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Portugal’s capital has always taken a backseat to many other cities in Europe. Travel, however, has become more commonplace and a trip to Europe is becoming the norm for many. Years ago, most people took a trip (or sometimes two) of a lifetime and visited as many of the main European cities as they could fit into their itineraries.
Now, savvy travelers want bragging rights…
“I’ve been there…have you?”
Portugal is quickly becoming the country that travelers want to brag about. Plus, with its affordability, it is easily attainable.
If you’ve scheduled your trip to Portugal’s capital, then make sure to fit in all that you can while visiting.
Besides its many landmarks, all worth visiting, there are many other things throughout the city that tourists can not miss.
Here are three that I recommend.
Take a tram or a tuk tuk. Some cities have modes of transportation that everyone relates to the city…think, London’s double-decker buses. Lisbon has its trams. The most popular is Tram 28 which takes tourists on a route from Martim Moniz to Campo Ourique, passing through the neighborhoods of Graça, Baixa and Bairro Alto, and near popular attractions, such as St. George’s Castle and Alfama. Many of the trams used within the city were also used in World War II, so in addition to seeing what the city has to offer, you are riding on a piece of history. Expect long waits and crowded cars due to the tram’s popularity, but enjoy the ride up the steep Alfama hill…your feet will thank you!
You will also notice many tuk tuks throughout the city. A common and cheap mode of transportation in Asia, the tuk tuk was introduced to Portugal a few years ago. Popular with tourists, for their availability and for their ease of travel through the narrow streets, you can find them outside of most attractions. Beware, however…the price you pay in Asia is not what you pay in Lisbon.
Enjoy the view. There are many overlooks throughout the city. For the most breathtaking views, head over to the Elevador de Santa Justa, an historic attraction that connects the lower streets of the Baixa with the higher Largo do Carmo. Built in the 19th century and the only remaining vertical lift, it provides an invaluable service by eliminating the steep climb up Carmo Hill.
Largo das Portas do Sol is an original Moorish gateway offering stunning angles over Alfama’s red rooftops and pastel colored houses bordering the Rio Tejo.
Located conveniently near the Cathedral de Se and Castelo Saõ Jorge is Miradouro de Santa Luzia. A popular observation deck with a pergola that presents dramatic views of the city and the river.
Miradouro da Graça is situated on the hill of Santo André and overlooks many old neighborhoods like Mouraria, Alfama, the downtown area, Castelo Saõ Jorge, the river and 25th April Bridge. Here, you can enjoy a drink in the esplanade facing Lisbon’s roofs and try to identify the many monuments and landmarks below. If Tram 28 is too crowded, catch bus 712 (Marquês de Pombal) or 726 and disembark at Sapadores for a short walk.
Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara provides views over to the castle and a little market offering nice souvenirs and food and beer stalls. It is easy to access on foot from Bairro Alto or from Rossio below via the Ascensor da Gloria.
Have a treasure hunt. So, not really in the sense you may be thinking. Portuguese tiles, or azulegos, were introduced during Moorish times and adorn dozens of buildings throughout the city. Be on the lookout for these vibrant decorations, especially in the neighborhoods of Alfama, Chiado and Cais do Sodré. If you don’t feel like seeking these tiles out on your own and would like to inspect them at a closer distance, head out to the Museu Nacional Do Azulejo which is filled with tiles of all colors and sizes, some dating back to the 15th century. If discovering how these tiles are made is what you are after, you can also learn about the process here. If money is no object, you can book at stay at the Palácio Belmonte or Palácio Ramalhete, where you will find interior walls covered in these amazing pieces of art.
With so much to do in this Portuguese capitol, there’s probably not enough time to tackle them all. So, you may have to return…so then you can say,
“I’ve been there twice…have you?”
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Tram 28
Elevador Santa Justa
- http://www.carris.pt/en/elevators/
- Address: R. do Ouro, 1150-060 Lisboa, Portugal
- Hours: Lift, March-October, 0700-2300, daily. November-February, 0700-2100, daily. Viewpoint, March-October, 0900-2300, daily. November-February, 0900-2100, daily.
