Portugal - Mercado da Ribeira & Oriente - Lisbon

On Monday 11th September, my husband, daughter and I took the train from Cascais into Lisbon.
Both of them had renewed their Portuguese ID card on Friday and were going to collect it from the Registry office, so I accompanied them for some sightseeing.

Mercado da Ribeira

Just 300mt down the road from Cais do Sodre Station, is the "Mercado da Ribeira" where we went for lunch. Previously known as Mercado 24 de Julho (24th of July market), as it's situated on 24th of July Avenue, it opened in 1892 as a fresh food market.

In 2014 Time Out Lisboa magazine, took over the management adding food stalls offering traditional food. It has now become a major food destination, and although it's a bit more expensive that other traditional restaurants in the city, the atmosphere is great and there's a great choice of food from top chefs to local brands. There are also drinks stalls in the center between the long tables and a couple of shops selling traditional Portuguese products.

The market is open from 10am to midnight from Sunday to Wednesday and 10am to 2am from Thursday to Saturday.

The upper floor was opened in 2015 and has a concert hall that seats 350 people (650 standing) an art gallery and Time Out lisboa magazine information desk, as well as a couple of fancier eateries.

The eating area inside the Market

The top floor area by the staircase is decorated with beautiful tiles, the entry atrium is paved with black & white limestone

I ate a dish make with Codfish and vegetables looking more like a small quiche, my husband and daughter had cuttlefish with black ink rice. 
After dinner I couldn't forego a Custard tart or "Pastel de Nata", from Manteigaria, which I thought was amazing!
My husband had a coffee and enjoyed a chocolate cup with Cherry liqueur which is very popular in Portugal.

Commerce Square (St George's castle at the top)

After lunch we walked along the Tejo river, towards the Terreiro do Paço Underground station (blue line), walking past Commerce square, that I had shown on the previous post.
Just across on the riverfront is Cais das Colunas (Columns jetty).
There's no documents pertaining to it's construction, but they appeared in drawings from the 18th century (1792). It comprises two pillars on the side of some steps leading into the water, representing the pillars of Solomon's temple - Devotion and wisdom.
Due to the construction of the blue line of the underground, they were removed  in 1997 and then placed back in 2008. Queen Elizabeth II of England disembarked here in 1957.

The Tejo river, Cais das Colunas, Commerce square and the 25th of April bridge in the distance

On the narrow stretch of sand by Cais das Colunas, a "stone artist" displayed his art.

A lot of people stopped to look at his work and he told us he loved working with stones and shapes and was a happy person. We gave him a few coins and bade farewell.

Boat Bar

Further along we came across a boat-bar and some people relaxing on sun chairs facing the river - that's life!

A couple of stations later we changed to the Red line on the underground and got off at Oriente Station. This station under the train station where the trains depart to the North of Portugal. You'll be able to see some beautiful photos of the station on this link.

Designed by the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava it was built for the Expo 98 World Fair, that was held along the river which is just across from the modern shopping centre built in front of the station.

Oriente Station

Some of the pavilions used during Expo 98, still used for sports and concerts

The Oriente area of Lisbon is one of the most modern, as whatever was there was demolished to give way to a park, new buildings, sports pavilions, the Aquarium, etc, all done for the Expo 98.

After a short walk we arrived at the Registry Office and my husband and daughter collected the new ID's in a jiffy.
We contacted my brother in law who works nearby and he came down to meet up for a coffee across from his workplace.

This poster was in the Cafe, and I thought it was funny

This massive tile mural with comic strip characters was in the building where the coffee shop was.

 After coffee my brother in law went back to work but we arranged to meet 1 hour later, further down the road when he would pick us up and drive us home to Cascais.
In the meantime I took the husband and daughter on a wild goose chase after some non-existent "beautiful" mural, which I presume had already been destroyed or had the wrong address. We walked and walked and asked many people, but no one remembered it.

"I'm not looking for murals again with you, my husband said"!! Of course not, I'll do that on my own.
But I found a tree with nice flowers.
And then it was about 6pm and my brother in law arrived and we jumped in the car to go home.
Hope you enjoyed getting to know a little more about Lisbon.

Map of the Lisbon underground