After the first day spent exploring the neighborhood around where we were staying, we decided to explore St. George’s Castle and the old neighborhoods surrounding it. After taking the Metro from Avenida da Liberdade to the city centre, we started the trek up to the Castle by walking through the neighborhood of Graça. It’s charming streets and alleys were full full of hanging laundry & old women leaning out of their windows talking to their neighbors. We finally arrived at the Castle, starting at the overlook for some amazing views of the city below & River Tagus beyond. It was amazing to think that parts of the Castle dated back to the time of the Romans and Moors! After totally embracing being tourists for an afternoon of climbing the ramparts and taking photos of different aspects of Lisbon below, we left the Castle and headed towards the Alfama.
I LOVED seeing these gorgeous peacocks in the garden of the Castle!
Lucky for us, there was a Fado festival going on in the Alfama the weekend we arrived. I’d heard a great deal about Fado during the research phase of our trip, and I learned that Fado is a type of Portuguese song that’s typically sung with a great deal of emotion & is accompanied by mandolins or guitars. Often, Fado is sung in local restaurants (with great acoustics) during what we Americans would call the late night dinner hours. After our day of exploring, we found a cute restaurant, ordered some delicious food and listened to Fado into the night!
Bom dia, friends! More from Portugal coming next week!
To catch up on my Portugal posts, check out: Lisbon, Portugal – First Look | Our Airbnb in Lisbon, Portugal | The Neighborhood – Avenida da Liberdade, Lisbon – Portugal | Cascais, Portugal
add a comment
+ COMMENTS