Nikki wanted to visit the National Museum of Ancient Art, which happened to be on the way to the church, so we walked together, going steadily and increasingly uphill. When we arrived at the museum, we stood puffing and panting and trying to regain a modicum of control over our breathing. Then she headed for the museum’s main doors and I continued along the street, which fortunately was rather level from that point to where I had to turn left onto another street.
When I arrived at that juncture I looked to my left and my heart sank. Steps going up! The street was made of steps, then a level place, sometimes where a street intersected and other times in the nature of a landing, then more steps going up, then another street/landing and then more steps. High walls and very narrow sidewalks barely wide enough for one person were on both sides of the “street,” with doorways here and there along the walls. There was a bus stop next to where I was standing and I nearly sat on its bench and gave up, but curiosity – and a desire to attend church after two weeks of not being able to – overcame me and I decided to brave the obstacle. (Because of the nature of the ordeal, I did not take pictures on the upward journey.)
I started up the steps with hope in my heart that #7, the building number I sought, would be close to the beginning of the steps. As I started upward, on my right I saw #2; more stairs – puff, puff, #4, more stairs – puff, pant; #6, still staggering upward. I kept looking to my left for odd numbered doorways in the wall because #7 should be there anytime, even though there hadn’t been #1, #3 or #5 yet. No such luck. The next, on the right, was #8, then a cross-street. I stopped, gasping for air, drenched from the skin outward. A car came along the tiny narrow road of the cross-street to my left, stopped at my intersection and the male driver and female front passenger looked at me curiously, then their van turned left and went up the steep street ahead of me.
I persevered. The first doorway on the right was #10! I nearly passed out from frustration but decided the only thing I could do was continue upward or I would never know if the church was somewhere up there. To my shock, the next doorway was on the left and – wait for it! – it was #1!!! Then came #3 on the left, then #5 and then a cross street and a tiled wall on the left and finally (and hallelujah!) #7 and yes, it was the church! I was overcome with joy and exhaustion and perspiration. Even my hair was dripping wet.
Smooth road at top of steps, near church 6159
The Church, well worth the climb! 6157
The Church’s Sign 6156
Front Entrance of the Church with two Missionaries and two members talking 6154
I went inside the beautiful old building, an entrance that was a landing between two sets of steps. The walls were decorated with beautiful tiles and the staircases had lovely wood and wrought-iron railings. A man who entered behind me and was starting up the steps stopped to talk to me when he saw I was a stranger. He didn’t have much English but said he would take me to someone who could help me, so I followed him upstairs (more stairs!) but these were gentle ones and the walls had lovely blue and white tiles, azuelejos! – on the wallsView of staircases and tile décor, from entry 6150
View up the Stairwell 6151
Closer View of Tiles on Stairway Wall 6152
On the upper level I was introduced to two young male missionaries, both from the US, and they explained that the first meetings were Relief Society (for women), Priesthood Meeting (for men) and Primary (for children); following that were classes, Sunday School for youth and adults and Primary classes for children. The final meeting was Sacrament Meeting, for everyone. I went into the Relief Society room, which had lovely furnishings, and was introduced to a woman who knew a little English. I sat beside her during the meeting. From her I learned, if we communicated well, that the church was formerly a house, an old one that had survived the 1755 earthquake. The Church purchased/rented all but the top floor in about 1976 and served both as the Mission Home (administrative headquarters for the missionaries) and as the church. The Mission Home is now housed elsewhere. Since the beginning, the top floor is used as living space for the man who either owns the building or rents the space from the Church (our communication broke down at that point.) Anyway, the Lisbon 1st Ward has been located there ever since.The next meeting was the Gospel Doctrine Sunday School class, taught by a vibrant and enthusiastic man in his mid-30s. He didn’t speak English but was kind enough to write the scriptural references on the board so I could look them up in my scriptures. After that, we went down to the lowest level for the main meeting. I used my English hymn book and sang the hymns in English but the hymn numbering was different in the Portuguese hymn book they used so I had to look up the titles in the index of mine to locate them. Of interest, one hymn in the English book has three verses and the Portuguese version has five! I stopped and they just kept singing. One of the missionaries sat with me and after each speaker gave me a brief synopsis in English, so I had an idea of what was going on. There was a wonderful, peaceful spirit there and I was very glad I had made the effort to attend. Afterwards, I talked briefly to a few people and for several minutes with the missionaries then went outside to take pictures and walk DOWN the steps! This time I took pictures as I went down the hill.
