Portugal - Lisbon IV

It's been ages ago since my last post about Lisbon, but life get's in the way ...

Another visit to Lisbon started with a visit to Alfama, Lisbon's oldest district.
The narrow cobbled streets and plenty of steps between streets, means you have to walk a lot.

In the harbour the huge Queen Mary 2 was docked, so plenty of tourists were visiting this old part of Lisbon.

 The old trams still in use criss-cross the old neighbourhoods.

Climbing up to the St George's Castle we came upon a lookout located at the Calçada do Marquês de Tancos called "Miradouro do Chão do Loureiro".
The terrace adjoins a restaurant and it has a panoramic lift that takes people to a street down the hill.
It's not the best lookout as it's surrounded by a lot of buildings but you can clearly see the Santa Justa Lift just ahead and the Carmo Convent right next to it.

Ahead the Santa Justa lift (in black) and Carmo Convent next to it

Entry to the Lookout

To the left can be seen at the far end the statue of Christ Redeemer, on the other side of the Tagus River and the bridge across it can just be seen too.

 Turning to the back we can see the walls of the Castle of St George.
 

Walking up to the Castle we came across this artist who painted little scenes of Lisbon with coffee - very original!

The queue to enter the moorish Castle was long and we decided to forego a visit and just sit down and have a custard tart (Pastel de Nata) at "The World needs Nata".  What can I say, delicious!

The various modes of transport we found were unique - from tuk-tuks to bicycles, from segways to these bright yellow tricycles we saw near the Castle...

Also near the Castle on our way down to some of Lisbon's best lookouts, we came across this plastic flower covered cube hanging in a courtyard, attached to a metal turtle.

Next post - the best lookouts

Monday Mural - Dogs and Cats

This mural of cats and dogs on the wall adjacent to a Veterinary clinic in Cascais (30km from Lisbon) was quite colourful and sweet.

                                                                

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In Perth, the recently opened Cat Hospital in the suburb of West Leederville, has also got a beautiful cat mural, painted by Rahalie McGuirk, a young Perth artist.

Above the Cat Hospital sign is another mural painted by Kyle Hughes-Odgers that I had already posted about in December 2014.

If you enjoy murals, click on this link to see other murals from around the world.

I also spotted something interesting near the Cat hospital - 3 huge solar panel flowers in front of this office building. 
I wouldn't mind having this in my garden, a real show-stopper!

Monday Mural - Escadinhas São Cristóvão - Lisbon

This long and complex mural is located at Escadinhas de São Cristóvão, (Steps of St. Christopher) - a long set of steps from Rua da Madalena up to the 16th century Church of St Christopher, in Lisbons's Mouraria district, the home of "Fado" (Portuguese soul music).

The mural was created in 2012 by a group of artists and donated to the neighbourhood, and it honours the "Fado tradition" as well as St Christopher. 

Starting from the bottom, the mural begins on the left side, while the right side is covered with graffiti. Apparently the mural was painted over existing graffiti.

In this corner the mural is dedicated to Fado - on the left, a dark haired woman with a low cut top and fishnet stockings is Maria Severa as the yellow banner says. She is considered to be the first Fado singer to have achieved fame after her death in 1846.

On the right, two men play the guitar, the top one being the Portuguese guitar, behind them tiered buildings with St George's castle above them. The castle is not too far from this area. A black dressed woman looks out from a balcony. The world "Cheira bem, Cheira a LX (Lisboa),  are the words of a Fado song sung by Amalia Rodrigues, who died in 1999, considered to be the best selling Portuguese artist of all time.

The next wall is dedicated to St Christopher with the image of a priest.

The Church of St. Christopher can be seen just above to the left, and you have to climb another set of steps to reach it.

If you enjoy looking at murals from around the world follow this link.

Perth winter lights festival and French solidarity

I tend to hibernate in winter as I'm not a fan of the cold...
Of course I have to leave the house to go to work during the day, but I tend to stay indoors at night to avoid the coldest part of the day. 

Last night, at a friend's invitation, we went into the city centre after work to meet up for dinner at Oliver's on James street in Northbridge.

Lucky for me the evening was actually quite pleasant, not cold at all, maybe because the day temperature had gone up to 20C (68F). Of course I was rugged up as if going on an expedition to the Everest!

For dinner I had "Bobotie" which is a South African curried mince dish. 
I was surprised to see it on the menu, and the last time I made it at home was probably about 3 or 4 years ago so I ordered it.
I guess either the chef or the owner might be South African due to the name of some of the dishes.

Bobotie with turmeric rice and sweet onions

After dinner, on our way home we drove past St George's Terrace to have a look at the Winter Lights Show at the 3 Brookfield Place heritage buildings, which is on from 6pm till midnight, having started on the 7th July and ending on the 7th of August.
I know it's just a small show, but we enjoyed the lights accompanied to music.

Further down the street the Perth City council house was light with the French flag colours to once more show solidarity with the French people over the terrorist attack in Nice.
When will people respect life and each other and end all these bloody wars?

Perth City Council

The Swan Bell tower was also lit up in the French colours.

Hopefully you're also having a good and peaceful weekend.

Celebrating the Portuguese win at the Euro with Eliza

Last year  I wrote about "Eliza" the statue in the Swan River here in Perth.

Yesterday I read in the "Portuguese in Western Australia" Facebook page that a couple of young men were going to dress Eliza with a T-shirt to commemorate Portugal's first ever win at the UEFA Euro 2016 in Paris.

They posted some photos of themselves on Facebook (photo below), and today en-route to Ikea for a quick visit to swap something, I decided to make a detour and photograph the statue.

"Eliza" and the suburb of South Perth in the background

And  here is the Crawley Boatshed or Blue Boat House, which was recently renovated and has a new jetty too.

Can you see the two ducks at Eliza's feet?

Eliza is used to getting dressed in all sorts of attire according to the seasons and occasions, but this was certainly a first for her!

Well done to the intrepid men who "navigated" their canoe to reach her and well done to the Portuguese football team who brought home the cup.

I must say I didn't follow any of the competition, as the matches were broadcast live at 3A.M. in Perth, and I thought my sleep was more important!

But for the final my husband was brave enough or crazy enough to wake up and watch the whole match, but then I found him asleep on the sofa when I woke up to go to work!

Hope not many fans had to forego sleep to keep up with the competition.

The young men who dressed Eliza

The Portuguese team holding the winning cup

Monday Mural - variety by the tram stop

If you've read my previous post about Lisbon, you would have seen the "Gloria funicular" that travels up and down between Saint Pedro Alcantara to Restauradores Square. 

Right next to the Alcantara stop is a long wall of bright murals, as well as the tram is also covered in graffiti.

Not sure who the artists were.

If you enjoy murals, click on this link for other murals from around the world.

The graffiti covered Gloria funicular with one of the murals on the left

"Fight for Gloria" (Gloria = the funicular, I presume)