Discovering Lisbon

We barely scratched the surface on our one day tour of Lisbon. Better to visit Lisbon for many days and opt to tackle one hill a day I think! We started the day at Jardim de Estrela so Jude could play some of his sillies out before we forced him to sight see.

Spring is coming!!

We stopped for lunch at a traditional cafe near the park, visited a bakery for pasteis de nata and then boarded the famed Cable Car 28 for a rickety ride through the city. Not really designed for children, we made it work and Jude actually fell asleep on Pete's lap and transferred to the stroller. Good thing because I was convinced he was going to propel himself out the open windows! I told him we couldn't put our hands out the windows and he really tested me. "Just a finger, mommy? Two fingers?" We ran into one of Pete's coworkers who was also vacationing in Lisbon. Small world!

Completely open window. Hang on to your children! 

We missed our stop to start a recommended walking tour and ended up at the end of the line (and the bottom of a hill). Up, up and away. We made it to the top at the entrance of the Castelo de S. Jorge, but with Jude still asleep, we decided that we didn't want to spend time touring the castle. So we found another spot with great views over the city and gave Maeve some time to play before getting her back into the carrier. 

Future travel planner like her momma?

The part of the city that we wanted to walk around and explore was the medieval Alfama district with its narrow, winding streets. Still relatively high up in the city, we had a ways to go to get back down to the old Cathedral. We set google maps to direct us, but soon found that the most direct way down was often by long, steep staircases. Jude was still sleeping so we meandered just following our decent sense of direction. That walk was definitely the highlight of Lisbon for us. You really had the sense that working class people lived here and there were colorful surprises around every corner. Pete found a public bath house and I had read that most homes in this area don't have their own bathrooms so the residents use these communal bath houses.

Time kept ticking and Jude kept sleeping. At one point he flipped himself over and continued to sleep on his belly. Boy must have been tired from all our adventuring! 

I have to mention the wine of Lisbon. So delicious and so cheap. We'll come with an empty suitcase on our next visit!

Last stop of the tour was the Se Cathedral. Pete schooled me on the architecture. The main nave of the cathedral dates to the 1100s and has a Romanesque style with smooth, round arches. Later, gothic elements were added. It managed to survive the Great Lisbon Earthquake of 1755, which destroyed the city. 

Back in Cascais, Jude was rewarded for his "hard work" with a few rides on the town carousel. And the adults were rewarded with burgers and fries for all of the calories burned traipsing around Lisbon!