In May I visited Portugal's capital city Lisbon. It's a lovely little city with a charming spirit. I think you can spent many days there without getting bored: The city center, the Belém Tower, the Expo area and places close to Lisboa. As I was couchsurfing there, may friend Mike was already waiting at the trainstation :-)
Impressions
Prior to the 18th century, Lisboa had experienced several important earthquakes. It has been rebuilt as a lovley "little" city, were now about 570.000 people live. As it is built next to the river Tagus and up some hills, it is realy charming. Everywhere you walk, you will feel somehow the spirit of this town.
Cable car tramway
What goes up must come down!
Another arch
Also at night, you can explore even the same place again, and it's still lovely :-)
Lisboa at sunset
Cable cars at night
To play with fire
Not so long ago, Portugal was known as a poor country in Europe. Nowadays the situation changed, but you can still see some very poor houses not far away from the touristic places!
A byroad in Lisboa
Insider tip
Well this tip isn't a secret at all, but if you like sweet stuff, you should definitely should try this:
Pastéis de Belém
Modern Lisboa
Lisboa has also a young spirit, as you can see it, at the EXPO area or "hidden" in the city center.
Just art
Gare do Oriente
A water vulcan, exploding every five mintues!
Expo 1998 area
Sights in Lisboa
As Lisboa is not a big city, you may expect only a few sights, but there are many of them. Just for info: The "most important" ones are outside of the city center and accessible by train or by car. The city center itself is a nice place to visit, secret details are hidden everywhere, so take a close look while walking arround!
Lisbon Cathedral
Padrao dos Descobrimentos
Gate to Augusta Street
Elevator created by Gustave Eiffel, who also created the Eiffel Tower in Paris
Parliament
Convento do Carmo
Me at a (fancy) Torre de Belém
Some government
Me in front of Ponte 25 de Abril
(looks like the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco)
Museu de Electricidade
Mosteiro dos Jerónimos
Mosteiro dos Jerónimos
Inside of the Torre de Belém
Conclution
My friends in Lisboa (from Brazil)
Me at Castelo de Sao Jorge
Lisboa is a pretty place. You should have it on your "TODO" list and check out Porutgal capital city soon? I only spent just two days there, and it wasn't enough at all!
As I met again with my friend Mike, I hosted him couple of weeks ago in Vienna, it was even better: I now know his friends and they may come again to Austria, or will visit them propably next year in Brazil...
Galleries of Lisboa
See more pictures of Lisboa in my photoblog
- Lisboa 05.2008 - Part 1
In this gallery you can see parts of the old town of Lisboa like the Eiffel elevator
- Lisboa 05.2008 - Part 2
In this gallery about Lisboa you can see pictures I took May 2008 of the stronghold of Lisboa and all the sights in Belem like the Belem tower
- Lisboa - Expo, May 2008
1998 Lisboa hosted the Expo World's Fair. Therefore Portugal created a very new district with brand new buildings for that event
See also
Also check out my article about Charming Cascais