Day 8 - Lisbon and environs.

Portugal is a country of just over 10 million people and about 3 million of them live in Greater Lisbon.

Lisbon is an ancient and complex city of many hills (seven it is said) so there is lots of hill and step climbing involved if you want to see much in this city. Also much, potentially, to say about it.

For descriptive purposes it is "divided" into the lower city and the upper city - from the edge of the river (Rio Tejo), the Placa do Comercio (Placa is like a plaza) and Rossio (the main square of Lisbon - there are many squares throughout the main part of the city) on the lower level to the Barrio Alto (extensive restaurant district) and Castelo de Sao Jorge (Castle of St. Jorge)on the upper levels. Our hotel (Hotel Mundial) was in the lower area so we strolled in and around these Placas, but, strangely, I took no photos in this area.

The Alfama (which we toured on foot) in the southern area of the old city, also the poorer area, was originally established by the Moors (the "Al" prefix indicates an arab derivation of which there are many in Portugal e.g. the Algarve where we are staying or Alentejo, the province just north of the Algarve). The Alfama is a fascinating maze of narrow to narrower lanes/streets connecting the extremes of elevations negotiated by steep stairs or walkways. Though there are still some walls built by the Moors, most of the buildings are newer (17th and 18th century). In the Alfama we also visited the "Se" or Cathedral of Lisbon (a Romanesque church built around 1150 on the site of a Mosque). Though it has its own rather stark beauty, it is dark and plain compared to most of what we experienced in Italy.

Time was short so we saw little of the main city.

All of the photos included here are in Alfama. The first (top) looks over Alfama in the lower city with the Rio Tejo in the background.

More about the rest of the visit to the Lisbon area in the next posting.