Tuesday morning, we walked from the hotel Amazonia down to the train station. A short ride later we were in Lisbon! The first order of the day was the Fiera de Ladra (The Theives Market). Nowdays, it is perfectly legal and a great flea market with all sorts of goodies and ephemera for any art project you can conceive of! I could have spent another day there.....
I included my train pass that was good for the whole day, if you didn't loose it!
This awesome castle wasn't on our agenda for the day, but we had a bit of free time, so from the flea market we walked through Old Lisbon and up to St. George's Castle. On the way, I snapped a few really cool pictures of old ruins (of what? who knows? but they look like medieval apartments). Views of St. George's overlook the city. The ancient castle has a moat of all things. I walked the ruins of the castle for a short while with Michael. Had him ALL to myself! How did I accomplish that? I dunno, but I'm not complaining! The site of St. George's has been fortified since the Roman times (500 A.D.) and the Moors built the surviving structure in the 1100's. Amazing.
After lunch at Chapito, a circus school, we headed off to Europe's most well known doll hospital. Mom and I ALMOST didn't go! Yikes, what a loss that would have been! It was the most bizarre and fascinating place. There were doll parts everywhere, as well as a little museum of different dolls. It was spooky and sweet and the same time. Before the building was a doll hospital it was a human hospital, and before that a church. The owner showed me in the floor where one of the tiles was marked "Porta". This was the doorway to the crypts below. WISH I would have taken a photo of that!!!!! Hospital das Bonecas has been in the same family since it's inception in 1830 and they claim they heal the souls of the owners as well as the dolls themselves.
To finish the afternoon, we visited the Maritime Museum to use as inspiration in our Navigator's Journal. The museum paid homage to Henry the Navigator and the maritime history of Portugal. It is housed in the same building as Jeroimos Monestary, built in 1502, where Vasco de Gama is entombed. We visited the monestary, saw the tomb(s) and Gardens. The highlight of the day for me was Pasteis de Belem. YUMMY! I could have eaten dozens of these gorgeous, hot from the oven, custard tarts with just the right amount of crunchy crust and smooth sweet custard HOT from the oven! The motto of the trip became "eat dessert twice a day", and my hips are still paying the price! I wouldn't change a thing, though!!!!!!