Tile on Wall beside Church 6158
Road beside Church Leading Down to Stairs 6159
Tiles on Wall 6160
Tile Border on a House 6161
Another Tiled House 6162
Top Flight of Steps and Last Landing 6163
First, Second and Third Flights with Landing (see group of people at bus stop at bottom) 6165
The People at the Bus Stop were Church Members! 6167
The Church members greeted me warmly and shook my hand while they spoke in Portuguese and I spoke in English. The young woman on the far right is Brazilian. The missionaries at church told me that many Brazilians in Lisbon are very receptive to the gospel and many are joining the Church. This young woman is particularly vivacious and outgoing. The older people were shy and more reserved. After talking with them, I started along the street going back toward the museum, taking pictures as I went.Little Shop with Residences above; taken for the wrought-iron railing on balconies 6168
Statue and Fountain in Square 6170
When I got to the museum, I went inside because entrance to most museums is free on Sundays until 2:00 pm. They were having an exhibit about the use of Arabian carpets in Portuguese paintings, which I immersed myself in for a while. The exhibit featured both a painting and the exact real carpet or a similar carpet for each display. It was incredible to notice that particular detail among all the other features of the paintings. I was entranced by the carpets themselves, too, since I had lived among so many during my time in the UAE. Nikki was there viewing that exhibit when I arrived, after three hours of being in the museum. She estimated she would be there another 1-1/2 hours then we parted ways. She likes to devour every aspect of museums. I was like that when I was younger but nowadays I skim through and just spend time with things that really catch my attention. I went to the top level and saw some really wonderful paintings and sculptures by Portuguese painters of the 18th and 19th centuries. The colors were absolutely vivid in the paintings. I left after seeing those exhibits and walked back to the ship, taking a few pictures along the way.The Patricia II, docked in the marina next to the terminal where TSS was berthed 6171
The next day, Nikki and I decided to go to St. Jorge’s Castle. We had been told we could get there on Tram 28 and thought we could catch it at the tram stop nearest the terminal. When we got there, however, we realized that tram didn’t stop there so we perused a map, decided to try the next stop along the street and walked there. It didn’t stop there, either, so we spent a lot of time examining the schedules posted there, with several helpful people trying to help us although they had no English, we had no Portuguese and Nikki also has Spanish so they can understand her but she can’t understand them. We ended up taking a tram to the Parco do Commercial, the central plaza of Lisbon and doing several things there: mailing postcards at the Post Office, going to a money exchange place and a photo developing place for Nikki while I went into a bookstore and bought a few books for TSS. Then we stopped in some shops that sold traditional Portuguese handicrafts and a special Fado music store called Amalia, after the famous Fado singer. Fado is a special and unique type of music sung usually by one person accompanied by a Portuguese guitar and an acoustic guitar. The words and melody are often melancholy but some are lively. Then we had lunch at a tiny outdoor café and contemplated our next move.Part of Entrance to the Post Office (Corer) 6174
Street Light Fixture, Central Plaza 6175
Eventually we pinpointed a bus stop where we could catch a bus to St. Jorge’s Castle and walked there, going uphill to get there. It was Bus #9 that finally got us to the place we had planned on going to in the morning; we arrived about 2:30 pm. It was worth the wait, though. The bus ride itself was an experience. It went through several tiny, narrow, winding streets of Alfama, going higher, ever higher. Finally it stopped at the end of the line, very near the Castle. From there we had to walk up a steep, winding cobblestone street which was mercifully close to the castle entrance. We entered through the gate and were able to get in free by showing our Scholar Ship ID cards and found we were on the top of a hill with fabulous views over all of Lisbon.Two Views of Lisbon from Sao Jorge’s Castle 6176, 6177
Statue on Grounds 6179
Cat on Wall - red tiled roof beyond is a home or shop on the street beyond 6180
Cat on Wall, with back to cameral 2 – ditto 6183
After viewing the fabulous scenery, we went into the inner wall and into a building where a multimedia presentation about the castle and Lisbon was given in four different rooms. The presentations were very high tech but I would have been satisfied with omitting much of the fluff and just seeing the meat of the presentation. Then we walked over to the castle itself, the main building. I took a picture of a diagram of the interior and then we went through the entrance and into the inner courtyard. We walked all around the ground level then sat on a stone bench and rested, gathering strength to climb the stone steps to the ramparts. I had sworn never to climb stares after doing the seven levels of Belem Tower but relented and after adequate rest, tackled the stairs. What a treat was in store! It was really fun walking about on all the levels of the ramparts and seeing the guard towers and views of the surrounding city.Diagram of Castle 6184
Interior Scene (one of my favorite pictures) 6186
Me with highest tower with Flag of Portugal Flying 6188
View of Corner Tower from Opposite Corner 6189
