PORTUGAL TOURS
This description of Lisbon and surroundings (Sintra, Estoril, Cascais, Sesimbra) was made to accompany the movie we made. Since the movie is accompanied by typical sounds like environmental sounds, Portuguese talking, birds, animals, music, etc, we didn’t want to spoil the sound and the explanation goes apart. Enjoy it.
Index:
TRANSPORTATION
1-Transportation (ferry boats)
1.1-Transportation (ferry boats: the harbor)
2-Transportation (double-deckers)
3-Transportation (Santa Justa elevator)
4-Transportation (funiculars)
5-Transportation (trams)
LISBON PARADES
1-Lisbon parades (Saint Anthony feasts)
2-Lisbon parades (change of the National Republican Guard)
TRANSPORTATION
1-Transportation (ferry boats)
There are long and short trips we can take on the river, depending on the kind of boat we chose. Most of them take between 15 and 30 minutes but if we take a tourist boat they can take more than 2 hours.
There are fast boats here, but we are taking a ferry, something that Lisboans got used to a long time ago. It was the only way to cross the river before the 1960’s, when the first bridge was built. Commuters come to work in Lisbon early in the morning. Thousands of people arrive to Lisbon every day by ferry. They come with the sunrise early in the morning, even when its foggy, and nobody think of the nostalgia of the past history of sailors. Portuguese are hardworking people, although the inhabitants of Lisbon are known as the lettuce eaters. A name that is often related to the peaceful and friendly manners of this people that can be connected to the quietness of the estuary.
The promenade is an unforgettable one. It doesn’t look like we are on a river. Although the ocean tides arrive here and most of the water comes from the ocean, there are no waves and we enjoy a pleasant tour, watching Lisbon from the river like sailors used to do in the past from the caravels.
Tagus River used to be navigable for some 30 km further up where boats went to load cereals, thus giving the name to the mouth, the straw sea, which can also be related to the golden reflections of the water. This river comes from Spain, like most of the big rivers in Portugal, and although it had a different course in the past, it will remain for a long time like a brooch of the history of Lisbon…
1.1-Transportation (ferry boats: the harbor)
The harbor of Lisbon, more than 20km long, already a stop for maritime people like Phoenicians, Greeks and Carthaginians, thousands of years ago, is now close to all routes of big vessels crossing North Atlantic. It was the busiest in the world during the Portuguese discoveries and an important site for all Portuguese boats coming and going to the former Portuguese colonies.
2-Transportation (double-deckers)
Well, we are going back onto dry land. We could take a carriage, but for the moment we are taking a double-decker, a kind of bus that used to abound in Lisbon in the 3rd quarter of the 20-century as a regular mean of transportation for the locals. They are now tourist buses and they run all year round. We can take them both in the summer and winter, due to the nice and mild climate of Lisbon.
In fact, the temperature never falls below zero, and the summer is always freshened by cool breezes of the ocean. It’s when we breathe the good smell of the sea, in this arborous city with green even in the winter.
We have several means of transportation doing dozens of different tours in Lisbon, every day, without exceptions. We then realize how vast and charming this city is. Because of the inexistence of skyscrapers this city hasn’t so many crowded places like other capitals, and its ample and extensive.
We enjoy the nice maritime breeze of the ocean and the river, in a capital that is definitely not smoggy as other capitals, but often cooled and cleaned by the natural clouds coming from the Atlantic.
Although big buses can not go through the crooked and narrow streets of the ancient town, which is mostly located near the river, we can take a glimpse at them and compare how Lisbon has evolved lately, with the white limestone of ancient monuments and soft colors of previous periods often giving place to gaily colors and conceptual shapes of current architecture.
3-Transportation (Santa Justa elevator)
We are changing again the transport to a more standing one. It means the elevator built by the school of Eiffel in the end of the 19-century. It connects downtown with a hill and from the top we have a nice view.
It is now almost but not all obsolete for the inhabitants as the main clients are now tourists. As it stands in the middle of the shopping area is always running, giving an antique look to this already elderly section, with its familiar art nouveau style, similar to other constructions in Portugal.
4-Transportation (funiculars)
For the hills, we have another ride: funiculars. Sometimes it’s not easy to go up the hills walking and we take a funicular. The result is always a nice view from the top. They go through the narrow streets to reach the peak and when one is going up, the other one is going down, because in the past, the weight of the one going down pulled the other going up.
You can also take the funicular to go down, but as the Portuguese say “all saints help to go down”.
5-Transportation (trams)
We change again but we keep in the same family. Now we take a tram, another typical ride in Lisbon.
These trams were never eradicated in this city and in fact we even have new ones here. They don’t pollute and they are safe. Yes, they almost never have an accident.
We have the big and modern ones for the long and wide avenues and we have these old ones for the ancient part of the town.
This ancient, tram, is the only way to go to the old section of the city, through the narrow streets, some of them so narrow, that only this cozy and little tram can handle.
The old trams were first made by the enterprise making those of San Francisco. Because they run with electricity, the Lisboans often call them “electricos”.
Sometimes the street is so narrow that there is even only room for one. So, it has to wait for the other to get through before diving ahead, in the adventure of another thin street…
LISBON PARADES
1-Lisbon parades (Saint Anthony feasts)
They take place on the eve of 13th of June every year. It’s the day of Saint Anthony, who was born in Lisbon. Actually, in June there are the feasts of the so-called popular saints of Portugal, which are Saint Anthony, Saint John and Saint Peter. The most important is Saint Anthony. Each quarter makes a procession and they are more than 20. The celebration goes on all night long…
2-Lisbon parades (change of the National Republican Guard)
We have another spectacular show in Lisbon, which is the change of the National Republican Guard in front of the Presidential palace. We have it every month.
This guard is connected to the Portuguese Republic, which exists since 1910, after the end of the monarchy.