Iberia Day 2.10: Miscellany
These are just a few more random things from today in Lisbon.
Day: April 10, 2026
Iberia Day 2.9: Sardines
Sardines are a thing in Portugal, a culinary icon of the country. In Lisbon, you’ll see the fishes represented in tourist shops next to shot glasses, tiles, and a particular rooster. (More about the rooster in later posts.) In fact, at the Lisbon airport, there is a sardine throne. A …
Iberia Day 2.8: Electric Votives
Back when I lived for a very, very short while in Spain, I was housed only a couple blocks from the grand cathedral of Toledo. 25 years ago, there was something I saw in the cathedral that I’d never seen before: a wooden table/box with lines of light bulbs on …
Iberia Day 2.7: Mosaic Sidewalks
I wrote yesterday a little about the unusual sidewalks in Lisbon. Today, I have better photos. The sidewalks in the older parts of Lisbon are made entirely of hand-hewn and hand-placed bricks. This started after the earthquake of 1755. During reconstruction, someone realized that it would be nice to honor …
Iberia Day 2.6: The World’s Oldest Bookstore
Tucked into the heart of Lisbon is Livraria Bertrand. It is a bookstore, which is already great, but what makes it truly special is that it is the oldest operating bookstore in the world. Established in 1732, the business even survived the great Lisbon earthquake of 1755, though not in …
Iberia Day 2.5: Carmo Archaeological Museum
In today’s hunt for archaeology fun, we continued onward (and uphill) to the Carmo Archaeological Museum, which is built inside the former Carmo Convent, which ceased to be with the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. Friends, I was not prepared. See, the convent collapsed during the earthquake, and was never repaired. Eventually, …
Iberia Day 2.4: Museu do Teatro Romano
We were thus far today stymied in finding Roman ruins to oggle, so our next visit needed to be surefire: a museum featuring an excavated Roman amphitheater. Once we climbed up enough hills to reach the place, I was pleasantly surprised that you can just walk into the main dig …
Iberia Day 2.3: Church of Saint Anthony of Lisbon
As we walked out of Lisbon Cathedral, we walked about about half a block before we encountered the Church of Saint Anthony. Fes remarked, “Who puts a church in front of another church?” The answer is Lisbon, apparently. This church is free to visit. There are only a few rooms …
Iberia Day 2.2: The Very Good Dogs of Lisbon Cathedral
A few years ago, I visited Amsterdam, home of the astounding Rijksmuseum. I soon discovered while perusing the massive art collection that the Dutch really, really, really love dogs. An astonishing amount of the art contained at least one dog. I realized I could engage with the art in a …
Iberia Day 2.1: Lisbon Cathedral
The Lisbon Cathedral is the oldest church in the city and is a National Monument. It has survived earthquakes, a slew of different governments, and tourism. The year of its birth, 1147, was the year that the Christians seized control of Lisbon from the Moors during the Second Crusade. It …