- Admission: Return ticket, €5.15, With the 7 Colinas or Viva Viagem card, €1.45
- Getting There: Metro, Baixa/Chiado, blue and green lines
Museu Nacional Do Azulejo (Tile Museum)
- http://www.museudoazulejo.gov.pt/en-GB/default.aspx
- R. Me. Deus 4, 1900-312 Lisboa, Portugal
- Hours: Tuesday-Sunday, 1000-1800. Closed Monday.
- Admission: Adult, €5.00, 50% discount for Students, Youth, Family and Seniors over age 65.
A restaurant is located here on the promenade and wine vendors offer Portuguese samplings to quench your thirst in the hot, sunny afternoons.
Making our way into the interior of the structure, we marveled at the towering walls and walked along the ramparts admiring both the views and the wind whipping the country’s flags.
Ruins of older structures and a cistern were visible in the courtyard as well as a small door on the northern wall called the Door of Treason which allowed secret messengers to enter or exit as needed. Take a moment to have a seat in one of the garden areas and admire the many pieces of sculptures that adorn the premises. The gardens of Castelo de St. Jorge is a place to be cherished as it is one of the only remaining green spaces in Lisbon where native species of the Portuguese forest hold court. Here, visitors can observe trees such as cork oaks, carobs, strawberry, umbrella pines and various fruit trees.
While there are other, more beautiful and more preserved castles throughout the country, Castelo de St. Jorge is easy to reach and is rich in history. More importantly, with its prominent location high above the city, it is the perfect place to start your exploration of the Portuguese capital.
As we made our way through the congested streets, we finally found our way to the Third Mainland Bridge which connects the mainland to Lagos Island. Our driver slowed so that we could get a glimpse of the Makoko floating fishing village on the right. Definitely not a place tourists would venture, it looks serene with its brightly colored buildings and fishing boats bobbing in the gentle surf.
Our first stop was the Yellow Chille, a local restaurant highly recommended to us for its legendary Seafood Okra Soup. While I didn’t sample their spicy, fare my companions said it was delicious. The service was slow, however, and we had to push them to get a bill that was very different from our calculation of the prices in the menu. Ever hear, “TIA”? Yes, “this is Africa”. Sometimes, sadly, this is what you get.
A quick drive down the highway led us to the Lekki Conservation Center. Despite my research on the Lagos area, I somehow had not stumbled upon this property, however, one of my companions knew of it and our driver enthusiastically agreed that we should visit.
After admiring a couple of monkeys begging for a handout, we paid our admission and joined a group that began to traverse the boardwalk leading into the trees. Our guide pointed out items of interest and described the many reptiles and mammals that reside in this protected area. Monkeys swung through the trees and followed us on the walkways, hoping to steal a treat or something else they deemed of value from the trespassers in their swamp.
After our descent, we continued through the park stopping for a rest in the picnic area, enjoying fresh coconut water while seated in one of the thatched roof huts. Checking the time, we realized that we would have to get back on the road to try and beat the traffic back to our hotel. Heading back into the swamp, we made our way along the boardwalk with a quick stop to climb the park’s treehouse.
So, did I feel like I got to see what Lagos had to offer?
Another famous tree, not far from the Cleveland Oak, is the Survey Tree. This tree (also called Witness Tree) was used by surveyor, Thomas Orme in 1810, when measuring the Elizabeth Hayes Tract, as point “D”. This tract was the first land purchase by John Marsh, whose descendants still own Avery Island today. This Survey Tree and a live oak, which was designated point “A” are the oldest surviving witness trees in Louisiana.
