Our last day in Lisbon was a day of morning rainbows and cold winds shoving aside the black clouds. It was a day of walking past Museu Sāo Roque and down the steep graffiti-lined hill, Calçada da Glória, dodging the clanking funicular Elevador da Glória. It was a day of hopping on and hopping off the double-decker red City Sightseeing Portugal bus.
Huddled together against the wind on the upper deck, we drove past Praça do Marquês de Pombal, an important roundabout between Avenida da Liberdade and the Eduardo VII Park, where the Marquis of Pombal, a powerful prime-minister who ruled Portugal from 1750 to 1777, was planted grandly on a pedestal with a lion. The Marquês gazed toward the area of Lisbon that was rebuilt under his direction after the disastrous 1755 Lisbon earthquake, probably thinking about the destruction he had witnessed.
We drove past the Campo Pequeno Bullring, built in the neo-Mudéjar style, a Romantic style inspired by old Arab architecture from Iberia. A woman told us over our earphones that the Portuguese don’t kill the bulls as they do in Spain.
We made it past Lisbon’s prison, Estabelecimento Prisional de Lisboa, without getting locked up. It was hard to imagine what it would be like to be held captive for a lifetime. We then took a turn through the modern part of the city.
We moseyed past the azulejo-decorated Aqueduto das Águas Livres, or “Aqueduct of the Free Waters,” a 109-arch historic aqueduct in Lisbon. Built between 1728 and 1835 by order of Dom João V to bring Lisbon its first drinking water, it is a remarkable example of 18th-century Portuguese engineering. It is also the site where 19th-century mass murderer Diogo Alves pushed victims over the edge. The aqueduct was closed to the public soon after.

view from Pensāo Londres

view from Pensāo Londres

Museu Sāo Roque in Lisbon

Praça do Marquês de Pombal

colorful Lisbon

Lisbon café

Campo Pequeno Bullring

Estabelecimento Prisional de Lisboa

modern Lisbon

Aqueduto das Águas Livres

Lisbon
We hopped off the bus near the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Manueline Mosteiro dos Jerónimos and the whimsical Torre de Belém. Sadly we found the museums housed in the Mosteiro, the Museu Nacional de Arqueologia and the Museu da Marinha (Naval Museum), were closed on Mondays, as it seems so many European museums are. We should have known! Mike didn’t want to stand in line for the Torre de Belém. That was fine by me, as I’d seen it on my first trip.
We walked around the Praça do Imperio, where we encountered a statue of horses and enjoyed the serenity of the botanical gardens.
We stopped to admire the 52-meter tall limestone Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Discoveries Monument) on the northern bank of the Tagus River estuary, where ships departed to explore and trade with India and the Orient. The monument celebrates the Portuguese Age of Discovery (or Age of Exploration) during the 15th and 16th centuries. It was built in 1960 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the death of Prince Henry the Navigator. At its prow is Henry the Navigator, while behind him stand the greats of the day: Vasco da Gama, Diogo Cão, Fernão de Magalhães, and 29 others.
After our wanderings, we hopped back on the City Sightseeing bus.

Mosteiro dos Jerónimos

Mosteiro dos Jerónimos

Mosteiro dos Jerónimos

Museu da Marinha at Mosteiro dos Jerónimos

statue of horses in Praça do Imperio

Praça do Imperio and Mosteiro dos Jerónimos

Padrão dos Descobrimentos
We hopped off in Lisbon proper, where we stopped for lunch at Adega Portuguesa, a pleasant little restaurant. Over lunch, we debated whether to go to the seaside resort of Cascais, but ultimately, after dropping by the train station, we decided not to go.
Instead, we hopped back on the hop-on hop-off bus and continued the tour up through the waterfront Parque das Nações, with its modernistic edifices, public art installations, riverfront cafes, and gardens.
Surprisingly, I found myself coming full circle to where I started my Camino (on journey: launching my camino), at the Gare do Oriente, the space-age train station designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. Its slender columns fan out into a concertina roof to create a kind of glass forest.
I also came face to face, once again, with the Torre Vasco da Gama, a 145-meter high concrete and steel structure, shaped like the sail of Vasco da Gama’s caravel, a small, highly maneuverable sailing ship developed in the 15th century by the Portuguese to explore along the West African coast and into the Atlantic Ocean. The memorial to the famous explorer brought me home to my own adventurous spirit, the spirit that had brought me across the Atlantic to walk over 800km across northern Spain.
Coming back to the beginning of my journey proved the notion that life is a circle, that life offers many deaths and renewals, that the human spirit is born and dies, and something new arises in its place. Nature bursts forth with beauty, the beauty fades and is replaced with more beauty. I felt that this was the journey of my Camino, and our subsequent trip to Portugal. I learned to appreciate that life has ups and downs, and that life is not a straight line but one of being born, dying and and being renewed.
The bus returned to Avenida da Liberdade, and finally deposited us back where we started our tour in the morning, again creating another circle within a circle.

