We kicked around several possibilities for today – going back to Sintra, exploring the beach town Cascais, or puttering around Lisbon. We settled on Lisbon, to finish up the couple of remaining sites we had not yet seen.

After breakfast, we ran back home to get umbrellas since it was spitting occasional rain, and then we walked along a new (to us) road to go to the cathedral here. Along the way, I needed a bathroom, and we ran across a free archaeology museum that had restrooms. The museum was only one floor, but was interesting and well presented. It focused on the remains of the Roman wall of the city and the buildings that had been built along it, which turned out to be mostly for processing fish and fish oils. The ruins were encased in glass, so we were able to walk over them and look down on them. Great little place, especially for free.

We made it up to the cathedral, which is an impressive medieval church built like a twin-towered fortress. It is massive and solid, and it survived the 1755 earthquake and is still in use. St. Anthony (of Padua, where he died) was born near this church and was baptized there. It is simple stone inside, with only a few paintings. There are three brilliant stained glass rose windows. The church excels in impressing the weight of history and worship onto you.

To save wear and tear on week-long-stressed knees, we took the small bus from near the cathedral up to the castle, which dominates the high point of the town. It is huge, with multiple walls, including the inner keep, which had multiple gates and intact ramparts. The castle was built by the Moors around 900, and was conquered by the soon-to-be Portuguese king around 1150. One of the famous heroes of Lisbon threw himself into a closing gate and used his dying body to keep the gate open so the castle could be stormed.

The views from the castle are great from every angle. We got to see the entire city and finally put it together in our heads, resulting in our laughing at how close some of the major squares are, when we had been thinking of them as very separate places. That is the the result of piecing the city together from meandering trolley rides. We got to walk along many of the tops of the walls all around the place. It continued to sprinkle on and off, but never to the point of discomfort.

We walked back down toward town, stopping in at a very cool art shop that seemed to be featuring creche (nativity) sets. Some were very moving in execution or simplicity; others were strangely whimsical. The shop itself was in an interesting space, with a rocky floor and a brick roof. Of course, my favorite works were over $1,200 and $800 each. I always seem to pick out the expensive ones.

Lunch was inside because of the rain, but it had cleared up by the time we finished. We walked home and rested for an hour before heading out for our final evening on the town. It was mellow – we walked up to the iron tower elevator (near the ruins of the convent) and took the elevator down, where we walked through a couple of squares to look for the market set up in one of the squares. We found it, and it was the same as two days ago, so we went back up to the convent area and had supper in a square facing one side of the convent. It was a pretty place to eat, and then we went home.

Lisbon treated us well, and we enjoyed the city very much. It is walk-able, interesting, and people-friendly, and we are thankful indeed to have been here this week.