Phot-o' the Day: "Temos Sardinha" in Alfama; Lisbon, Portugal

I've been to 49 states and 31 countries, and the only place on earth I've been where the restaurants proudly proclaim that they have sardines is Portugal. "Temos sardinha." "We have sardines." The good news is that they also have sangria, as in "Temos Sangria."

Sardines are something of a cultural icon in Portugal. Other than that, it's a great place to visit.

This photo is in the Alfama neighborhood of Lisbon, where the streets are so steep and windy that ordinary public transportation cannot access it. Visited September 2017.

Phot-o' the Day: Busker with Accordion and Chihuahua; Lisbon, Portugal

The photo of the day is from outside the Torre de Belém, in the Belém neighborhood at the western edge of the city of Lisbon, Portugal.  From September 2017.

On that trip to Lisbon, I saw multiple people -- three constituting "multiple" -- busking in the city with (a) an accordion and (b) a chihuahua.  Never a shih-tzu.  Never a Doberman.  Always a chihuahua.  Apparently, in Portuguese culture, the squeezebox and the chihuahua go together like bourbon and ginger ale.  Or, to give it a more Portuguese spin, octopus and fado.  Or pasteis de Belém and life itself.

Heading Up In The World's Only Mass Transit Elevator

On my way to the top ... in the Elevador de Santa Justa

Name all the places in the world where an actual working elevator is part of the city's mass transit system.

I believe Lisbon is it.  Come with me and ride the Elevador de Santa Justa.

But, first, trolleys!

The Baixa neighborhood is teeming with trolleys.

And other vehicles.

This afternoon was walk over to the Baixa neighborhood, the main purpose being the opportunity, the pleasure, the experience of riding a mass transit elevator.  There were some nice buildings en route.

Not only do I not know what that building is, I couldn't place on a map.  So if I said what it is, I would be lying.

See.  There are other forms of transportation in Lisbon besides trolleys.  The above pictures depicts three.  The little red tourist tuk-tuk.  A city bus.  And do you see the third?  Right there in foreground, the Restauradores metro stop.  The Lisbon Metro, by the way, does not stop in the Alfama neighborhood where I'm staying.  Because it's just too dang hilly.

This is the Monumento dos Restauradores:

Admit it.  In your mind, you translated "Monumento dos Restauradores" as "Monument to the Restaurants."  Or "Restaurateurs."  It's neither.  It's "Monument to the Restorers," a monument to those who bravely fought to RESTORE Portuguese rule from the Spaniards in 1640.

Rating an even bigger plaza is Dom Pedro IV:

That's Dom Pedro himself atop the column in Praca Dom Pedro IV.  Here's a picture of people taking pictures:

And just a half block down from Praca Dom Pedro IV is the Holy Grail of today's walking adventure:  Elevador de Santa Justa.  The only elevator that is part of an urban mass transit transit system.

The Santa Justa Lift was built in the early years of the last century by Raoul Mesnier du Ponsard, a disciple of Gustave Eiffel.  It connects the lower land of Lisbon's aptly named "Baixa" neighborhood with the higher grounds of Lisbon's Largo de Carmo neighborhood.

The cars definitely have that "turn of the previous century" feel to them:

It took longer for the elevator operator to sell the tickets and make the change for the ride to the top than it did to ride to the top.  Soon we were on the lower observation deck.

Or, as Acrophobic Me would like to call, the non-scary level:

See all that nice protective mesh keeping up from falling a few hundred feet down to sure death!

Now compare/contrast with the upper observation deck:

It's open air.  I look cucumber cool in this selfie-portrait:

But that's because I've strategically positioned myself in the center of the deck, far far from the dangerous edge that would cause me to fall more than a hundred feet to my early death if I were to get within three feet of that edge.

I'm much more apprehensive-looking in this selfie-portrait.  Because I'm closer to the edge.

From there it was a short walk over to the Largo do Carmo neighborhood.  It's got an aechaeology museum:

And it's got a gazebo.  All cool neighborhoods have gazebos.

Actually, it's not just a gazebo.  It's the Chafariz do Carmo.  The Fountain of Carmo.

Then, after walking through the upscale shopping neighborhood Chiado -- you know me, I'm all about the upscale shopping -- it was time to walk along the waters of Taguas esstuary.

This is Praça do Comércio, which translates to the mundane "Commercial Plaza."

In the center of Praça do Comércio is this statute of Dom Pedro.  We already met Dom Pedro IV before getting onto the Santa Justa Lift.  Here, waterside, is the original Dom Pedro.  Dom Pedro I.

Accept no imitation Dom Pedros.

By this time, it started getting dusky.

