COLOURFULWORLD

Wednesday 6 July 2016

Portugal - Lisbon II

In my last post about Lisbon, I ended it as I was about to go to lunch at the "Mercado da Ribeira".  


Mercado da Ribeira (Ribeira's Market)



Mercado da Ribeira (Ribeira's Market)

Situated in the 24th of July Avenue, this former fruit and vegetable market operating since 1892, reopened in May 2014 with a food hall that has brought the market and the area back to life. 
The traditional fruit and vegetable area of the market is still operating though.
The food hall is amazing, with a great variety of restaurants and stalls selling traditional products - the only drawback is it seems to be super popular, so finding a table can be quite hard!

We ordered our food and then went in search of a table.  As I found one, our beeper called us to retrieve the order, and my daughter collected it while I kept the two bar stools occupied.
Lunch was tasty - we ordered Steak in beer sauce and Spinach Puree.
Sadly we didn't go to the upstairs area (more restaurants there) where I could have taken a photo with a view from the top!  I wonder if it was as full as down below?

Can you see how full the place is? 


Our lunch - steak in beer sauce and spinach puree


Garden Kiosk


Next to the market is a park - Dom Luis I Square, and here you will find a lovely red kiosk cafe and a terrace with seating for 250 people belonging to a couple of eateries. So if the Market is full, you might be able to get a table here...


Pink Street

After lunch we walked north towards Largo Luis de Camoes (Luis Camoes Square) and came across a pink street! How cute is that?

Pink street - Rua Nova de Carvalho
This area was once part of Lisbon's red light district - Cais do Sodre
Eventually the seedy night life in the area made people afraid to go to there. 
A rehabilitation of the neighbourhood started taking place with the cleaning up of the streets, better lighting, more commercial venues, reinforcement of cultural venues already present in the area, and of course the main street was painted pink!
Now the area is crowded with people leaving Bairro Alto (further north) where the bars close earlier, while here they are opened until the morning.  Lisbon is never dull and the Portuguese love to party till dawn!


Street Art - Murals


Largo Luis de Camoes ( Luis Camoes Square)
















The great Portuguese poet of the 16th century has a square named after him. A little kiosk serves coffee.

We had intentions of joining a street art tour departing from this Square  to visit the murals around Lisbon, but somehow I got my time wrong and they had departed 1 h earlier! 
Well, we just carried on and went to visit a few of them on our own as I had a few addresses on hand.  I probably photographed about 40 murals, over 2 visits to Lisbon, but there were many more I didn't see.  I can see that a Street art tour would be fabulous for those that love murals!

Miradouros (Lookouts)

On the way we visited some of Lisbon's best viewpoints.
Lisbon is built over 7 hills, so be prepared to do a lot of walking or otherwise hire one of the many tuk-tuks now available all over the city.


The Tuk-tuks are everywhere




With probably 7 or 8 wonderful viewpoints across the city, you might not be able to visit them all if  you are time restricted like me, still I managed to visit 4 of them.

Miradouro Santa Catarina (St Catherine's Lookout)

Not far from Camoes Square is the first viewpoint we visited. Not as impressive as some of the others, you can see enjoy views to the Tagus river and the "25th of April bridge".
The statue of "Adamastor" in stone, is a mythical sea monster from the epic poem "The Lusiads" from Luis de Camoes.

The Tagus River and the 25th April bridge 
Two restaurant esplanades from where the views can be enjoyed
A statue - Adamastor, with a poem by Camoes written in the white plaque 
Parliament

From the lookout we walked further east to search for murals and went past the Portuguese Parliament in the district of Sao Bento.

Portuguese Parliament
Just across  from the Parliament building I saw this lovely yellow house with a beautiful front door and fell in love with it!






A beautifully restored yellow house








In this blue building nearby I thought the dog looking out the window with the owner made for a cute picture.

The tour continues next week...there's so much more to see and my feet were getting tired.


14 comments:

  1. Adorei a última fotografia!
    Gosto muito dos miradouros de Lisboa. Ia muito ao da Graça, em tempos.

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    1. Está engraçado o cãozinho a espreitar. O miradouro da Graça é bonito.

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  2. Have you visited Siegfried-Quarter in Braunschweig? All- like ALL houses are pink!
    The red light district is far away from it, though.
    Over 40 murals, oh, wow, how come Germany is so much behind?!
    The Tuk-tuks remind me of Cuba´s Coco-taxis :-)
    I love the yellow house, too, beautiful.
    And the lady with the clothes suiting the building´s one... reminbds me so much of Cuba again.
    For what am I supposed to be homesick now? ;-)
    Sadly Perth it must be...
    Looking forward to next week, Sami! (My "feet" can´t wait)

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    1. Thanks Iris, I haven't been to Cuba, but from photos there are a lot of similarities with Lisbon' s architecture and colours. I can't remember Siegfried quarter, must look up online.

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  3. Thanks for touring us through the city of Lisbon, a very nice city.

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  4. Dearest Sami,
    WOW, what a loaded post with Lisbon highlights not to be missed. Ribeiro's Market looks incredible and what a great thing for having it jam packed for lunch.
    The kiosk (is also a Dutch word...) at the great poet's square is also very lovely.
    Quite surprised to see all those tuk tuks! Not being in the Far East but in Portugal but it of course proves to be very handy.
    Thank you for recording all this beauty for us to enjoy instead of having to go back to Portugal! Would love to do however.
    Hugs and happy weekend,
    Mariette

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    1. Thank you Mariette. The tuk-Tulsa are a recent method of transport, probably brought to Portugal by some entrepreneur who visited Asia. But in some of Lisbon's narrow streets or in heavy traffic they are ideal. There are lots of beautiful kiosks in Portugal, very popular as as small cafes or to sell newspapers and magazines. Have a wonderful weekend too, we are having a real winter weekend with lots of rain and some hail too.

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  5. Fabulous series of shots Sami.. love the view across the rooftops, the gorgeous yellow building and your last shot is gold!

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    1. Thanks Grace. I loved it when I saw the dog!

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  6. This was a very interesting and informative post. Many things I didn't know and many sights I have never seen and probably will never see in my lifetime. I truly am enjoying this visit (and my feet aren't nearly as tired as yours!).

    The pink street was fun, and the seating you shared looked like it would be a fun place to eat just for the view. But that woman and her dog were a HOOT. I loved it. Of course, I loved the statues, the murals, the yellow house, and the hills, too!

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    1. Thanks Elizabeth, glad you are enjoying the trip in the comfort of your chair, so no sore feet...

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  7. I love the last shot! The dog looks so funny and the lady is wearing a dress in the same colour of the wall... the whole thing is really nice!

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    1. Thanks Sara, well spotted with the dress colour.

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