Tower from Below 6190
Entrance to Castle 6191
Me at Entrance to Castle 6192
Detail of Street Lamp Outside Castle (+ vendor) 6193
Castle Cat 6194
Exterior Courtyard within Castle Walls 6195
After seeing our fill of the wonderful castle, we started walking back to the central plaza, going DOWN, DOWN, DOWN. A welcome change of direction! On the way, we found a wonderful blue and white tile mural of Lisbon and Nikki took my picture near it. Then we continued going downward and came to the National Cathedral, which is very old but had some striking features. We went inside and looked around. I was interested in the wrought iron items hanging from the ceiling near the main altar – I think they might be censers - and tried taking a picture of them but it didn’t turn out very well. There were lovely colored lights from the sun shining through the stained glass windows and fell upon the columns, and a nice rose window, also of stained glass. There was a really lovely pieta statue near a table of lighted votive candles. Unfortunately the photo of it is blurry but I’m including anyway. I wish I could go back there and take a good picture of it. Once back outside, I took some shots of the doors (I do love nice doors!) and the exterior before heading back downhill again.Me with Azulejo Mural of Lisbon 6197
The Wrought Iron Items Hanging from Ceiling 6203
Pieta (notice the Madonna’s starry crown; the stars appeared to be on fine filigree wire) 6204
Small Entrance Door – watch your step! 6206
Sign Outside Church – 6207
Entrance, showing Larger and Smaller Doors 6208
Close-up of Doors 6209
Full View of Front 6211
Building on Street just downhill from church 6213
Another Church not far from the other one 6216
Building and stairs to another church (at right) 6214
Street Scene with Lovely Balcony Rails 6215
Just across the street from the church, where I stood to take the photo, was a wonderful little souvenir shop that was offering special prices on Lisbon t-shirts. We couldn’t resist so we went inside and bought several items as gifts, including some tiles and t-shirts. I got a birthday present for my oldest grandchild, Jayde, whose birthday will be October 2 (or 3??). What a bargain! We continued walking downhill until we reached the area of the central plaza. There, behind the famous Arch, we found a street fair with vendors displaying their wares. By this time, I had little money left so I didn’t even stop to look at what was on offer but it was fun to walk through it. Then we took a bus to the new terminal where TSS had moved during the late afternoon.Street Market 6219
Back of Arch with view of statue in central plaza beyond 6221
Close-up of Street Market 6222
Front of Arch, taken from central plaza 6223
Elephant Detail on Statue in Center of Plaza 6225
Statue from Front 6226
Close-up of Statue 6227
Statue with Arch Behind 6229
The next day, my goal was to mail Jayde’s birthday gift. It turned out that Nikki was planning to go to an Internet Café early that morning and I decided to go with her in order to post to my blog and catch up on email. She had located one on a map of the Alfama area that was within walking distance. It turned out to be entirely uphill, a sharply angled, tight turning uphill trudge on cobblestone streets. I was almost done in by it but enjoyed being in the Alfama area and seeing the wonderful buildings and traditional decorations. It is the area of Lisbon that was originally inhabited by the Moors and shows many influences of Islamic architecture and designs. After working on the Internet for over an hour, Nikki went back to the ship and I headed west, going downhill and aiming for the central plaza, where the post office was located. Imagine my surprise when I turned a corner and there before me was the Fado Museum! I had read about it and thought it would be interesting to visit it but didn’t know exactly where it was or how to get to it, and there it was! I didn’t go in at that time, however; I wanted to mail Jayde’s gift first to be sure I had enough money for that. As it was, I needed to go to a money exchange agent and trade off some of my dollars for Euros (not a good exchange rate!) and as it was, it took almost all of it to send the package, but that included the price of a padded international mailing envelope. I did have 3 Euros to spare, however, so I trudged back to the Fado Museum and visited it. Very interesting and revealing about the traditional music of Portugal, Fado, it was very modern and high tech. A true and devoted fan of Fado would have been in heaven. As it was, I spent about an hour there and that was enough for me. I’m glad I went, though. I took quite a lot of photos and accidentally came upon the famous Pincushion building I’d read about but didn’t know the location of. It was quite a serendipitous experience.Building in Alfama 6231
Detail of Door Design 6232
Narrow Street Stairs in Alfama 6233
Entrance to another Interesting Street in Alfama 6234
Great Looking Door in Alfama 6235
Tile Wall and Balcony Rail in Alfama 6236
Street Scene in Alfama near Central Plaza 6237
Detail of Emblem on Wall beside Location in Above Photo 6238
Wall Tiles 6239
Red Building 6240
Living Quarters beside and above Archway over Street 6241
Another View 6242
Door 6243
Wall Tiles 6245
Street Scene 6246
Famous Pincushion Building 6247
Blue Building with Blue Tiles 6248
Back once again to the new terminal, I saw that TSS had rolled out a bigger and better gangway and attached a welcome sign to it. That will be the last photo in this posting.TSS in New Berth with New Gangway and Welcome Sign 5249
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