Lisboa, Portugal - 2011

I have published a book about our days in Lisboa, Portugal this year. If you are interested, you can check it out below - best to use the full screen option. Note that the photo and text clarity is far superior in the printed version.

Lisboa, Portugal - 2011 by Richard Pickering | Make Your Own Book

Miradouros and other things

One of our objectives in Lisboa was to visit the high elevations, Miradouros, which overlook the city. Last year we visited the Castelo, one of the higher areas providing a wonderful view of the city (see photos from the Castelo from 2010). This year, so far, we have been to São Pedro de Alcantara and the Elevator Santa Justa (see blog posts Lisboa and Lisboa 2).

The next on our list were Miradouro Senhora do Monte, the highest point in Lisboa and the Miradoura Graca. We decided to take the well known old Tram 28 up to the highest point then walk down to Miradouro Graca and wend our way past Igreja de S. Vicente then the National Pantheon and on through part of the Alfama then home.

After getting off the tram we found our way, after a few minutes of disorientation and some discussion about the appropriate route, to Miradouro do Monte and some excellent views of the city. This view of the Castelo São Jorge shows that this spot is at least as high as the Castelo - they say higher.

This view is looking more westerly and if you click on the photo and look just to the right of the centre you will see a white and gray building - this is the Hotel Mundial where we are staying just a couple of blocks from the Praça de Figueira and Rossi, both mentioned in earlier posts.

On the left of this photo, the orange roofed building with the bell tower is Igreja São Vicente and the small roundish clump of umbrella pines immediately to the right of the bell tower and with a wall just below (click on the photo) is Miradouro Graca, our next stop.

On our way down to Miradouro Graca, we came across this small building covered with blue and white tiles - apparently a shop that makes and sells azulejos.

This is a view from Miradouro Graca - the clump of umbrella pines in the top right hand corner of this view is the Miradouro do Monte from which we had just come. No more photos from here as they are similar to the ones above from Miradouro do Monte.

This road from the Graca area leads to the Monestery São Vicente do Faro. Originally commissioned in around 1140, the current buildings were apparently built during the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Its bell tower is visible at the end of the street.

This too is the approach to the Church of St. Vicente. We walked past the pink blossoming tree (click on the photo) through the archway and into a small square where we found a market building adjacent to which was the beautifully tiled building in the next photo - close-up of which is in an earlier post. We have no idea what this building is or was and why it is so decorated.

This is a photo of the Portuguese National Pantheon, Igreja Engrácia, A magnificent looking 18th century building from the outside - we did not go inside so have no information about it. It was apparently declared the National Pantheon some time in the 20th century.

In my first post from Lisboa I mentioned it as a city of contrasts and a good example is the Pantheon and the interesting old building in the next photo which faces the Pantheon not much more than 100 meters away. The photo of the Pantheon was taken while I was standing pretty much in front of this building.

These last photos were taken during our walk through the Alfama, the old Moorish section of the city, a maze of narrow streets and walkway and dramatic ups and downs negotiated on steps or steep inclines. More on the Alfama in posts from last year.

This and the photo above show fairly characteristic long stairways linking the higher and lower areas within the Alfama.

Here a narrow walkway between buildings. And these buildings are not vacant and decaying - they are interesting and attractive homes to lots of folks, as indicated by the numerous potted plants and occasional bits of laundry hanging out to dry (see the first of the Alfama photos above).

We found this map of the Alfama on the side of a building next to a restaurant where we had a break for drinks as we were leaving the area of the Alfama.

The National Tile Museum

In an earlier post I mentioned that Ruth and I walked from our hotel to the National Tile Museum (Museu Nacional do Azulejo), about 3.5 Km. It was a sunny and very warm day without much shade along the busy Avenida Infante Dom Henrique (Avenue Prince Henry), through the dock area and then past the metro rail yards to get to the Convent of Madre-de-Deus where the museum is housed.

Before the photos from the museum, I have included photos of a couple of things we saw along our walk to the museum.

The first photo is the dome of the National Pantheon (about which more later) and the second is an unusual building with complex colourful tile exterior and an odd square cupola-like affair perched on the top.

This is a photo of Ruth walking on a narrow sidewalk beside a road that we thought would take us under the highway bridge (on the left of the photo), and continue on to the museum. But this particular walkway pretty much ended under the bridge. As we were looking at our map trying to figure out how to get out of there, a workman saw us and came to our rescue. He spoke excellent English and told us that we actually had to walk on the bridge.

