8 days in Portugal

My trip to Portugal started with a wedding invite from a friend from home, Lucina, and then I decided to add a few days on after the wedding and make a holiday of it. Those from Queensland Rail may recognise the face. Thanks for having your wedding in such an awesome place Lucina and Rob. The day before the wedding, in Cabanas (about 40mins east of Faro, on the way to the Spanish border). Gorgeous (scenery, not me).

The streets of Cabanas. The main drag looking straight down to the water.

The tiled houses (tiles on the outside)

The new and the old side by side

The tile on the wall street signs. Much prettier than our metal ones.

This is how I got to and from Cabanas, the local train which was a great, but some last minute changes saw me getting off at the station with no idea where to go and no one that spoke English. Thanks to the very beginner Spanish I started learning I worked out the few Portuguese words on the signs, and lucky Cabanas is small! I'm ashamed to say that I was suffering in the heat with my backpack (not very Australian!), so was very happy to eventually find the place I was staying.

Arriving back in Faro, hanging out the train window. I loved this train ride which followed the southern coast most of the way. This is the main park in Faro, right next to the hostel I was staying in. This park was complete with little gazebos selling drinks, snacks and ..... bird food for the little avery in the middle ... ... and a little exercise benches for the 'geriatrico'.

(This is as close as I get to cycling at the moment.) Touring the old walled city of Faro; which has existed since 1st century BC Roman times and saw 500 years of Moorish occupation from the 8th century on. There are still ruins and buildings from then. Instead of eagles/seagulls, this city has storks nesting everywhere. I ate snails.

Proof

Next was another old city - Evora, in the middle of Portugal and UNESCO world heritage listed due to the buildings that still stand, enclosed by medieval walls, and the monuments from different periods. Evora was also occupied by Romans as well as the Visigoths, Moors (still a big influence seen in the city) and finally the Portuguese in the late 1100s.

Random images of the city.

The center of Evora, Giraldo Square, with Gothic influence. Looking at a massive 16th century church. This was the site of about 22,000 condemnations during the Inquisition. Today there's a little cafe in the middle and it seems to be the 'hang out' place for the older Portuguese population.

The Roman Temple of Evora, 1st century and still partially standing.

And one of the most unusual sights I've seen - Capela dos Ossos (Chapel of Bones). The inside of this chapel is almost entirely covered in human bones! (Mainly skulls and thigh bones it looked like) Built by a monk, using the skeletons of about 500 other monks, to enforce the message that life is 'transitory'. Thanks main monk, that clears that up. The room.

One of the small window recesses.

The decorated columns. Even the ceiling decoration. And here's the close up of the human skulls and thigh bones. Lisbon, the capital.

I was Lisbon for the Portuguese - German Euro2008 soccer game. Portugal lost but those two goals were pretty exciting in this crazy crowd. A night out in Lisbon. First a bit of sight seeing, walking the streets, riding the trams and then dinner and Fado music.

My Spanish friends in Lisbon.

The singers were pretty amazing. Another Fado singer - Mr I'm so relaxed I looked like I was asleep standing up seconds before belting out a loud emotion charged verse. It gave me goose bumps.

More azulejos (ceramic tiles). They really are everywhere.

Tiles for everything!! This was the bathroom sign. Second last day. Sintra, the playground of Royalty when Lisbon was the important European city (around 16th century I think??). The gate to the gardens of one of the palaces along the road.

One of the palaces. The gardens would take a whole day to walk around (didn't have time but wish we had done it). The main attraction - The Castle of the Moors (look carefully at the ruins under the growth). From the 9th century, now being slowly being restored since the late 1800's from under the topography and undergrowth of the hill. Is considered a 'romantic' ruin.

Looking up the wall to the highest tower. Everything to the left of the picture is inside the walls.

From the tower looking back down the slightly wonky wall. And then looking out over the towns below. The views from here are amazing - it's the highest point for kilometers and kilometers in all directions. Part of the ruins not covered in undergrowth. The old quarters of the guards. Last day. Belem and Cascais.

The sea voyages and navigators of Portugal provided so much power to Portugal that the nautical theme is everywhere - ropes and knots decorate many buildings. This ridiculously large monastery took 100 years to build and shows how prosperous Portugal was at the time.

Inside. Rope decoration on the massively high ceilings and instead of religious stained-glass windows it's ropes with knots.

The Belem bakery with the famous Pasteis de Belém – warm custard tarts. Yum! And finally the beautiful beach. This one is Cascais, about 40mins from Lisbon. I spent my last afternoon lazing on this beach. Could've done with two more days here - it's the first time I've seen a nice beach and one that is warm for nearly 1 1/2years. I'm not quite sure how I'm surviving this.

End of holiday.