Tom`s travels: Lisbon (7,8.9/11/2014)

My parents and brother decided to visit me in Portugal for 3 days so I decided to show them Lisbon in full. Their plane arrived at noon on the 7th, so I took an early train from Coimbra and arrived at 10 in Lisbon. I had some before their arrival so I thought of heading to the Museu Nacional do Azulejo or National Tile Museum.The museum is located in the former Convent of Madre de Deus and follows a chronological order with so many beautiful examples of azulejos dating from the 15th century up to the present day. One really famous and important piece, is a whole wall covered in an azulejo map depicting Lisbon before the 1755 earthquake, amazing! With still some time to spare before my parent's arrival I decided to take a look at the Cathedral which I had previously seen only from the outside. The church itself built in 1147 in the Romanesque style and it is one of the very few buildings that survived the 1755 earthquake though with some damage. The entrance was free for the church itself, but I also decided to visit the cloister which is unusually located behind the main altar because of the conformation of the hill which it stands on being it the only possible location. The entrance was 2 euros and though still under renovation, with a newly excavated site showing arab and roman ruins, the interesting Gothic cloister featured beautiful columns and tombs of kings and nobles. it was nearly time for my parents and brother's arrival so I headed towards the house we decided to rent with Airbnb in the Alfama district. After they had arrived, and having spoken Portuguese with the owner who told me all the info and details on the house, I made everyone unpack and we were off to explore the city. We visited a few churches but I mostly showed them around the city and from the outside; its streets, squares and panoramas. We also decided, well my brother really wanted to, see the Lisbon Oceanarium, which I had already seen before but acquiesced since it is one of the best in Europe. For dinner we decided to eat near the river at the Mercado da Ribeira, a wonderful place which during the day is a bustling marketplace and at night becomes a place filled with many small restaurants and bars with all kinds of things to try. From there walking back home, we stopped at the Praça do Comercio where the Terreiro do Paço, Lisbon's main and most beautiful square, is located. The next morning we were up early and heading to Belem. Since I had already seen both the Jeronimos Monastery and Belem Tower I let my parents and brother visit them while I went to see the Archaeological museum instead, with roman mosaics and items as well as a few Egyptian exhibits and also Lusitan ones. For lunch we headed towards the Padrao dos Descrobimentos, a monument celebrating the Portuguese Age of Discovery of the 15th and 16th centuries, and ate at Portugalia a portuguese cuisine chain restaurant. I then went to get the famous Pasteis de Belem, or pasteis de nata, a delicious egg tart pastry, and then went to the Belem Tower for the others to come out. Once I reached the tower it started pouring but luckily it did not last long and in the meantime we had taken a taxi to the National Museum of Ancient Art. A really wonderful museum starting from early christian art, all the way to Indian, Japan, China and African (pretty much all portuguese colonies) and then the main part with 15th,16th,17th and 18th century paintings, both Portuguese and foreign. After that we decided to head to the house to get ready for dinner since we were meeting our old friend Alessandra and her parents at a really nice restaurant, Lost in Esplanada in the Bairro Alto. After a really good dinner we said goodbye and while heading back home we stopped at the Miradouro de Sao Pedro de Alcantara for a wonderful view of the city. The next day we were up early again and started the day with a visit to the Cathedral and St Anthony's church, then walked up the hill towards the Miradouro de Santa Luzia, another amazing view of the city. Walking further on we reached the Sao Vicente de Fora Monastery, a beautiful 17th century church with various beautiful closters, all decorated with blue azulejos, a colourful marble-covered sacristy and most importantly the Pantheon of the House of Braganza. We also got to see a beautiful view of the city and castle from the rooftop of the monastery, where the two bell towers stood. Getting out we continued walking and eventually reached the Miradouro Nossa Senhora do Monte with another beautiful view of the city, castle, river and bridge. We then decided to take a taxi, since it is very cheap here in Lisbon, to get to the other side of town and visit the church of Sao Roque a beautiful Renaissance church, with great interiors especially the unique and famous 18th century Chapel of St John the Baptist which was considered one of Europe's most expensive chapels at that time, since it had first been constructed in Rome with many precious marbles, deconstructed and the transported in Lisbon by ship where it was then rebuilt inside Sao Roque. We then walked a bit, ate a really good pastel de nata, probably better than the one in Belem, at a place called Manteigaria in Largo de Camoes and with some extra time left headed for the Gulbenkian museum. I had visited this museum a few times before, the first time 3 years before,, but it was still nice to see it again, especially the temporary exhibition on the Treasures of the royal palaces of Spain, which I obviously hadn't seen before. In the permanent exhibition, there were the usual artifacts from different periods and world zones, most of which very nice and interesting. Night came so we headed back to the city center and stopped at the Cafe a Brasileira to take a pic with the statue of Fernando Pessoa and then went to have dinner at the Cervejaria Trinidade a medieval looking tavern where the monks were dressed up as monks. The morning after, my parents and brother left early in the morning so I said goodbye and told them we would see each other again for Christmas, and before heading back home to Coimbra I decided to explore a little more, eventually taking an Intercidade train later around lunchtime.