I’ve a feeling we’re not in Alfama anymore

Oct 4 2023 

 Today we went downhill to see an upscale neighbourhood. (Okay, that’s terrible, but I can't bring myself to delete it.)

I don't know, do you?

 

We followed another self-guided walking tour à la Rick Steves (I admit it!), well, two of them back to back. Leaving the twisted Alfama that already feels familiar, we walked down towards the Baixa district, an upscale shopping area stretching from Praça do Comércio at the harbour (really the river) to the central Rossio Square.

On the way, we stopped in the Lisbon Cathedral: Romanesque, very plain, and very old. We had a look at a wooden sliver that purportedly came from the True Cross (because a cathedral needs a relic), and marvelled at the art and the artifacts, reminders of the wealth of the church. Don’t get me started. There were great views from the upper balconies. Always, great views.

The Lisbon Cathedral

The Chapter Room, where the Bishop on his throne presided over meetings

Barrel vault, round arches = Romanesque

Our walk started at Praça do Comercio and took us up the white-limestone-paved Rua Augusta, lined with classy shops and filled with — you guessed it — tourists, these ones fresh off the cruise ship. It was an urban, classic, bustling Lisbon, completely different from the “old Lisbon” we’d explored just yesterday.

The important stuff: chocolate and...

... pastries

 

We stopped into another church, the Igreja de Sao Domingos. This church was the home of the Inquisition and the scene of the massacre of thousands of Jews in 1506. It was completely destroyed then rebuilt after a major earthquake that devastated this city in 1755.  Then, in 1959 the interior was ruined by fire and the church was closed until the 1990s. The surfaces of the columns remain charred and deeply pitted, and I swear the smell of fire still hangs in the air. An American stepped in and said, loudly, “Wow!” a couple of times, until someone shushed her. I had the same reaction, internally.

The chapel in the foreground is that of Our Lady of Fatima, with two of the children she appeared to beside her. The third child was still alive when this chapel was made, so not yet in heaven with Our Lady.

The square outside holds a small memorial to the infamous day of the murders of Jews. There is no acknowledgement that I could find that this was also the site of a busy 16th Century slave market. 

We crossed Rossio Square, paved in the white limestone and black basalt cobblestones that are emblematic of Lisbon, then climbed up a bunch of staircases into the Bairro Alto and Chiado districts. We were getting tired by this time, so we grabbed a Gelato and made a beeline for our hotel. Google found the way, of course, and a long stretch of stairs offered the luxury of escalators the whole way up. Ten minutes, and we were home.

Rossio Square: it doesn't look flat, but it is.

More shots of Lisbon, before leaving for the south in the morning:

Alfama by night

Escalator to Heaven

"Your bra for free shots"

Funicular. We took the stairs.

Somewhere, there's a key for this lock

Megaburl

Kitty across the road from our 3rd-floor room