So, we went back to the beginning of the bridge and here is Ruth walking up the narrow bridge walkway, beside quite heavy traffic, which would take us across the railway tracks and so to the street which took us to the museum.

Now on to the tile museum.

The Convent of Madre-de-Deus was founded by queen Lenora in 1509 and it contains examples of the history of sacred art as well as the azulejo museum. The Igreja de Madre de Deus, said to be one of the most beautiful churches in Lisboa, is within the confines of the convent buildings. The church is decorated with gilded wood carvings, paintings and blue and white tiles from Holland, like those in the photo of the stairway up to the second floor shown below.

The photo above and this one show the garden area in front of the entrance to the museum.

And this is, obviously, inside the church. Not sure about the validity of claim to be the most beautiful church in Lisboa; but if you look carefully you can see the blue and white tiles in places along the walls. Not a great photo but it was, as usual, quite dark inside the church and I didn't have a tripod, so some unavoidable camera shake causes blurring.

Initially the Tile Museum was a part of the museum of ancient art but in 1980 it achieved the status of a national museum and the following years have been spent in organizing, researching and recording the history of this unique Portuguese art form which now includes both ancient and contemporary styles. The museum shows how the 5000 year old art evolved in Portugal from glazed tiles of Granada and other forms of Arab-Hispanic tile art to the current day, demonstrating the evolution of techniques of manufacture.

It won't surprise you if I tell you that I have many more photos of tile patterns - I have included only a few samples here to give some idea of the range of designs varying from a abstract images like the one just above, to repetitive patterns, like the one to the right, to the picture of the potter below - and including stories as in the last two photos.

This one appears to represent a number of activities going on in a town (this may be a special event in a particular town but I didn't make note of the details about it) and the last photo is a series of panels depicting the tale of how a young man from a rural area went to the city where he learned the craft of the milliner or hat maker. There are a couple more samples of tile museum panels in Lisboa 3.

I have been interested in azulejos since John Wheeler drew my attention to them a few years ago and I have talked about them in blog post in 2010 - see More than you wanted to know

The Museu Nacional do Azulejos is in a very attractive setting and has an unexpectedly friendly ambiance. It is extremely well organized, the tile art is beautifully presented and the descriptions of the history very informative and easily accessed with the assistance of a self guided tour which has formats available for people with special needs. It was definitely a highlight of our visit to Lisboa this year.

Lisboa Street Art

Lisboa is no stranger to beautiful artistic presentations on walls and walkways - the decorative patterns, created with ceramic tiles called azulejos, are prevalent in public areas throughout this city - on buildings, in street signs and on walls, even, apparently, in the metro.

The front of this building is decorated with azulejos, a portion of which is shown in this photo. This building is located in a small open space (Largo) just off a main street and is home to a business that sells azulejos. It is about a 10 minute walk from our hotel, the Hotel Mundial.

This building is also just 10 minutes walk from our hotel. The entire front of the building is decorated in blue and white ceramic tile patterns with some cameo-like faces below windows as shown in the photo below.

This interesting rather ornate building has some colourful decorative tile displays above the windows at the top of the building as shown in the photo below.

There are two of these decorated areas each with slightly different depictions, on each side of this "wedge" shaped building.

We came across this building quite by accident when we were walking down from the Miradouro da Senhora do Monte look out - the highest point in Lisboa. (Some photos from the lookout will be included in a later post.) The building was on the edge of a small square by a market building behind the Igreja de Santa Egrácia - the National Pantheon. None of the buildings nearby had any decorative tile patterns on them - we have no information about this rather isolated and seemingly insignificant building and why it is so beautifully decorated.

On small walkways and large pedestrianized areas interesting patterns have been created with small gray and black stones that are set in place by craftsmen by hand. I am not aware of who decides on the patterns but attractive and interesting patterns there are, not only here in Lisboa, but elsewhere in Portugal, including the Algarve, the area we call home during our time here in Portugal.

The photo to the right shows a pattern on one of the main downtown streets, Rua Augusta, and the one below is the pattern on Rossio square which is just adjacent to Rua Augusta.

It may not be a surprise, then, that the city of Lisboa has taken a position on "graffiti" that is in contrast to the approach of many other large cities, especially those in North America.

Instead of trying to prevent this street activity and working, in vain, to clean it up, the city of Lisboa has apparently decided to embrace this form of art, not only by allowing it to survive but by allocating areas where street artists can create and display their work.

