John Edward Cooper’s Notes

Day 3
After breakfast the coach will take us on a tour of the fascinating city of Lisbon. We will see all the major sites including the Castle and Cathedral (Sé) and the narrow, cobbled streets of the Alfama district. We will have a short stop at the impressive Monument to the Discoveries and the Tower of Belem, at the mouth of the Tagus River, and a visit inside the superb Jeronimos Monastery Church. (This church is closed on Mondays, which is why we are doing our visits in this order). The afternoon will be free for you to explore Lisbon further.

Janet wrote: “Good — I managed at least six hours’ sleep: much needed. More would have been better!” After she vacated the bathroom, I showered… We went down for breakfast. I had peach juice today, and cornflakes, then bacon, etc. Then we went back up to our room to collect our stuff, and were down in the lobby just before the 8.30am departure time (specified by Paul in the itinerary he posted on a notice board there on the first evening). We wondered why there were only a very few others of our party waiting there. “We were in the lobby before 8.30am,” Janet wrote, “but Paul and most of our group had buggered off to the coach, leaving a slack handful of us wondering what was going on. I was not impressed. Very bad. No tips [for him]!” Our assigned seat today was at the front of the coach, which facilitated snapping photographs en route. We set off on our half-day tour of Lisbon. Initially, there was a slow crawl in heavy traffic along Avenida da Liberdade.


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 08:43:14
On Avenida da Liberdade approaching Marquis of Pombal Square


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 08:45:08
Approaching Marquis of Pombal Square

The first stop was the monumental viewpoint at the top of Eduardo VII Park (renamed from Liberty Park after “our” Edward VII visited Portugal in 1902 to strengthen relations between the UK and Portugal). Although the park is straight ahead as one goes along Avenida da Liberdade, there’s no direct way up there, so we initially turned left (west) at the Marquês de Pombal roundabout into Rua Joaquim António de Aguiar.


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 08:46:50
Rua Joaquim António de Aguiar


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 08:52:42
Two pairs of obelisks in Eduardo VII Park


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 08:53:52
One of the two pairs of obelisks in Eduardo VII Park


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 08:54:20
Eduardo VII Park


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 08:56:04
Eduardo VII Park, looking towards the Marquis of Pombal monument and the Tagus River

At the viewpoint is a supposed monument by sculptor João Cutileiro, inaugurated in 1997 to commemorate the “25th of April” revolution; but to my eyes, apart from the pairs of soaring obelisks on either side, it was just a meaningless pile of broken stones. The “25th of April” revolution of 1974 overthrew the fascist dictatorship which had been in place from 1926, notably under António de Oliveira Salazar (1932–1968).


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 08:57:04
Monument to the “25th of April” revolution in Eduardo VII Park


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 08:58:06
Monument to the “25th of April” revolution in Eduardo VII Park


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 08:58:44
Monument to the “25th of April” revolution in Eduardo VII Park

From there, our approach to the Marquês de Pombal roundabout was from the north-east, so we’d had a circular trip, “clockwise” around the park.


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 09:07:42
Returning along Avenida Fontes Pereira de Melo

We went the length of Avenida da Liberdade and on through Restauradores Square.


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 09:14:18
Monument to the Restorers in Restauradores Square


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 09:15:08
Far end of Restauradores Square

Just beyond that, a glance to the right revealed the Rossio railway station, formerly known as “Estação Central”, as the words over the twin central arches of the façade still say.


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 09:15:58
Façade of Rossio railway station, formerly “Estação Central”

Passing through Rossio Square, we continued southwards along Rua Áurea. To the right the cast-iron lift, built in 1902 to connect that lower area with the adjacent higher level, was pointed out as it flashed by.


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 09:17:22
Elevador de Santa Justa

That road ended at a wide square by the river, Praça do Comércio.


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 09:20:00
Government offices on the west side of Praça do Comércio

Here we turned left. I noticed an equestrian statue to our right, in the centre of the square, but I missed the triumphal-arch styled Rua Augusta Arch in the middle of government buildings that we passed to our left (cf. the photo “17:07:52”).


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 09:20:52
Monument to Joseph I, King of Portugal and the Algarves (1750–1777), in Praça do Comércio

We went on in that direction as far as the Santa Apolónia railway station, and were dropped off not far from there for a short walk around.


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 09:23:16
Passing Lisbon Cathedral (Sé de Lisboa)


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 09:25:46
(Left:) Military Museum; (right:) façade of Santa Apolónia railway station


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 09:26:20
Façade of Santa Apolónia railway station


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 09:26:26
Old city wall by Santa Apolónia railway station


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 09:33:42
Corner of Avenida Infante Dom Henrique and Cais da Lingueta


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 09:33:52
View from the same viewpoint as “09:33:42”: statue of Christ the King across the Tagus River in Almada

From the location in “09:33:42”, we turned right along Cais da Lingueta, and left into Largo do Chafariz de Dentro. There the façade of the Fado Museum was pointed out. We’d never heard of the musical genre Fado [ˈfaðu] (meaning “destiny”, “fate”), a song-form with “mournful tunes and lyrics, often about the sea or the life of the poor, and infused with a sentiment of resignation, fatefulness and melancholia” (Wikipedia).