Moving on, we finally arrived at my favorite part of the Jungle Gardens…The Torii Gate and the Buddha. The gate and the Buddha seem to be at odds with the Louisiana setting, yet fit so well amidst the tranquility of the gardens. It is possible that E.A. McIlhenny’s friends, Robert M. Youngs and Ernest B Tracy, knew exactly what his oasis needed when they gifted the magnificent Buddha statue to him in 1936. The Buddha was built for the Shonfa temple in northeast Peking when it was looted by a rebel General and sent to New York to be sold. Found in a warehouse Youngs and Tracy, they knew exactly where its new home should be. McIlhenny immediately decided on the location and began building a garden, temple and lagoon with arched stone bridge, filling the area with beautiful and rare Asian plants and tall Chinese bamboo. The serene setting is one to relish and you should spend adequate time here enjoying the peaceful atmosphere. Also, if you are lucky, you may encounter local Buddhists conducting ceremonies at various times during the year, most notably on Buddha’s birthday.
Once you’ve noticed the beautiful Chinese bamboo near the Buddha temple, you will notice that it grows everywhere in the gardens. In fact, Jungle Gardens houses one of the oldest timber bamboo groves in American. When E.A. McIlhenny decided to plant bamboo, it was with the idea that both the timber and edible shoots would be beneficial to the Louisiana economy and more than sixty-four species and varieties were introduced. Keep an eye out for the most interesting of the varieties still in existence, including the “Robert Young” near the Camillia Study Garden, the large, timber-type “Moso” and “Henon” bamboo near Bird City and a small patch of “Meyerii” bamboo located near the old Jungle Gardens entrance gate.
Just before reaching Bird City is the Palm Gardens. McIlhenny was facinated with palms and cacti and discovered that they grew well in this particular site, an old mining sand pit. Here you can discover Sago palms, Chinese Tung Oil trees as well as ferns and bamboo.
Just before the Sunken Gardens lies the former home of Edward Avery McIlhenny. Returning to Avery Island in 1898 and taking over the family business, he built this house near Bird City. The home was burned to the ground in 1925 and quickly rebuilt. The home is not open to the public and appears to be under some sort of construction. Maybe a home tour in the future?
After paying our admission, we meandered through the museum, learning about the McIlhenney family and the tabasco sauce’s beginnings, from why the type of bottle was used to used to the use of its “caution” label.
My favorite part was the merchandise dedicated to the Tabasco® brand. From Tabasco® Barbies, to bobbleheads to golf clubs, there are many fans of the product willing to buy products that look like it or bear the label. Tabasco® has appeared in many motion pictures, television shows, songs, novels, comics and photographs. Stars that are fans have even gotten in on the action. Supermodel Kate Upton sported a dress with the Tabasco logo as a Halloween costume in 2011 and Michael Anthony of Van Halen owns a Tabasco® Sauce themed guitar.
Another part of the museum that was especially interesting to me was of life on the island. A friend of our family grew up there and her father worked for the McIlhenney family for most of his life. I remember attending her wedding as a child and how the idea that we were going “all the way” to an island was so exciting. The modern day inhabitants, however, were once preceded by Native Americans who had found that the island harbored a precious natural resource…a massive salt dome. The Native Americans extracted the salt which was traded with other tribes. Much like the Native Americans, the McIlhenney’s made a living from the land by discovering that he field’s unique soil aided in the growth of the pepper which was used in the production of Tabasco®. Today, some members from the same family who once assisted Edward McIlhenney in his quest to produce the unique product still work and reside on the island.
After exiting the museum, we followed the well marked path leading to other parts of the tour. As we made our way to the rear of the property, we were a little taken aback at the signs warning that bears frequent the area. Cautiously, we walked along the well-manicured path, under the massive oak trees toward the Greenhouse where pepper plants are cultivated. It should be noted that while the first peppers were completely grown and then mashed into the finished product, the seed peppers now are grown in the unique soil of the salt dome but then exported to international farmers to ensure steady growing seasons.
After the Greenhouse, we moved to the Barrel Museum which impressively displays many barrels and the materials used to produce them. A short video as well as photography aids in the understanding of how these wooden containers used to age the peppers are constructed.
Continuing on the the Barrel Warehouse, it was a necessity to breathe shallowly and sometimes completely pinch your nose. This huge warehouse safeguards thousands of white oak barrels of mash from many nations which is aged for up to three years. These barrels are topped with a layer of salt, from the island’s dome, which protects the mash from impurities. With the evolving and mellowing of the flavors, the smell becomes extremely pungent…especially on warm days.
