So we got into Lisbon for a 3 day stay. It was one of the longer places that we stayed. The area we stayed in wasn't touristy at all and even seemed a little sketchy. We found a parking space about two blocks away from the Airbnb. Most of places in Europe that we went had one-way streets and lots of roundabouts, so we didn't want to keep searching for better parking. We unloaded our stuff, washed some laundry and got to bed for the night. It was one of the nicer Airbnbs that we stayed in. The kids got doing their homework and bathing and I reached out to my Aunt and Uncle that are currently missionaries at the Lisbon temple. My Aunt Margo was going to be cooking for 30 people the next day, but my Uncle Wayne took us to the Maritime Museum, the Cathedral right next door to it, the park for some delicious pastries, the discovery statue on the coast and a walk down to the Torre de Belem where our kids got thoroughly wet. Then we took them to get dressed and then to Wayne and Margo's beautiful apartment for a dinner that Margo made. (Poor lady was cooking all day!) It was delicious. She made a Portuguese cod pie. Sam ate all the veggies and Seth drank all the juice. It was so fun to chat with them and see how wonderful their mission experience has been. They took us to the grocery store after because Ada was asking to get some things. They had a huge section of seafood that you could smell from the street. It had such a huge variety of fish! It was really neat.
Portugal has such an interesting Maritime history. They were exploring the world before most people explored their own countries. The ships and navigation tools from the 1400-1600s were so neat!
Seth like ALL the guns
Poor Ada wasn't feeling good this day.
Wayne was showing us this neat map. It had marked all the places that Portugal and Spain had explored. I didn't know this, but England wasn't actively claiming countries until the 1700s. That would explain why a lot of countries throughout the world speak Spanish and Portuguese or have pieces of them mixed in... like the Philippines.
The coolest part was the real ships that they had on display.
I didn't get a picture, but this reminded me that 1) everything is in anywhere from 2-5 languages everywhere we went and 2) the word pull in English is Puxe (said push) in Portuguese.
We saw the burial places of Vasco de Gama, a famous Portuguese poet, 2 Portuguese kings and their families, etc...
Ada knows that I love elephants.... she saw that the tombs all had these elephants and took a picture for me.
We were all joking about this door. The poor wood worker.... "Just add another layer.... no, maybe another one..."
These are the very touristy tuk-tuks. Lisbon is VERY hilly and has a lot of visitors. As a consequence, these are everywhere but they aren't used by the locals.
Seth liked the sword down the monument.
This was an interesting sculpture. I'd like to do more research on it to find out who the people are and the exact significance. I know it was to celebrate Portugal's discovery age.
There was about a 1/2 mile long walk from this to the tower. That wasn't bad, but it was very sunny that day. We stopped to put on sunscreen and use the bathroom halfway there. They, like Germany, have paid public toilets.
This was a tower for both protection from boats coming up the river, but also a power flex.
The kids were just going to "wade" in the water. Jer and I knew better. Seth had gotten knocked over by 4-5 waves and we just told them all to go swimming and we'd change before dinner.
Ada was Seth's guard with big waves so he didn't keep getting knocked over.
There was a sandbar that went almost all the way to the tower. If we had a walking mom or dad at this point, I would have taken them over to touch the tower.... but both of us needed a walking break after the day so I told them not to get swept into the ocean instead.
Evelyn didn't want to play with the kids, but she easily made friends with another visitor.
Thank you Wayne and Margo! We enjoyed our day with you and hope that the rest of your mission goes well!
This was cool! This was a collection of maps donated by some duke in the 1800s. This map was drawn by Christopher Columbus' navigator.
Seth's size.
This one is apparently one of several murals made out of found trash around Lisbon. All are done by the same artist, but they're made out of car bumpers or hubcaps and the such.
We did a quick drive by the Lisbon temple. It's very beautiful and the grounds are lovely. I also feel like its a very quiet and safe part of Lisbon.
The fish section of the market.
No comments:
Post a Comment