Portugal - Casino, Pink street and Viewpoint in Lisbon

Our visit to Portugal was fast coming to an end.
On Thursday 14th September, my husband, daughter and I had lunch at another refurbished market, this time in Alges, on the coast halfway from Lisbon to Cascais.

The Algés market opened in the 50's, selling fruit, vegetables, meat and fish.

In 2015, it changed it's concept (probably due to the popularity of Mercado da Ribeira in Lisbon), adding food and drinks to it's traditional products.

It's smaller than the Lisbon one, but well decorated and pleasant. You order your choice of food, pay for it and get a buzzer. When it buzzes you collect your tray.

There are drink stations and the waiters will come around to your table to take your drinks order, but not food.

The market is open from 10am to midnight from Monday to Thursday and from 10am to 1am on  Friday and Saturday.

They also have entertainment, and we heard about this market from our daughter who a few days before had been invited by a friend for dinner and a concert at the market.

And that's when she saw that one of the eateries was selling snails which she and her Dad love!  The lady said the season was about to end too, and this was the reason for our visit.

My choice - Sweet potato chips with 3 chicken sausage (farinheira) balls with mustard. Husband & daughter's choice - snails and chocolate cake for me.

After my meal I went to the pastry counter and chose a slice of chocolate cake.

It was a cake from "The best chocolate cake in the world" (looking at the Portuguese website  I just discovered that the cake gets sold in a couple of Sydney suburbs too).

It's a flourless cake, and yes it was good, crunchy with all it's different layers, but a bit too sweet for my taste as since I cut down on sweet stuff, most sweets are just too sweet.

We had previously arranged to meet with the 3 Doctors at the Estoril Casino that evening after dinner, with the rest of my family too.

The Casino has daily shows and you have to consume 10 euros (food or drink) during the night while you sit watching the shows, so it's very reasonable.

Estoril Casino, Flamenco show

On that evening the show was a Flamenco show with a dancer/singer and his band.

We enjoyed it, the tiny dancer was very agile and passionate, the only thing was that he was obviously getting hot and sweaty with all that dancing so at every turn his sweat would fly around him...glad we weren't sitting within reach 😊😊.

It was well past midnight when the show ended and we said our goodbyes. The Doctors were going to fly to France the following day (Friday) and we would be flying to Marseille the day after.

* * * * * * * * * *

On Friday 15th September, my daughter and I took the train into Lisbon, so we could hunt for a couple more murals, check out Lisbon's Pink street and later meet with a friend I originally met in Perth, but who was in Lisbon on a trip from his native Island of Madeira. 

Just a 4 minute walk away from the Cais do Sodre Station is the Rua Nova do Carvalho, better know as Pink street.

Situated in the former seedy suburb of Cais do Sodre, this street has become the center of Lisbon's nightlife. In 2013, during an urban renewal project, this street was painted pink and it now attracts locals and tourists who come to eat, drink and dance at the various clubs and bars.
Some of the bars have names alluding to what the area was previously known for - mainly prostitution and sailors - like "Cantinho do Prazer" (Pleasure's Corner), or "Pensão Amor" (Love Guesthouse), which was a former brothel, still complete with a striper pole and seductive atmosphere. 

Pink street

Pink Street, photo taken atop the arched bridge

From the Pink Street we walked around the corner and climbed some steps where we found coffee shops on two of the landings, both with outdoor tables, and we stopped for a juice and coffee on the first one.

River views, old tram, mannequin hanging from shop wall, landing with coffee shop, nice blue building

After our stop we walked towards the meeting point where our friend would wait for us, and on the way there we walked past an old ceramic factory - Sant'Ana, which was established in 1741 and still operates today. The factory can be toured, and they will make replicas of tiles you like too.

We walked past the Church of Sao Roque , where I quickly went inside to investigate. This Roman Catholic church was the earliest Jesuit church in the Portuguese world, opened in 1619. Very plain on the outside, but very ornate inside, with a beautiful ceiling.
The ceiling structure was executed by Flemish professionals under the order of King Philip II of Spain from 1587 to 1589. In the 17th century another painter added the central medallion and the biblical scenes along the sides.

Just two minutes down the road we stopped to take photos of the "Elevador da Gloria" or Gloria Funicular. This funicular railway line was inaugurated in 1885, connecting the downtown area of Restauradores Square to the uptown area of Bairro Alto.

We didn't travel down with it, but I did it last time I was in Lisbon, just for the fun of it, as you can also descend the street which is easier than climbing it.

There's always murals on the one side of the street.

The very colourful Gloria Funicular, murals on the left side of street

Right next to the Funicular is the Miradouro Sao Pedro de Alcantara at Rua (street) Sao Pedro de Alcantara, one of Lisbon's best viewpoints. Below is a beautiful and well kept garden. They were renovating the area, so they had a fence all around, and there was no access to the garden either. 

Sao Pedro de Alcantara Viewpoint over Lisbon and the Saint George's castle

The gardens below the Viewpoint (photo from 2016)

And it was time to meet my friend for coffee, so we made our way into the city center walking through the narrow cobbled streets.

As you can see on the photo below the cars in this narrow street were for some unknown reason at a standstill...glad I don't drive in Lisbon!

Narrow cobbled street in Lisbon

Funny shop front

After coffee and now laden with 3 Madeira Honey cakes given to me by my friend B (they are dark, not too sweet and last for ages) - one for my Mom, one for us and one for a common friend in Perth, it was time to go and catch a train back to Cascais.

Through the train window I took photos of this monument  - Discoveries Monument -
located in the suburb of Belém, on the north bank of the River Tagus, from where the ships departed to explore and trade with India and the Orient.

The 52mt high piece of concrete was inaugurated in 1960 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the death of Henry the Navigator. In the form of a ship's prow, with the figure of Henry the Navigator at the top and on either side along the ramp are 16 figures (33 in total) looking towards the sea, representing figures from the Portuguese Age of Discovery, which include monarchs, explorers, cartographers, artists, scientists and missionaries.
The monument can be climbed and from where you have views of other monuments in the Belém area, but I've actually never climbed this monument.

Next time I'll be in Marseille, so look forward to seeing you there.

And back to the present day, today (23 November) we commemorated my grandson's first birthday. I can still remember the day he was born and our first visit to the hospital, and can hardly believe that he's growing up so quickly - now crawling, already standing holding on to things, 6 teeth....

He's such a joy, always smiling.

So happy birthday to little J. On Saturday he will have a big birthday party with lots of little kids from Mother's group and Day care.