After the aging is complete and the mash is checked for flavor and heat level, it is then transferred to the Tabasco® factory, our next stop. During the fourth stage of the tour, we learned how the mash is blended in large vats.
The sixth part of the tour is a diorama showing how minors work and extract salt from the mine. Exiting the “mine”, we entered into the part of the plant where the Tabasco® is bottled. Being that it was a Saturday, the plant was not in operation, however, I am sure that watching the bottles travel throughout the busy workroom and the numbers add up on the production board is quite impressive.
Once our tour was complete, we headed to Restaurant 1868. Invited to a crawfish boil that afternoon, I insisted that I would only accompany my parents and save room for the many pounds of the crustaceans that I planned to stuff myself with later in the day. Once I walked into the cafeteria-style eatery, smelled the cajun cooking and read the wide array of dishes offered, my resolve was starting to crack. The final straw was when a patron walked by with a plate of the crawfish nachos…okay, so I made room for crawfish nachos and later had boiled crawfish!
Stomachs full, we finally headed next door to the country store. Anything Tabasco® can be found here, but, the best part is the sampling area in the rear of the store. You can try many of the different flavors of Tabasco and some samples of the food products. You’d think after my huge plate of crawfish nachos, I should not have been able to look at food, but I sampled everything, including the Tabasco flavored green beans. In fact, I loved them so much, I walked out with a case of them!
Truly a surprise, the Tabasco® Factory Tour was more than I ever imagined. I visit some unique cities and museums around the world, but this well put-together attraction can measure up any day.
I have to admit, walking under the massive Hong Kong Disneyland Resort sign, I was a bit excited and a bit more for my son. This was something he was looking forward to and I hoped that it was all that he wanted it to be.
Paying our admission, we were greeted by the same Main Street promenade that had always greeted us in Orlando’s Disneyworld, however, as we made our way down the street, there seemed to be something lacking. Where we would normally see a large grey and blue castle, the iconic Cinderella’s Castle, there was a shorter castle-like pink building. Where was the rest of it?
Checking our map, we headed in the direction of the attractions that we wanted to enjoy first. Starting with the Big Grizzly Mountain, we were able to savor the wind in our hair on the thrilling roller-coaster ride without much of a wait. It was such a rush and a great start to the day! Mystic Manor followed with it’s ghostly apparitions popping out at every corner and then the Jungle Cruise, much like the one in Disneyworld, complete with wild animals and hostile cannibals. Although we boarded the English speaking boat, it was a bit difficult to understand our guide and her stories, one of the unique features of this attraction.
Moving on, we found ourselves in one of my favorite parts of the park, Toy Story Land, where everything in its existence brought back fond memories of the five children’s movies we had enjoyed when our children were younger. Giant Christmas lightbulbs criss-crossed the pathways, a giant Mr. Potato Head greeted visitors, tinkertoys littered the area and Popsicle stick benches offered a reprieve to tired park visitors. We enjoyed the Slinky Dog Spin, RC Racer, Barrel of Fun rides, but especially loved the Toy Soldier Parachute Drop, which lifted us high into the sky and dropped us down to the ground at varying speeds.
Fantasyland was next with rides on Dumbo, the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, The Cinderella Carousel and Mad Hatter’s Tea Cups. Mickey’s Philarmagic gave us a chance to cool off in the air conditioned theater and rest our feet for a while as we enjoyed the animated feature.
Leaving the building with the memorable song stuck in our heads, we finally made our way to Tomorrowland and The Orbitron, Ironman Experience and Hyperspace Mountain. Since my son had only heard about the pitch black space-themed ride, as he was too young when we had last visited, he was most excited to experience it and we actually braved the line twice.
The Hong Kong Disneyland park was a complete about-face from my activities on my recent far-flung vacations, but it was something special that I was able to share with my son. We were quite impressed with the friendly staff, the cleanliness of the park and the attractions unique to this particular park. After a long day in the Hong Kong heat, waiting in longer-than-usual lines (thanks to a local holiday) it was time to head back to Kowloon.
