Portugal Part 2

We continue with Portugal. That first day we spent half of it in Sintra and then by evening we were walking around Lisbon again. Near our hotel we had a great view of the city (seen above). In distance is St. Jorge's Castle can be seen with all of Lisbon unfolding below (the sea is to the right, although not visible here).

The nightlife in Lisbon is really great and we walked from place to place looking for "Fado" -the famous music/singing in Portugal. We ended up going to a fun little place to watch the Real Madrid soccer game and afterwards realized that all of the Fado places were not going to open until really late (and we were tired so we checked in early). 

Day 2 in Portugal we devoted to Belem, a small town on the outskirts of Lisbon. It is renowned for the Monastery of "Dos Jeronimos" -above. It is huge and really majestic, and home to the tombs of famous people (like Vasco de Gama).

It was a lovely sunny day and we enjoyed just walking around Belem.

Here we are in front of the Torre de Belem, a famous old historic lookout.

Belem is also home to a beautiful monument - a tribute to the first explorers of Portugal. As you can see from the picture to the left it is pretty colossal and we were able to take an elevator to the top.

Here I am at the top of that monument, where you can see the April 25th Bridge -which is identical to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

I love this shot by Fede. The texture on the water and the lily pad is incredible.

The Monastery of Dos Jeronimos is what you see in the background of these pictures.

In the afternoon we went to the Lisbon Aquarium (see in the picture to the right) which was a really fun time (especially seeing the sea otters).

This northeastern part of Lisbon contrasts greatly with the historical center, as everything is new and modern and sleek. 

Our final destination was Cascais, another 30 minutes to the west of Lisbon. This little beach town was the ideal place to wind down and relax. The water was incredibly cold, but Martha managed to get in (Fede decided to skip the pain and nap on the beach!). The town was full of personality and color and we just loved walking through the little streets. Dinner materialized in an outdoor cafe with terrific live music.

The final day we managed to squeeze in an early morning walk down the beach and were prized by the discovery of this tremendous sandcastle!! Next up: Valencia.