Sintra with Sig!!!

After Belem, we took a much longer day trip to Sintra. This is the second visit for me, so you already have heard about Sintra on this blog. However, our agenda was much different than the first time I visited the little town.

Our first stop was the Castelo dos Mouros…

The Castle is from the age when the Islamic Moors from North Africa ruled over almost the entirety of the Iberian Peninsula. Interestingly enough, some of Sigrid’s ancestral countrymen sacked the castle in 1109; quite a feat considering that the entire structure lies at the very top of the mountain surrounded by rocks and trees…

The castle was turned over to Portugal after the capture of Lisbon in 1147, and the Moors barracked there retreated further south.

Actually most of what you see is a reconstruction done in the 1800’s. The idea was to create a nostalgic feel for the medieval days. Considering the weather when Sig and I visited, I’d say they succeeded…

The views from the ramparts were spectacular and I went a little crazy with the panoramas…

Pretty neat place…

We had fun…

It has a fine view of the town as well…

A view of out next destination, the Pena Palace…

Second visit for me to this real strange, architecturally speaking, place…

Here is a breathtaking view from Pena. I especially like it because it has the castle right in the middle…

After that we went back down into town for lunch. It was the most delicious Bacalhau à Brás. That is shredded codfish in fried potatoes and eggs. It is wonderful!! One of the things I will miss from Portugal.

Belem

Sig and I took a short day trip down to Belem. It started out fairly interestingly. One, we ran into her old supervisor who was also visiting from Norway. Then, a couple of pick pockets got arrested right there in the tram, which had to stop in front of the police station to let them out. Then, we had to get off the tram and transfer to a bus because of an accident further down the line. So that was fun.

The rest of the day was much more relaxing. The Belem district is one of the tourist must see places in Lisbon. It is an old district home to Jeronimos Monastery and the President of Portugal. The most famous sight is the Torre de Belem…

The tower was built during the 1500’s, when the Portuguese trading empire was at its zenith. The architect who built the tower was influenced by many Muslim, African, and oriental designs. The tower was meant to guard one side of the Tagus River, which one must sail up to reach Lisbon. It has an excellent view of the river entrance from its ramparts…

It was an absolutely gorgeous November day…

Here is the view looking back upriver towards Lisbon…

The rest of the day was spent just enjoying the sun and then a brief visit to the Monastery…

Coffee, pasties de belem, and roasted chestnuts. It was a very Portuguese day. Which means it was relaxing and enjoyable in the extreme!!

Sig Comes to Lisboa!!

Last week Sig came down from Norway to visit me in Lisbon. It was a nice reprieve for her from school work and the already frigid weather and snow in Trondheim. She arrived on Monday afternoon and we went downtown after we picked up some groceries. That is actually one of the fun things about being in a different country, seeing the supermarkets. Food is vastly different in every place, especially the fresh meat and vegetable counters. She did not like the look of raw octopus on ice. Fair enough, I don’t like looking at the cutlass fish…hideous little beast.

Anyways, we went downtown straight away and then headed up to a place I had never been before. The Castelo de São Jorge…

The Castle itself was conquered with the help of crusaders from northern Europe in 1147, many of them Englishmen. They were on their way to the Holy Land to fight in the Second Crusade, but stopped off to aid Afonso Henriques I, the first King of Portugal, in the Reconquista. This is arguably, the beginning of Portugal’s long alliance with England. That alliance was formalized in the Treaty of Windsor in 1386; that Treaty remains in force today and is the longest standing diplomatic alliance.

As you can imagine, with the Castle’s central role in the conquest of Lisbon from the Moors, it is shrouded in legend. The most famous of which is the story of Martim Moniz, who used his own body to prevent the Moors from closing the doors during the siege. History aside, the view of Lisbon is spectacular…

The grounds are really neat too…

It was a great start for Sig’s visit…

Cascais with Friends

Cascais is a coastal town right outside of Lisbon. Historically it has been a fishing village, trading post, and home for exiled monarchs. Currently, it is a well-to-do suburb of Lisbon that has many of the nicest hotels in the Lisbon metropolitan area. It is a resort town and it has some really nice gardens, shopping streets, and of course beaches…

I spent a couple of different days here with friends. One just to see the town and another to simply hang out and enjoy an incredible October day at my colleague’s apartment; most of that day was spent chilling on the roof terrace with good food, good wine & beer, and most especially, excellent company with my classmates from the LLM. So, here we all are…

The Germans insisted that the Americans participate in a European gangster picture, I couldn’t keep a straight face…

We spent the whole afternoon chilling on the terrace, and then we all headed down to the beach to for the sunset…

Here we all are again…

We could have been small children playing on the beach…

Except for one thing…

The view was spectacular…

Without a doubt, the most enjoyable day of the semester…