Some random pictures/Algumas imagens aleatórias

These pics don't really "fit" into a theme post like I've been putting up, so this is just a post with some random pictures that I still felt like sharing.

This shows just how embedded in the neighborhood the Palácio de São Bento (parliament) is. This is looking at it down Travessa da Arrochela.

Convento de Jesus. Large, imposing building, seemingly empty. I don't know why there was a policeman stationed outside.

Here's a detail from abov the door.

The Bairro Alto is a hilly district known for its restaurants and night life. It also serves as an artistic center due to the presence of theaters and fine arts conservatories. This street view transfers none of that information, however. It's the view west down Travessa das Merçes (one of the quieter streets in the area). I thought it was cool with the odd building jutting out, the view, and the plants. A typical cute Lisbon street scene.

Here's a telephoto shot of the view. That's the Ponte 25 de Abril (25th of April Bridge) in the distance.

Shifting to the Chiado district, here is the exterior of the Teatro Estudio Mario Viegas, on Rua dos Duques Debraganças. The Bairro Alto contains theaters you might describe as "off-broadway", the Chiado is home to a few of the more formal variety, including Lisbon's opera company.

I do not know if these stairways serve some purpose, or are merely an architectural flourish.

More Lisbon Street Art/Mais Arte de Rua de Lisboa

Let's do another installment of Lisbon street art.

Here's a Super Mario Brothers mural. I strongly doubt this mural was "traditional" street art, in the sense of being unsolicited. But still, it's a public painting on the wall of a building, so I'm including it because it's an excuse to post this photo! Oh, and since I like to include it, this is located on Rua Ivens in the Chiado.

This and the following painting are both on the same building on Rua de Dom Luis I.

This work is on Travessa da Conceição da Gloria.

Finally, there is a large and elaborate mural off of Calçada do Moinho de Vento, which is a small access road to a viewpoint that sits on land belong to the Freguesia de São Jose (Freguesia = Parish in English). It also was most likely sponsored by the Freguesia, which makes sense because this way they can get their wall covered in a large, beautiful mural while avoiding the mish-mash of random tags and paintings that would crop up there otherwise. Anyway, it's pretty cool. The only problem is the mural is so wide, and the street was so narrow, that there was simply no way to include the entire mural in one shot. So, it's broken up into five sequential photos. The order you're viewing it is from left to right. If you look, there is at least one visual marker you can identify as the "break line" at the edge of each picture...

Miradouro Santa Catarina

Here's a quick post. This is from the Miradouro Santa Catarina. It's about a 5-10 minute walk from our apartment (uphill). It's not very touristy, mostly because the view doesn't include much of the city. It mostly looks south, across the Rio Tejo. But it's nice, and tends to be populated by locals, young men selling and smoking marijuana, and old men playing cards.

This is actually along the way to the Miradouro. It's a typical "street". Too narrow for cars, ending in a wall, precipitous drop in elevation, and the "street" continues on below. Also, there's a peek-a-boo view of the river there.

The view SE

Telephoto of the town across the river. I believe that is Barreiro, but I'm not 100% sure.

Here's the look SW, across the Miradouro. That's the Ponte 25 de Abril in the distance (25th of April Bridge). It is pretty similar to the Golden Gate bridge in form and color, although it isn't as dramatic. Oh, it's named that because the 25th of April is considered the date the "Carnation Revolution" officially overthrew the dictatorship and began the transition to democracy. The bridge's previous name? Ponte Salazar, of course.

Just to the east of the bridge is this statue: Cristo Rei (Christ the King). In case this is ringing any bells for you, yes, it was based on the much more glamorous statue in Rio de Janeiro. Also, it was a gift to Salazar from Franco. Aww, isn't that sweet. Anyway, it's still there, and you can go across and stare at the view over the river to Lisbon.

A view of the Miradouro back the other direction (east). See that mound of rock with the little bronze dude sitting on it? It's a neat statue. Two pictures follow.

So, here's the overview. The plaque (which was harshly reflecting the sun's rays when I took this photo) explains something about the statue, but I'm not sure if the name on it is a dedication or the artist.

Here's some detail on the face and the little bronze dude. It almost reminds me of a Goya painting.