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 09:39:48
Façade of the Fado Museum, Largo do Chafariz de Dentro


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 09:40:52
The opposite side of Largo do Chafariz de Dentro from “09:39:48”

We continued to walk in that direction, along Rua do Terreiro do Trigo to its end at Largo do Terreiro do Trigo, and to the start of the street going on from there, Rua Cais de Santarém. Just there, Chafariz de El-Rei (Fountain of the King), the first public fountain of Lisbon, built in the 13th century but now with a 19th century façade, was pointed out. Each of its nine outlets was intended for the use of people of a different social stratum: black, white, men, women, slave, free, etc.


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 09:46:18
Building on the corner of Largo do Terreiro do Trigo and Rua Cais de Santarém


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 09:47:42
Neo-Moorish style Palacete Chafariz d'El Rei in Rua Cais de Santarém


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 09:47:52
Chafariz de El-Rei

The coach picked us up from there, the Alfama District in the east of Lisbon, and took us, for the most part along a road parallel to the Tagus River, some 5 miles to the Jerónimos Monastery in the west Lisbon district of Belém. On the way we passed under the “25th of April Bridge”, renamed after the 1974 revolution from the “Salazar Bridge”.


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 09:58:22
Views from the coach


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 09:58:34
Views from the coach


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 10:02:40
Views from the coach: the 25th of April Bridge


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 10:03:10
Views from the coach: the 25th of April Bridge


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 10:05:36
Views from the coach


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 10:05:48
Views from the coach


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 10:15:46
Views from the coach: Ribeira Market


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 10:22:24
Views from the coach: the 25th of April Bridge


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 10:23:16
Views from the coach: the 25th of April Bridge


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 10:25:48
Views from the coach: the former Tejo Power Station, now the Electricity Museum


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 10:27:16
Views from the coach: Monument of the Discoveries


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 10:27:38
Views from the coach: Jerónimos Monastery


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 10:28:26
Views from the coach: Jerónimos Monastery

The monastery has been secularised since the 19th century and it now houses the Maritime Museum and the National Archaeology Museum. The coach deposited us at the square between the west side of the monastery, where there’s a two-doored entrance to the Maritime Museum flanked by two tall towers on its east side, and a modern annexe of the Maritime Museum on its west. We were given ½-hour to refresh ourselves, and Janet and I went to the cafeteria in front of the annexe, where we had a drink (I had what I’d ordinarily call an americano; I can’t remember what the Portuguese called it) and used the sanitários. Then Paul led us along the south side of the monastery to the entrance to the church. “It was very hot by then,” Janet wrote.


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 10:59:52
Jerónimos Monastery: entrance of the Maritime Museum


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 11:04:16
Jerónimos Monastery: entrance of the National Archaeology Museum

There was a long, long queue at the entrance to the church.


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 11:05:34
Jerónimos Monastery: Church of Santa Maria

On the way I looked over to the right, across the road, and saw a large fountain, which rose and waned periodically.


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 11:06:12
Fountains in the Praça do Império, opposite


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 11:08:10
Church of Santa Maria: south portal

The very long queue must have been for parts of the monastery that we weren’t visiting — the cloisters? — because we waited in a shorter line, which turned within the gateway right, through a tall door into the church. Even so, it was crowded inside there.


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 11:15:26
Entering the Church of Santa Maria


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 11:16:00
Church of Santa Maria: chapel near the entrance


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 11:16:12
Church of Santa Maria: heading for the nave


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 11:16:48
Church of Santa Maria: tomb of Luís de Camões


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 11:17:22
Church of Santa Maria


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 11:17:38
Church of Santa Maria


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 11:17:56
Church of Santa Maria


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 11:18:16
Church of Santa Maria


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 11:19:18
Church of Santa Maria: main altar


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 11:20:08
Church of Santa Maria: main altar


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 11:21:18
Church of Santa Maria: south transept


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 11:21:40
Church of Santa Maria: north transept


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 11:22:06
Church of Santa Maria


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 11:22:18
Church of Santa Maria


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 11:22:26
Church of Santa Maria


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 11:23:30
Church of Santa Maria


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 11:24:46
Church of Santa Maria


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 11:25:08
Church of Santa Maria: royal tomb in the south transept, supported by two elephants


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 11:25:36
Church of Santa Maria


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 11:27:46
Church of Santa Maria