Tourists crowded the entrance and ticket window and lined up under the overpass across the street moving when directed to do so. We took our place at the end of the line, enjoying the shade and respite from the Hong Kong heat. An hour later, we queued up to board the funicular, fighting to find a seat on the crowded vehicle. Despite the amazing views we expected to see, it was hard to get much of a glimpse through the windows, while traveling at such a steep angle and with dozens of arms raised, grasping cameras attempting to get pictures of the climb.
After emerging from the Tsim Sha Tsui MTR station, we headed south toward the harbor. Walking along Salisbury Road, we passed the lavish Peninsula Hotel and the Hong Kong Space Museum directly across the roadway. Making tracks around the Hong Kong Cultural Center, we admired the famous landmark, the former Kowloon-Canton Railway Clock Tower, which is the only remnant of the original site of the former Kowloon Station on the Kowloon-Canton Railway. Since the clock tower is presently closed for renovation, we continued on to our destination, the Tsim Sha Tsui ferry pier. Walking into the terminal, we followed the signs to the departure point, only to find that we had just missed the boat!
With such regular schedules, we didn’t fret as we knew another would be leaving for Hong Kong Island soon.
Before long, we were climbing aboard, taking seats near the rail and admiring the exquisite skyline as we motored away from the Kowloon coastline. All around us, boats cruised through the harbor, cruise ships awaited their departure and freighters and barges carried their cargo out of the busy port. The blue skies enhanced the incredible architecture, including illustrious and distinctive buildings like 2IFC Towers, Bank of China building and Central Plaza on the Hong Kong side and the ICC Tower on the Kowloon side. Though the ride was short, the breeze was cool and the waters calm. Staring ahead at Hong Kong Island, we looked upward at Victoria’s Peak…our next destination.
After making our way past the Pai Tau village, we followed the directions to the beginning of the path to the monastery. Posted signs warned of “fake monks” known to hit on tourists for money. Thankfully, we only encountered local residents climbing the 431 steps to make offerings at the monastery.
Finally, we made our way to the main temple. Though a sign informs visitors of no photography, we were able to capture some of the beauty displayed in this temple, where the walls are lined with almost 13,000 miniature gold ceramic Buddha statues stacked on shelves. Each twelve inch statue displays a different pose and expression and contains an inscription bearing the name of its donor.
The embalmed body of Reverend Yuet Kai is prominently displayed in a glass case in the main hall and three large gilded Buddha statues are also presented to its rear.
Heading to the upper terrace, we encountered the Amitabha Hall, Avalotiskesvara (Kwun Yam) House, Cundi House, Ksitigarbha House, Jade Emperor Hall, Sprinkler Guanyin, YueXi Pavilion and Naga-puspa Court.
Most interesting to note within the pavilions and houses are the Horseback bodhisattva in the Avalotisvara (Kwun Yam) House and the massive gold Amitabha Buddha statue in the columbarium (Amitabha Hall). In the two story columbarium, gold framed drawers, each with a Buddha image are stacked around the hall and contain the ashes of the deceased.
A unique site featured in many films and television series, the Ten Thousand Buddha Monastery is one of the most interesting and historic places that we visited in Hong Kong. Though the monastery is in a bit of disrepair and construction continues to stabilize the upper hillside, the statues were most mesmerizing and the architecture quite interesting.
Not much communication was given about the surrounding area, however, it was nice to get an overview of the island and some of the houses and temples located there. Cruising out of the main channel, we picked up speed entering a wider waterway on the far end of the island near the raised highway. As the boat slowed, it appeared that the captain was scanning the waters. Before long, I noticed something breaking the surface in the distance. Suddenly, I remembered reading about Chinese white dolphins (also known as pink dolphins) during my Hong Kong research. This is what we were searching for!
After a few minutes, we noticed more rounded backs and fins breaking the surface. Though none came extremely close to our boat and they were quite difficult to capture on camera, we did see quite a few of the strangely hued aquatic mammals in the area.
