rein.
      Zunächst kauften wir uns Metro-Tickets.
      Danach entschieden wir dann uns einfach treiben zu lassen und nicht geplant durch Lissabon zu laufen.
      Einfach der Nase nach, dort halten wo wir Lust haben etc.
      Und es war perfekt für den ersten Tag um einen Eindruck von der Hauptstadt Portugals zu bekommen.
      Unser Weg führte uns durch die Altstadt Alfama bis zum Meer, an der Tram 28 mehrmals vorbei und auch in das Stadtviertel Bairro Alto.
      Lissabon hat einen ganz besonderen Charme, viele Straßenkünstler, viele Musiker auf den Straßen, tolle Ausblicke, alte historische Gebäude, ohne Ende Tuk-Tuks etc.
      Man kann Lissabon kaum in Worte fassen, man muss es sich einfach selbst anschauen.
      Eine sehr coole Atmosphäre mit super vielen netten Leuten, was einfach Spaß bringt.
      Dementsprechend schnell verging auch die Zeit. Ein Glück haben wir noch 2 weitere Tage vor uns, um noch mehr von der Stadt sehen zu können.      Read more

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    • TravelerLissabon
      Day 5

      Miradouro Santa Luzia

      June 14, 2019 in Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

      Die Meisten kommen beim Aufstieg auf dem Weg zum Castelo São Jorge hier vorbei. Der Miradouro Santa Luzia gilt als einer der besten Fenster über Lissabon und den Fluss. Von hier aus hat man eine wunderbare Aussicht über das Viertel Alfama und kann die Kirchen Sta. Engrácia und Sto Estevão sehen. Direkt neben dem Aussichtspunkt befindet sich die Kirche Santa Luzia. An ihrer Fassade sind Kachelbilder zu sehen: Ein Bild zeigt Lissabon vor dem großen Erdbeben, das Andere die Legende von Martim Moniz.Read more

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    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Jardim das Pichas Murchas

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