Public transportation in Lisbon/O transporte público em Lisboa

Hello. It's been a few days since I posted here. Had a spot of internet trouble, but we think we've resolved it (fingers crossed). Anyway, instead of the usual "here's a place and some pictures of it" post, I am going to post about public transportation in Lisbon. First, there is Carris, which operates all the above-ground public transport in Lisbon, ie the buses, trams, trolleys, funiculars, and the Elevador de Santa Justa. The Lisbon Metro is the "underground" system, aka the subway. Then there are the plentiful taxis, which are of course privately operated. Finally, there are also several ferries which run back and forth across the river (passenger only, no cars). This post will give you a glimpse of them all.

First, the old trolleys, or "electricos" as they are called here. This is the #18 at Cais do Sodre. These resemble the sort of old-timey street cars that used to populate cities' transportation systems a century ago. In Lisbon, these are still used frequently. Yes, during certain times they are mostly packed with tourists (especially #28), but at other times you are as likely to see a little grandma hop on as not. I think they are still in use because they do generate a lot of revenue from tourism, but I think that Lisboetas also have a special fondness for them, despite their flaws.

Here's one at Praça Figueira in the Baixa. I'm not sure why it was there, since that not normally on an "electrico" route, but there it was.

Here's the front of the #28 heading uphill at Largo de Santa Luzia. This one had advertising on it. (Some of them have ads plastered on them, some get marked with graffiti, and some are just plain glimmering yellow).

Finally, here's another #28, chugging uphill on the Calçada de São Francisco.

Curious what they look like inside? Here you go:

Here's the newer, modern replacement for those electricos. These trams only run on a few routes, but they are quite nice.

Here's one plastered in advertising. They kind of look like slugs, don't they?

Some of you may be asking, 'what is a funicular?' Well, let me show you. It's essentially a trolley car customised to traverse up and down steep hills. This one is the Elevador da Gloria. There are four of these running in Lisbon. They don't have a long route or anything, they just go back and forth, up and down one hill.

The regular city buses are what you'd expect, keeping up with the yellow theme. Here's a normal-length one:

And here's an articulated one:

Ok, now on to the Metro. Here's the exterior of a train. This one happens to be on the Green Line (linha verde), but they all look the same. There is also a Red (vermelha) line, Blue (azul) line, and Yellow (amarelha) line.

Here's the interior of a car. The interiors come in different flavors. This one is what I call "sterile baby blue". Sometimes you'll find the "faux wood paneling" variety or the "simple beige". They're all the same layout, and the seats are always the same reddish/purple design.

The passenger ferries scuttle back and forth across the Rio Tejo. Some are quite modern, such as the hydrofoil pictured below. Others are older and clunkier, looking more like a gussied-up tug boat. I've only got pictures of the new variety so far. Here it is pulling up to the Cais do Sodre terminus (it's a ferry terminal, train station, and metro/bus hub all in one).

Finally, if the public transport options don't work for you, there's always a taxi. The taxis come in two varieties - beige and black/green (black on bottom, green on top). What's the difference? Absolutely nothing. The story is that once upon a time, every taxi in Lisbon was black with a green top. Then the regulations changed (I postulate post-revolution) and they all had to be painted beige. Then, only a few years ago, the rules changed AGAIN and they were supposed to become black-with-green again - BUT! the drivers that had beige cars were grandfathered in, so they didn't have to change their colors. So, now there are two varieties of taxies in Lisbon, and there ain't a whit of difference between them - except their colors. Here are two, one of each variety, so you can compare.

I should also note, while the large majority of taxis here are Mercedes sedans, there is no requirement on car model, so you do see other varieties, such as the minivan pictured here.

That's it. Come ride with us.

Praça Luis de Camões and environs/Praça Luis de Camões e arredores

This Plaza is between our apartment and the Baixa/Chiado metro stop. We walk through it a lot. So who was Luis de Camoes? He is a Portuguese literary hero, perhaps the most famous of all such figures in a country that reveres its writers.
He was alive in the 16th century, when Portugal was still very much a global player on the high seas. He is most famous for writing The Lusiads (Os Lusíados), an epic tale of a seafarer's adventures around the world. Camoes himself did make several sea voyages, he travelled through Egypt, India, and Indochina. The best legend I've heard about Camoes (and I have no idea if it's apocryphal) was that, fighting to stay alive during a shipwreck, he had to make a choice between saving his lover and saving his manuscripts. He made the choice to save the manuscripts, holding them above the water to keep them dry until he made it ashore, while his lover perished in the sea.

