We had a slow start to the day today. We started off by going to the Praca de Espana (Spain Square) without really knowing anything about it. As it turned out, there was nothing to know about it. It is little more than a grass clearing in the middle of a busy intersection. We did find a sizeable flea market and this cute little arch though, little compensation for the effort required.
From the Praca de Espana we went off in search of our viaduct again, this time by a different (more direct) route. Note to the uninitiated: I rate viaduct hunting very high in the list of relationship-threatening activities. After several consultations with the map and discussions on how to follow said map, we again arrived at the entrance to the viaduct. Again the gate was closed even though it was 11am and it was supposed to open at 10. A man who was standing around did a lot of yelling to invisible people in buildings on the other side of the road. As a result of one of the replies he received (I presume) he approached us to inform us that if we come back in July the viaduct would be open. Great, and many thanks for the (lack of) signage. By this stage we were looking at a completely wasted morning. This photo is the best I could do.
Our next stop was back to the Metro to Oriente on the other side of the city, to take a look at the Vasco da Gama bridge. My camera cannot hope to do justice to this bridge, not many "mere mortal" (non professional) cameras can. If you open the link earlier in this paragraph you will see a really good aerial shot of the bridge. If not, you'll have to make do with my modest efforts. It is one of the longest in the world and really impressive.
The picture above is about the best I could do. The picture below is an aerial photo I raided off the internet.
The whole area near the bridge was really quite avant garde and very nice. It turns out it was the site for Expo 98. Here are a few pictures that may help give a flavour of the place.
- This used to be just the tower on the left, now they are building an apartment block or hotel or whatever right on the water's edge.
- This is the entrance to the Metro station!
- This is a bit distorted but it round domed building, a bit like a scaled down version of the Millennium Dome. In other words, a circular exhibition / display hall. Note the apartment block in the background.
- A closer view of the apartment block. It has the appearance of a ship or large sailing boat. We have apartment blocks like this in Melbourne but these ones look more polished and better finished to me.
- Another Expo building?
- This is a really long building that is now populated by many, many restaurants. Competition for business must be fierce, and I hope they have lots of visitors to this place otherwise it is the shopkeepers who will go hungry here.
So that;s a flavour of what we came across at Vasco da Gama. Really nice vibe and energy to the place, with the stunning bridge at the northern end of the area. Then it was time to get back onto the Metro to get our favourite spot for watching the football. Today is Spain v Switzerland. Back in Spain every move of everyone associated with the team was analysed to death, and the feeling is strong that this is to be Spain's World Cup. Well if it is to be theirs all well and good but it had a traumatic start with Spain going down 10. The couple of Swiss fans sitting next to us were over the moon, the many Spaniards watching the game were very quiet. Unlike the Italians and Portuguese they did not give a rendition of their national anthem, they were happy to listen to the music on the TV. This picture shows the venue were we have enjoyed watching the football the last 3 days. Very relaxing :) This shot was taken from beside the big screen, during the first half.
After the game we finally got to go up the "ascensor" (see earlier post), or elevator. We left it for today because this is included in the price of the Metro ticket and today we bought day tickets. The lift takes you up about 4 storeys, and then there is a walkway from there to the street level above. Very neat. Some really good views of the castle, the street below, and the harbour from the top of the elevator too.
Our last bit of sightseeing for the day was to visit the Arco de Rua Augusta and the Praca do Comercio. This had been the site of a palace that was destroyed by the massive earthquake of 1755. This arch and square ere built to commemorate the completion of the rebuilding of the city after the devastation.
Following is my best attempt at getting a shot of the whole square.
First thing in the morning we head out of Lisbon, back to Barcelona, leaving behind some really good memories. Marianne has a couple more things she wants to do in Barcelona while we are in this part of the world, so that's where we'll be tomorrow....
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