Today is the day of the general strike. All public transport, museums, hospitals, schools etc. are meant to be closed. Luckily our hotel seems to be sporting the usual number of staff and at breakfast, although the road around the square was quiet, we saw a tram go by. So we looked in the guide book and decided to make one of the suggested walks. This was estimated to take 45 minutes, but we knew it would take us longer as we intended to stop off at various points along the way. But we had to reach a suitable starting point on their map and this took us across our square and up to the church our guide had indicated as a must.
The church of São Roque is quite plain from the outside, but inside is breathtaking with its embellishments of semi precious stone, marble, gold and silver. St. Roch is the protector against plague. Just a little way beyond this beautiful church we knew there was a view point, but before we reached it, there came one of the funicular trams that ply up and down the steep streets at four points around the city. Surprisingly this one that travels up and down Gloria street, was in service, so we hopped on using our Lisbon cards and took a return trip to Avenida Da Liberdade. It was along this wide boulevard that the marchers would come, apparently, so we didn’t hang about. Back up at the top, we walked out onto the viewpoint and took in the view of the city and across to the castle. Further strolling brought us to Praça do Príncipe Real where a huge cedar tree has been trained to grow around a wrought iron support creating a large shady area where locals play cards in the summer. To one side of the square is a building that looks a bit like the Brighton Pavilion, but in reality is a Neo-Moorish building belonging to the University. They seem to be either trying to sell it or knock out the insides and renovate it. In the centre of the square is a small café where we stopped for a welcome coffee and cake.
Off on our walk again, we began looking for the entrance to Jardim Botanico. This wasn’t easy as it wasn’t clear on the map, and one entrance we did find looked as if it hadn’t been used in years. \we tracked back to the square and walked down to one of the University entrancs, and here discovered that the botanical garden shared it. It does seem a little neglected, but there had been a lot of rain and it is autumn, so maybe that was why. We walked through avenues of tall trees and eventually came across an ornamental pond with what could have been a wonderful summerhouse, but it too has seen better days. Time to move on.
We walked along, up and down steep streets with tall colourful houses; some with tiled exteriors, others just painted, but with tiles over windows. The next place of interest was Palácio de São Bento, the seat of the Portuguese Parliament. It is a Neo-Classical building with lots of arches, pillars and an impressive portico. It is guarded by soldiers who have glass boxes to stand in. Amazingly it was built in the late 16th century, and yet looks almost new. We back tracked a little and took a steep road up to Jardim da Estrela. We were greeted by tall trees and an ornamental lake with statues and ducks, and behind an impressive band stand. Actually, it is described as a wrought-iron music pavilion (1884) and was moved here from Passeio Público when Avenida da Liberdade was created. Summer days are filled with the music from bands playing here. Henry Fielding is buried in the English Cemetery, north of the gardens. We were distracted by the flock of green parakeets that flits among the trees as well as the Muscovy ducks that inhabit yet another pond. Once again we found a convenient café for tea before we went out of the park to discover the Basílica da Estrela. The interior is clad in pink, grey and yellow marble.
We had just about covered our walk from the guide book, so now had to make our way back to the hotel. As we wandered along to hilly streets we came across another of the funiculars, but this one wasn’t working today. Then we were back at the hotel and made our way up to the roof terrace in hope of a sunset. We were not disappointed and while we waited we watched a submarine slip quietly downstream through liquid gold waters. The starlings swooped over the roof tops below and finally roosted in the trees for the night. We went off to change and ordered a taxi to take us up to the Castelo de São Jorge for dinner.
The restaurant, Casa do Leao, was very pleasant – not quite up to ‘Eleven’ standards, (Understatement!!), but we had a traditional sort of dinner served in a modern style. The view was good, however and they were very friendly and ordered us a taxi to take us back to the hotel.
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