Anyway, this is the Plaza:

Here is the statue of Camões:

Detail:

Running east from the Praça is Rua Garrett. This street is famous for housing several cafes that at one time were the favored haunts of the Portuguese literati (and now are haunted only by tourists). Foremost among them is "A Brasileira" which often hosted another beloved Portuguese writer, Fernando Pessoa. It's been kept up well and so it has a certain luxuriousness that most Lisboeta cafes don't. However, it's always crowded, overflowing into the street. I haven't tried eating there, but my understanding is that the food itself isn't worth the wait. Anyway, here it is, followed by a close up of its sign.

(There weren't any crowds there when I took these photos because it was Christmas Day. This is very abnormal.)

Rua Garrett is now partially pedestrianized. In the middle of the street sits a statue of Pessoa, with a open bench beside him. Every time we pass by, people are getting their picture taken with Pessoa (and this is one activity popular with both locals and toursits). Here's Liz leaning in.

Finally, this is a knick-knack shop near the Plaza. It's got the front end of an old taxi sticking out above it. I thought it looked cool. Unfortunately, the shop itself sells nothing special, just the same old tourist thingamajigs...

The Elevador de Santa Justa

The Elevador de Santa Justa is a strange and wonderful thing. It is, as you probably guessed, an elevator. But it is technically part of the city's mass transit system, operated by Carris. As I've written, Lisbon is a city built haphazardly on top of hills, which can present a transportation and circulation problem. The Elevador was opened in 1902 as a potential solution to this problem. It is designed to move people up from the Baixa to the Bairro Alto. It is simply a large, external elevator - but the group that planned the elevator had grandiose ideas, and the man who eventually designed and built it was a protege of Gustave Eiffel (you may heard of his famous Tower). Consequently, it stands out as more than a simple curiosity of urban planning. It is rather beautiul, kind of darkly gothic in its wrought-iron design. These days, of course, no one actually rides it just to get up and down. It is purely a tourist draw. But so what? It's still pretty cool. Liz & I visited on Christmas Day when visitors would be at a minimum, and these are some pictures. (I cheated - one of the pictures is from a different day... can you tell which one?)

Here is the whole thing from its base, on Rua Santa Justa, naturally.

Here is the detail of the upper platform.

The shaft. You can see the elevator cars going up inside. Glass! (You won't get me in there, that's for sure)

Here's a side view of the top platform. You can see it actually has three levels. The top level is simply a viewing platform. In the middle (the glassed off area) is a cafe. And below that is where the elevators stop to let people out. The only way up and down between those levels is an old, rickety, spiral staircase. I don't think this thing would pass code these days...
You can also see the bridge that connects the platform to the top of the ridge (the Bairro Alto)

Here are some pictures from the top. First of all, this is from the beinning of the bridge/walkway out to the top of the Elevador. There is a fee to actually use the elevator itself, but to just walk out to the platform and enjoy the view is free. Anyway, the walkway runs along right next to an old convent, the Convento do Carmo. It was destroyed in the earthquake of 1755, and for some reason, the ruins have been preserved, I guess as a memorial of sorts to the destruction of the earthquake. Anyway, that's it to the left. The walls and arches still stand, but everything else collapsed.

This is the view looking back towards the convent from the elevator platform.

Remember those spiral staircases I was talking about? You can see it here. (Hey, it's me!)

Yeah, no way I'm going up there!

Now, what about the view from the top viewing platform? Well, unfortunately, I have a mild phobia of heights, and while I was ok for a little bit on the lowest platform (in which you are caged in), I wasn't about to go up to the open-air top platform. So I sent my wife up there instead. (j/k - she wanted to go up there). The view is actually pretty similar to the view from the Miradouro Sao Pedro which I posted recently. It's not that far from there. So, here's three pictures to give you the overview, starting from northeast, to east, to southeast.