In the above shot, looking westward down Avenida Ribeira das Naus, you can spy the Ponte 25 de Abril, remained because it had been named for the dictator Salazar, a dead ringer for the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and, speaking of dead ringers, Portugal's own version of Rio de Janeiro's Christ The Redeemer, suburban Almada's Santuario Nacional de Cristo Rei.

And these are the Cais das Colunas:

Translation:  the Pier of Columns.  It's supposed to look Venetian.  Referencing the Italian city, not the Las Vegas casino, I should add.

The purpose is to walk out of the water into the heart of Lisbon.  Trez Venetian, so they say.

And do by As Cais das Colunas was a band playing.

They were quite good, doing their version of Brazilian music.

Time to eat.  Back to Casa da Tia Helena.  This time I had "Meat and Peppers" for my appetizer.

I presume the meat was Portuguese sausage but, sometimes, when you are traveling abroad, it's best not to ask what meat the meat is.  And for main course?

What Bruno at the hotel front desk said I should have gotten when I told him I had eaten at Casa da Tia Helena.  Arroz com polvo.  Rice with octopus, a.k.a., Octopus risotto.  Mmmmmm.  Octopussy,

And for dessert?  Doce da casa.  Sweet of the house.  A chocolate mousse with a white cream sauce mixed in to cut the bittersweet intensity of the chocolate mousse.

Welcome to Portugal: Afternoon in Alfama

Lisbon's Alfama neighborhood is lousy with trams

Reporting live from Lisbon, Portugal.  Today was a Jeb Bush kind of day: low energy.  It was a six-hour flight from JFK to Lisbon and it left a few ticks o' the clock before midnight, so there was not a whole lot of sleeping going on.  So I stuck to exploring the neighborhood in which I am staying:  Alfama.

This is the old "Moorish" section of Lisbon.  The extremely narrow streets will tell you this was laid out well before car culture.  Well before "horse and carriage" culture for that matter.

That is not the ocean.  That is the Tagus River.  It's the estuary, so I'm guessing it's salt water.  But it's not, technically speaking, ocean water.

This is up in one of the high viewpoints within Alfama.  Alfama is quite hilly.  In fact, the steepness of the slopes is the reason trams are so popular as public transit.  There may be no tram in this picture here, but there are tram wires:

Here's an example of some non-indigenous wildlife:

Turista Americana.  These types often can be found in viewpoints of various European capitals.  Especially when there is something photogenic, such as an estuary, to form the photo background.  Hey.  I would've snapped a selfie but I was too tired from overnight flight,

Upon at the viewpoint a band was playing something that sounded Afro-Brazilian.  One of the great things about Portugal is that has done a better job than anywhere else in Europe absorbing the racial minorities from its former colonies into its territory.  And since all of its overseas colonies seem to have awesome musical traditions, that means lots and lots of awesome music.

And stairs.  Lots and lots and lots of stairs in Alfama.

This is the Igreja do Sao Miguel.  Lisbon is lousy with beautiful old church buildings.  Some of which are still used as churches.

Now, let's look at some museums, of the "offbeat" variety:

Museu do Fado, the museum dedicated to Portugal's indigenous bluesy/sea chanty music, fado.

The Museu do Lactancio, which translates to the "Museum of Lactation."  Here's my weird observation.  I'm stunned that "lactation" is a masculine-gendered noun.

And finally, in the same general neighborhood:

Museu Militar.  I did not go in any of the three as it was too close to closing time by the time I had wandered down there.  Anyway, there's a police station next to the Museu Militar.

Here's another thing typically Lisboa (Lisbonian?):

The decorative tile facades of so many buildings.

Anyway, since I walked downhill to the water -- estuary, I mean -- walked down to the estuary, that meant an uphill battle to get back to the hotel.

And what's that beautiful white building up ahead?

It's a re-purposed defrocked Catholic church,

But what it was re-purposed into is impressive:  The Lisboa Panteao.  The Lisbon Pantheon.  Where a boatload of famous Portuguese are buried.  Those little tourist "tuk-tuks" are everywhere, too, by the way,

More trams:

And this is a Catholic Church I found when I figured out I climbed the wrong steep hill to get back to my hotel.

This is the Igreja e Convento da Graca,

My observation about Lisbon after Day One:  what an amazingly friendly city.  People are friendly.  Dogs are friendly.

But the cats aren't friendly.  So in that way Lisbon is just like everywhere else.

Portugal has now become the 22nd (or 21st) (or 23rd, depending on how you count) (which I'm not going to go over here, let's just say that under my preferred method of counting countries visited, it's #22)

I leave you with this, a twilight view of Castelo de Sao Jorge.