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Let’s get down to it: Lisbon has excellent food. Everything I’ve eaten thus far has been a delight. Everywhere you go here, there are restaurants of every nationality next to Portuguese fare. There are obscene numbers of cafes and gelato shops. The waterfront has unbroken rows of seafood […]

One of the most iconic sights of Lisbon is the Rua Augusta Arch, a massive triumphal arch that faces the river on one side and a large promenade of shops on the other. Thousands of people buzz around the place at all times, shopping, eating at restaurants, and watching buskers. … Continue […]

I’ve long believed in visiting flea markets and thrift stores during travel. There are few better ways to really know a place than by digging through its junk. Thus, when I learned that there was a flea market in Lisbon every Saturday and Tuesday, I knew exactly what I was … Continue reading […]

Today, I slept unexpectedly late, coming to life around 11am. This cut our Lisbon adventures of the day considerably, as many of the museums and tourist sights close around 5pm. But it was a lovely (and windy) day, so we quickly put ourselves together and did as much as we … Continue reading The […]

I was talking in previous posts about finding layers of history in these very old cities in Europe, where foundations have been built on other foundations for thousands of years. In our search for archaeology sights in Lisbon, we found a very modern hotel that had incorporated the former Roman … […]

These are just a few more random things from today in Lisbon. Continue reading The post Iberia Day 2.10: Miscellany appeared first on Tin Lizard Productions.

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 … […]

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 … Continue reading The post Iberia […]

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 […]

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 … […]

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 […]

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 … Continue reading […]

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 … Continue […]

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 … […]

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 … […]

Continue reading The post Iberia Day 1.7: Miscellany appeared first on Tin Lizard Productions.

The Monument of the Discoveries is an astonishingly cool building/sculpture on the Tagus river near the Torre de Belem. It is a massive, 180-foot limestone construction, depicting a parade of navigators, scientists, and other Portuguese notables crowding toward what looks like the prow of a ship, […]

If you’ve played Civilization VI, you have probably tried to build the Torre de Belem. I am ashamed to say that I wanted to see the real deal as soon as I was in Lisbon because I am a Civ addict. But here I am, at the real Torre de … Continue reading The post Iberia Day 1.5: Torre de Belem […]

Pasteis de nata are a thing everyone tells you that you MUST eat while in Lisbon. Usually, there is no explanation of what pasteis de nata actually is. You just need to eat it. Our tuk tuk guide veered off the street en route to the Torre de Belem and … Continue reading The post Iberia Day 1.4: […]

The city of Lisbon dates back to the Phoenicians, making it one of the oldest cities in Europe, with an age of about 3,200 years of continuous occupation. Its location upon an estuary, near the mouth of the Mediterranean, within a natural harbor made it perfect for shipping networks. The … […]