Our First Full Day in Lisbon

Today was our first full day in Lisbon. The challenge is to balance sightseeing with the World Cup. We had a lovely evening yesterday watching Italy with a whole bunch of committed and emotional Italians. Today we have the All Whites (New Zealand) and the local heroes of Portugal. The Portuguese have been waiting for this day with anticipation for some time. Brazil also playing today There are many, many Brazillians here and the Portuguese seem to think of Brazil as an extension of the country anyway. There is only marginally more Portuguese gear than Brazillian in the streets. The game between these two countries is going to be huge, but we won't be here for it.


The morning kicked off with a visit to the Castelo San Jorge (Castle Saint George). As castles go I've definitely seen better. One thing in common with most castles is that they tend to be built on the highest ground available. In the case of Lisbon's castle this affords absolutely spectacular views, well worth the walk up the hill and E7 entry fee.

Following is a view of the river from the castle.



And following is a view of the city itself, also from the castle.





The air was a bit clearer in the morning so I was able to get better pictures of the bridge and Cristo Rei (Christ the King) monument.

After the castle we down to watch the New Zealand game and the Portugal game (see other post).


We then walked up to the ParqueEduardo VII, in other words the Edward 7th Park. In itself the park is nothing special. A wide area with grass up the middle and paved walkways up the sides. The park is on a hill and we were at the bottom of the hill. We walked up the hill and looked down. Now the park looked spectacular, a bit like the view down Anzac Ave in Canberra. This park had the city below and the river at the bottom, really quite spectacular. It made the walk worth while. We were a bit tired after all the previous things we did and also having traipsed through a couple of suburbs to get there. By the way, the flag in the photo is just huge - and very noisy as it flaps around.

We marched on through a couple of grimy suburbs looking for a viaduct we had spotted from the bus when we came into Lisbon. We found it but we were outside the visiting hours and the gatye was locked. So that's for tomorrow.....