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 11:28:10
Church of Santa Maria


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 11:28:18
Church of Santa Maria


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 11:28:56
Church of Santa Maria: tomb of Vasco da Gama


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 11:29:38
Church of Santa Maria: tomb of Vasco da Gama


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 11:30:28
Church of Santa Maria: chapel near the entrance


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 11:31:28
Church of Santa Maria: chapel near the entrance


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 11:31:38
Church of Santa Maria: chapel near the entrance

We went back to the square to the west of the monastery, and boarded the waiting coach. But when Paul counted up, there were two missing. So he got out his alphabetical list of names, and the very first surname he called out (“Atkinson”, or something else beginning with “A”) was the one which prompted no response. He went off in search of them; and eventually, when they showed up, they proved to be “C. D. Bales and Roxanne”![i] How they’d misunderstood the pick-up instructions, i.e. the same location as that where we’d been set down, is hard to imagine. So that delayed our departure.

[i] Cf. 17 September 2018, footnote.

Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 12:08:50
16th century Belém Tower, viewed from the coach

We proceeded the short distance to the Belém Tower, at the far side of which were sanitários, of which we availed ourselves.


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 12:24:32
Belém Tower


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 12:25:32
Belém Tower


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 12:27:14
Belém Tower


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 12:33:32
Belém Tower


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 12:33:46
Belém Tower

Near the entrance to this site was a statue of a biplane, which I photographed.


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 12:36:52
Statue of a Fairey III biplane, a monument to the first aerial crossing of the South Atlantic by Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral in 1922


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 12:37:36
Statue of a Fairey III biplane, a monument to the first aerial crossing of the South Atlantic by Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral in 1922

From there we went the short distance to the Monument of the Discoveries, on each flanking ramp of which is a procession of statues of Portuguese explorers and navigators, culminating at an apex with Henry the Navigator.


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 12:50:04
Monument of the Discoveries: northern face and entrance


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 12:57:12
Monument of the Discoveries: northern and western faces


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 12:58:32
Monument of the Discoveries: western face, lower part, with a line of early navigators led by Henry the Navigator


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 12:58:50
Monument of the Discoveries: western face, upper part


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 13:00:32
Monument of the Discoveries: eastern face, lower part, with a second line of early navigators led by the same Henry the Navigator


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 13:00:44
Monument of the Discoveries: eastern face, upper part


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 13:01:56
Monument of the Discoveries: northern face


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 13:02:18
Compass rose in the square north of the Monument of the Discoveries


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 13:02:52
Map of the world around the centre of the compass rose

After that, the coach took us back to the hotel, turning left off the road that flanked the river to go along Avenida Infante Santo on its way to Avenida da Liberdade.


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 13:15:24
Avenida Infante Santo, viewed from the coach, on the way back to the hotel

After visiting the room, went out again. We found a restaurant near the MiniPreço supermarket that we’d visited (ca.5pm, on Sunday). I had a rather strange spaghetti Bolognese, with the minced meat separate from little piles of pomodoro sauce, and a beer, then finished with coffee. Janet managed to get a mixed salad without any dressing, with some bread, and she had a Coke Zero. Then we went back to the hotel room, and Janet left me there to go for the hairdressing appointment she’d arranged yesterday. I transferred 16 of the above photos from the camera to the WD Elements HDD (15:08–15:09). Then something went wrong; I feared that I might have lost the 75 remaining photos, but no, when I reconnected the camera, there they were. So I transferred them also (15:14–15:18). Viewed them in Windows Photo Viewer, and rotated 13 that needed it (15:20–15:25).… I think I probably shaved before Janet came back, and we went off to find St. George’s Castle.


(Click to enlarge.)

We went south-east along Avenida da Liberdade and continued to the end of Restauradores Square (Praça dos Restauradores); then, with me consulting the map I’d bought in W. H. Smith’s, we made our way east to the maze of streets with steps that lead up the slope of the hill on which the castle stands. But then what I was seeing as I looked out didn’t much resemble what I was seeing when I looked down at the map. And Janet kept mentioning a funicular, which I felt sure was not in this location. As well as the lift we’d passed this morning, Paul had indeed at some point mentioned a funicular or funiculars; but I was convinced that it wasn’t here. “I thought there was a funicular,” Janet wrote, “but there wasn’t, and we had to climb lots of steps — lots. It was so hot. I really suffered with the heat and felt I could go no further so sank to my knees. A very kind American lady asked if we were OK. She explained how to get to the castle…” I’d been attempting to take us up east to the castle wall, but she pointed us along a more gentle incline to the south that would take us around to the entrance on the southern side. At the top end of Calçada do Marquês de Tancos we found a bar, sat under one of the umbrellas outside, and had refreshments: I had a 40cl glass of the local Sagres beer and Janet had a can of Coke Zero (16:40, according to the receipt). So it was that Janet recovered somewhat.


