Our Lisbon Stay
Our stay in Lisbon was on a municipal site in the middle of a city, albeit surrounded by parkland, it was also surrounded by main roads. Buses, motorbikes, cars, ambulances and fire engines, as well as Easyjet and Ryanair planes overhead, all adding to the bustling noisy ambience. Travel into the city was quick, easy and cheap, and we revisited some parts of the city that we felt we had missed out on during our weekend visit last year.
We were not far from an area called Belem, the port from where Vasco da Gama set off to explore the world. Belem is on the banks of the River Tagus and is also home to the Presidents Palace, several Museums and the original bakery that approximately 150 years ago, created the local patisserie delicacy called Pastel de Nata; egg tart to you and me. We also visited the monument erected to celebrate the Age of Discovery and Exploration during the 15th and 16th centuries; standing 164 feet tall and jutting out over the Tagus, it is certainly impressive. We didn’t have time to join the queue to look out over the top, sadly!
We spent a few hours in one of the many churches in the city, and wondered at it’s beauty. Recently churches in Portugal have become very plain and boring, this one was not. We also took the 120 steps up a circular stairwell to the rooftop and enjoyed the views.
Front of the church.
A panoramic view of the nave and two alcoves.
A view from a walkway around the nave.
Views from the rooftop! No sign of Health & Safety here!! 
We found another church, nearer to the Castle, that was just as beautiful.
We revisited the main Praco de Commercial (commercial Square) – the next two images were taken from the same Bell Tower but 18 months apart. In August 2016 it was about to hold a nightly laser lights show, this year it was home to the Eurovision Village, live performances from musicians, as well as live screenings of the semi finals and finals on Saturday night. The town was overflowing with gaily dressed men and women wrapped in their country flags; most people were singing along to music and enjoying the sunshine.
Praca Commercial in 2018
Praca Commercial 2016.
At 8,30pm, on Saturday night, this was one of the queues to get into the Eurovision village!
We visited the Fado museum, housed in an old water pumping station, but was very disappointed; we didnt realise the time was 5.15pm when we entered and we had only been around 1/5th of the venue when an usher advised us that they were closing in 5 minutes, at 6pm!! So we know very little more about Fado than we did last year! Several hours were spent in and around Fado bars in the evening, listening to the soulful music before we decided that we prefer the Spanish equivalent flamenco! Fado is dour, soulful, poems about sadness, loss of love and life, and about the heart, singers wear black and grey clothing. Flamenco also sings about these themes but its the dancing and clothing that makes a difference, it adds colour and adds to the vibrancy and excitement.
The epitome of Fado……I love this painting.
A square right outside the Fado museum.
On the night of Eurovision, there was a parade of classic cars through the town; 130 vehicles were on a rally, from Germany not sure where to. 
We took a drive out to a town called Cascais, just along from Estoril, home to the famous Formula 1 Portuguese racetrack, used between 1950 to the last race in 1996. The Autodromo is outside the city but the remaining effects of the one week circus was obvious, Rolex shops, Casinos, sea front restaurants, large seafront hotels and even larger seafront villas. Cascais is a holiday resort popular with cruise ship visitors (after their trip to Sintra – more on this another day) so the town is heaving with Italian and Indian restaurants, souvenier shops and designer clothing shops.
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