Lisbon trams

colorful Lisbon

street art on the way to Parque das Nações

Gare do Oriente

Torre Vasco da Gama

park along Avenida da Liberdade
We made our way back up to our neighborhood, stopping into a rather upscale cafe, where we enjoyed cake and Port and entertained ourselves with our reflections in the mirrors.

Chiado

Chiado

park in Chiado

laundry in Chiado

a fancy cafe in Chiado
Back in Principe Real, we stopped into my favorite shop, LostIn, where I did a little scarf shopping.
We topped off our day with a lovely dinner at LostIn, where we enjoyed our final glimpses of Lisbon’s city lights. My long journey had come to an end, but I wondered what new might arise from the long road I had walked.
*Monday, November 5, 2018*
*10,063 steps, or 4.26 miles*
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“PROSE” INVITATION: I invite you to write up to a post on your own blog about a recently visited particular destination (not journeys in general). Concentrate on any intention you set for your prose. One of my intentions was to use five random verbs in my travel essay each day: 1) prove, 2) plant, 3) think, 4) entertain, and 5) imagine. √
It doesn’t matter whether you write fiction or non-fiction for this invitation. You can either set your own writing intentions, or use one of the prompts I’ve listed on this page: writing prompts: prose. (This page is a work in process.) You can also include photos, of course.
Include the link in the comments below by Monday, November 11 at 1:00 p.m. EST. When I write my post in response to this invitation on Tuesday, November 12, I’ll include your links in that post.
This will be an ongoing invitation. Feel free to jump in at any time. 🙂
I hope you’ll join in our community. I look forward to reading your posts!
Not more scarves, Cathy! 🙂 🙂 Good thing they don’t weigh much. I enjoyed riding around Lisbon with you. It’s Lisa’s last day today and we’ll be winding down after so much excitement. Take care, hon!
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Mike says the same thing, Jo! I know I have a scarf addiction problem. 🙂 I’m glad you had an exciting visit with Lisa. Sometimes it can be exhausting having guests, even if it is your loved ones, so once you have peace and quiet back it feels nice!
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Just home from the airport run and feet up 🙂 🙂
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Ahhh. Rest and relaxation. Cheers, Jo! 🙂
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Yes, unfortunately, more scarves. I am contemplating establishing a new 12 step program, SA – scarfers anonymous, targeted at curing this addiction!
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Maybe there is already such a self-help group! 🙂
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I think I would love you, Michael Dutchak! Some day our paths must cross. 🙂 :0
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Thanks for the wonderful tour! The modern Lisbon (glass building) looks a bit out of place but it is still beautiful. 😊
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It’s always strange to go into these old European cities and find out-of-place modernity. But I guess change is always inevitable. Thank you for coming along, Irene. 🙂
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You are welcome. 😁
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Lisbon has always been on my bucket list but you may have moved it up the line! Great photos and narrative. Thanks!
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Thanks so much, Tina. This was my second time in Lisbon; I really enjoyed it both times but I don’t think I’d go back again. Too many other places to see in the world. 🙂
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[…] Thanks and credit to Lewis Carroll for taking us to a Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. And thanks to Wander Essence for the inspiration and the reminder that I like to write about my travels! […]
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You inspired me! Thanks.
https://tinastewartbrakebill.com/2019/10/22/lightner-museum-in-st-augustine-through-the-looking-glass-and-into-a-wonderland/
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I’m so glad I inspired you! You did the same for me by reminding me of my own writing prompts of intermingling a book or quotes with a travel post. 🙂
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Aaah, Lisbon! I only had a fleeting visit, but I loved it…..and have to return one day
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I hope you can do it, Sue. There are so many hills there. The hop-on hop-off bus saved us a lot of climbing! 🙂
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Hmm, but I’m not up to hopping on and off these days!!
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I’m sure there are many other ways to visit, Sue. I hope you can do it, since you have the dream to do so. 🙂
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Thanks!
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Thanks for the tour
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Thank you for coming along, Alice. I’m glad you enjoyed it. 😊
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Hello from another scarf buyer though I’m not quite an addict yet 😊 We enjoyed Lisbon twice and I loved seeing it again via your post.
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I don’t know exactly what you’d call an addict, Suzanne, but I know I do have trouble controlling myself where textiles of any type are concerned! I’m glad you enjoyed seeing Lisbon again through this post. Thanks for coming along! 🙂
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Cathy, there are healthy addictions and I did enjoy the trip with you 🙂
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I loved your thoughts on coming full circle. That must have been very satisfying.
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Thanks so much, Anabel. I thought it was so strange to end up back at that unfamiliar spot in Lisbon. I’d never been to that area near the train station except those two times, when I embarked on the Camino, and right before returning home. 🙂
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So many beautiful buildings in your photos, Cathy. You must have spent much of the time looking upwards. Your dessert in the last photo looks delicious.
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Luckily our last day was a beautiful day, unlike many of our other days in Portugal which were mostly gloomy! Since we were on the top deck of the double-decker bus, I guess we were mostly seeing the tops of buildings! That dessert was delicious. 🙂
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