Happy Holidays from Lisbon!

Before the holidays, we did a few nice walks in the older parts of town, starting with the Castelo de São Jorge. 

The castle hill has always been used for defense, even back to Celtic and Roman times. The fortress has been renovated and added to many times over the ages, but the Lisbon earthquake in 1755 left much of it in ruins. Extensive renovations were done in the 1930's by the Salazar regime, and now the castle has regained some of its former glory, with square towers and crenellated ramparts worthy of a Monty Python and the Holy Grail re-enactment.

From the castle hill, it was a steep downhill walk into the heart of the Alfama district. This is the oldest quarter of Lisbon and many buildings in this section survived the 1755 earthquake. The twisty streets hold some surprises -- you'll be walking along and suddenly come out on a beautiful viewpoint/miradouro. Or you will come out of a narrow alley onto a large open square like this one on the Rua São João da Praça. Alfama was a charming neighborhood to get lost in!

From the Alfama district, we headed across the lower town (Baixa district) and up into Chiado, which is an upscale neighborhood on the western side of the city center. This is the Rua Garrett, a wide avenue that turns into a pedestrian-only shopping area.

Up the hill from the Rua Garrett is what's left of the Carmo Convent. The earthquake destroyed the convent ceiling leaving only the side walls and the ribs of the vaults. It is now a museum that of course happened to be closed on the day we took our walk. So we stopped for a rest in the beautiful and peaceful Largo do Carmo instead.

Continuing up the hill, we visited the Igreja de São Roque, one of the first Jesuit churches in the world. It's very unique-looking inside -- the ceiling is painted in a style called Trompe-l'oeil -- an attempt to fool you into thinking that the church is topped by stone arches and domes instead of flat wooden panels.

Since it's the holiday week, I should mention that just below our apartment in the Parque Eduardo VII there is a Christmas fair, called Wonderland Lisboa. We can see it from our balcony, especially at night with all the bright lights.

We actually went there several times during our stay in Lisbon, since it was so close by. It was free to go inside, but we did need to show proof of Covid vaccination at the gate.

Most of the venue was dedicated to food vendors and craft stalls, and for fun there was an ice-skating rink and a ferris wheel, plus plenty of instagram-worthy photo ops.

It was a festive place to have a meal outdoors and watch the lights come up as darkness fell.

On a different night we walked down into the old town to see the Christmas lights there. That night just so happened to be the night of the Corrida de São Silvestre -- a 10K road race through the heart of town.

A large Christmas market was set up in the Praça do Rossio just in front of the National Theater.

On the Rua Augusta we heard singing and music, so we stopped to watch this band of students perform traditional songs and dances. We have seen other such bands throughout Portugal. The bands are called "Tunas" and they have a long history dating back to the 13th century -- it used to be a way for students to earn money to support themselves in their studies. It seems like now they do it more for fun, although they do pass the hat for donations. This "Tuna" was one of the largest groups we've seen, playing a variety of traditional musical instruments. The students were from the Nova School of Business and Economics and their band was cleverly named "Tuna Fortuna".

The Praça do Comércio was also beautifully decorated for the holiday, with a towering Christmas tree and lights outlining every window in the square.

Here's wishing everyone a Feliz Ano Novo, Happy New Year!