The result is interesting and the response, not surprisingly, mixed. While some of the displays are not particularly pleasing, many are visually very attractive, even beautiful, and most incorporate a message, not always easily interpreted.

We had read about the street art and had planned to look for some of them, but came across these displays by accident. We saw them in passing during our ride on the funicular Glória on the way up to the Miradouro de São Pedro Alcantara.

After our visit to the miradouro we walked down the street that we had come up on the funicular so we could get a closer look and take some photos. Similar Street Art appears in locations all over Lisboa.

Lisboa - 3

Very near our hotel is a church, Igreja do São Domingos, which was severely damaged in the earthquake of 1755, restored and then damaged by fire I think in 1959. After the fire very little restoration was done, presumably as a reminder of the event. The photo here is the front of the church, distinguishable by the cross at the top.

This photo is the inside - not a very clear photo as it was quite dark in the church and no flash photos were allowed. In any case the effects of the fire on the pillars are quite obvious. The church still functions as a church so I was required to remove my hat and be silent.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we went to the National Tile Museum. A very impressive and beautiful place with lots of information about "Azulejos", decorated ceramic tiles. These decorative tiles have been produced for hundreds of years - the Moors apparently adopted them from the Phoenicians and passed the methods on to the Portuguese, who have modified them in their own way. A couple of samples here of the amazing array of patterns displayed in the museum and in use all over Portugal.

This is a panorama, in tiles, of Lisboa before the earthquake of 1755. Hopefully you can appreciate the size of this presentation if not the content.

I also mentioned that we were going to Belém to the Carriage Museum. This is another fascinating place with a large collection of ornate carriages used by various kings, queens, princesses and highly placed members of the clergy, going back to at least the 17th century. This photo is an attempt to capture the main display area, although there are a couple of other display areas as well. When you get beyond the all the decorations it is interesting to look at the complicated leather belt support construction designed to relieve the bone jolting ride on the iron rimmed wooden wheels on cobblestone.

This carriage was apparently given to or at least used by the Pope sometime in the 18th century. As I think you can appreciate, ornate falls short of describing some of these vehicles.

Lisboa - 2

The first photo is, obviously, a closer look at the Santa Justa elevator to give a better sense of some of the detail that is built into this very unusual structure. The height is apparently about 32 meters above the street of the Baixa, enough to give a fantastic view of the river and the old part of the city.

Remember to click on any photo for a slightly larger view.

This photo, taken from the top of the Santa Justa elevator, shows part of the Rio Tejo, the lower city and, in the upper left of the photo, a small part of the Alfama, the old Arab area of the city, which was part of Lisboa that was most spared by the earthquake of 1755. More about the Alfama later but to see photos of the Alfama from last year, click Here.

This photo, also taken from the top of the elevator, looks east - at the bottom is the Baixa, the lower part of the old city, and at the top of the photo is the Castelo São João which is, as I think you can appreciate, high up overlooking the city. I have some photos from the castle in the blog from last year.

This one looks east and a bit further north to newer parts of the city. The area in the lower part of the photo surrounded by buildings, is the Praça da Figueira (the Plaza of the Fig tree) and if you look closely in the center of this photo you can see our hotel, the Hotel Mundial, the building with greenish top where there is construction.

This photo looks south to the Rio Tejo, an extremely wide river and ideal harbour. The top of the arch at the end of Rua Augusta is visible in the middle left. All of the buildings in this photo are in the lower part of the city, the Baixa.

Another look from atop the Santa Justa elevator - this one looking down on the Praça dom Pedro IV. This Praça, known as Rossio (Rossio means a large open area), is the one with the beautiful walking surface with the somewhat unsettling undulating appearance, which you can see (click on the photo) if you look closely - or check out the photo below.

Here is a night scene on Rossio which shows the undulating appearance - I have shown photos of this in previous posts last year - to see last year's photos click Here. This surface is made up of thousands of 2 to 3 inch cubes of rock put in place by hand, one at a time.

Remember the Praça Comércio that I mentioned earlier, the one beyond the triumphal arch at the end of Rua Augusta? Well, this is it - and to the left is the triumphal arch (which apparently took 118 years to complete) at the end of the Rua Augusta. The 17th century buildings around the Praça are mainly government ministry buildings of one kind or another and in the middle is Lisboa's first equestrian statue representing José 1.

The photo on the right is of one of the colonnades which run along the buildings around the Praça - on the sides that look out onto the Praça.