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 16:45:34
Looking back down Calçada do Marquês de Tancos


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 16:45:40
Bar/restaurant at the end of Calçada do Marquês de Tancos

Then we continued around to the southern end of the castle, along Costa do Castelo and Rua do Milagre de Santo António, turning left along Rua Bartolomeu de Gusmão,—


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 16:49:20
Going up Rua Bartolomeu de Gusmão

—right, at its end at the castle wall, into Rua do Chão da Feira, then left, doubling back in the opposite direction—


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 16:51:34
Rua do Chão da Feira

—and passing through the castle gateway on Rua de Santa Cruz do Castelo.


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 16:52:26
About to enter the gateway of Castelo de São Jorge (St. George Castle)


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 16:53:22
In Rua de Santa Cruz do Castelo, looking back to the gateway

We thought by now that it was too late to join the queue lined up outside the castle ticket office, so made our way back.


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 16:55:14
Ticket office of the castle in Rua de Santa Cruz do Castelo


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 16:56:12
Adjacent entrance to the castle grounds in Rua de Santa Cruz do Castelo


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 17:01:04
Returning down Rua Bartolomeu de Gusmão

At the end of Calçada do Marquês de Tancos (or the start, as it was to us then), just by the bar/restaurant we visited earlier, was an elevator down to a lower level. Janet pointed out, on the other side of its entrance, a patio giving views over the city; so we went there first, and I took some photos, before we went down in the lift.


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 17:05:16
Elevator in Calçada do Marquês down to the Pingo Doce supermarket. 90° to the left is what’s seen in “16:45:40”; 90° to the right is “16:45:34”.


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 17:06:24
Views from the top of the Pingo Doce elevator


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 17:06:38
Views from the top of the Pingo Doce elevator: Christ the King statue in Almada


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 17:07:28
Views from the top of the Pingo Doce elevator


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 17:07:52
Views from the top of the Pingo Doce elevator. Just in front of the Tagus River: statue of Joseph I, the West Tower (with windows), and the Rua Augusta Arch (with Glory rewarding Valour and Genius), all on Praça do Comércio.


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 17:08:12
Views from the top of the Pingo Doce elevator: Christ the King statue (left) and the 25th of April Bridge (right)


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 17:09:02
Views from the top of the Pingo Doce elevator: Elevador de Santa Justa (seen, 09:17:22), and the 14th century Convent of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, ruined in the 1755 Lisbon earthquake


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 17:09:18
Views from the top of the Pingo Doce elevator: Rossio railway station (right)


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 17:10:10
Views from the top of the Pingo Doce elevator: Lisbon Cathedral (Sé de Lisboa)

The lower exit of the lift was into a supermarket; and in a nearby street, Janet saw and hailed a tuk-tuk. It was as well that the driver agreed the €10 price before we set out, because we encountered heavy traffic crawling at a snail’s pace. I suppose, to try to avoid the worst of it, he took us by a very roundabout route to the hotel, for at one point we passed the MiniPreço supermarket, then crossed over Avenida da Liberdade, and approached the hotel on a road running parallel to the Avenida. “It took about ½-hour,” Janet wrote, “and we were seriously jiggled about. Lots of traffic. Rush hour. Nice and cooling in the tuk-tuk!”


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 17:12:52
Exit from Pingo Doce


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 17:15:38
In the tuk-tuk


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 17:15:56
In the tuk-tuk


Tuesday 18 September 2018 — 17:23:06
In the tuk-tuk in heavy traffic

… We’d decided to try somewhere other than Restaurante A Gina this evening. Just north of the hotel, on Avenida da Liberdade, was the Cinema São Jorge. We’d noticed a sign outside, promising a pizzeria, but a quick look within and upstairs, previously when we were passing, had revealed nothing. We went up there again, and enquired at the bar that was there; but the barman just showed us a menu with very few items on it, so we left. “The Italian restaurant at St. George Cinema (finally discovered) was crap, so we went to Ribadouro (they own ‘our’ café on the boulevard),” Janet wrote. “Excellent meal. Very reasonable [price]. [John] had ‘Portuguese’ pork after cheese, and I had veal steak, salad and gorgeous bread. We both had some of that. It was hot. Yum! I had three Pepsi Max. [John] had ½-bottle wine, a coffee and a port.” It was silver service, so my vegetables (potatoes and pickled vegetables) came on a separate dish. I was glad, for because of that I didn’t feel over-faced. “We left ca.8.30am. Superb!” Janet continued. “It was quite cool outside, thank goodness. I had a shower and updated this [journal]…” I lay on the bed as Janet was writing her journal. We were in bed, ca.9.35pm.

[Wednesday 19 September 2018]