More Sightseeing in Lisbon

We had been to Lisbon on a cruise in 2011 for parts of two days.

On that visit we had gone to many of the major tourist spots like Belem and the Gulbenkian Foundation art museum, so this time we wanted to do different things.

One day we road an old street car up the hill and around the Alfama area (kind of like tourists ride the cable car in San Francisco).

 

Below is another plaza where they showed World Cup games on large screen TV.

Lisbon's version of the Golden Gate Bridge

Their version of the Cristo Rei

 

 

The Tile Museum in Lisbon

One day we visited the incredible Tile Museum, Museu Nacional do Azulejo.  The exhibits are basically a history of tile making in Portugal.  It is housed in an amazing former convent.

 

 

One of the highlights is this mural of the city of Lisbon in 1738, before the major earthquake.

Walking around Lisbon

After driving around Portugal for 8 days, we dropped the car off at the airport and took a taxi to our hotel in Lisbon.  This is the view from our room at the Lisbon Tivoli. 

We were lucky to get a room with a small balcony, just above the treetops, overlooking the Avenida Liberdade (kind of like the Champs Elysee in Paris). 

And, it had a branch of one of our favorite French restaurants, Brasserie Flo.

We spent the next three days walking around Lisbon.

Lisbon is also very hilly so there are many great viewpoints.

We were not able to go into this church, Sao Roque, at first because it was closed for a wedding.

We came back after lunch just in time to see the wedding party leaving.

The interior was quite incredible - these columns are lapis lazuli.

 

In 1755 there was a devastating earthquake and tidal wave in Lisbon. 

These are the ruins of a 14th century church.