Lisbon, Sintra, Lagos and Seville.

The old Moorish fortress at Sintra.

Our journey now took us from Porto southward to Lisbon. Lisbon is a huge city with, fortunately, a first rate metro. We were able to transfer from the train station to the metro easily and were soon at our hotel, a nice place that was pretty much in the middle of town. It was an easy walk to the large square by the waterfront.

On the waterfront in Lisbon

Lisbon is a nice enough city. We wandered around a bit and took in the Gulbenkian museum, which has exhibits from ancient times to modern. Lots of shopping although we weren't really interested in buying much. I did have to track down and audiologist in order to buy hearing aid batteries!

Some of the crazy Portuguese artwork.

As in Porto, the street art really grabs your attention. Strolling through the city, we noticed a lot of graffiti...but it almost seems to be encouraged. The one shown above had to be sponsored by the city!

Outside of Lisbon, towards the coast, is the old town of Sintra. It held a strategic position and was a Moorish strongpoint. A large portion of the battlements still stand and restoration and archaeological work is continuing here. It was a brisk uphill walk to the old fort through some old parts of the town and a woodland.

View from the fortress looking out to the Atlantic.

The Moorish fortress at Sintra is an interesting side trip from Lisbon, a fairly short train ride west of town. The village itself is a nice albeit touristy place. Many interesting shops, cafes and villas are around the area.

Pictures of Lisbon, Lagos and Seville

We soon departed Lisbon, taking the southbound train to far southern Portugal, ending up in the little coastal town of Lagos. As we entered the town I was struck by the beach town like feel to the place, like I was in Pacific Beach! Then, we came to an Irish pub! Well that was odd, but welcome, and we sat down for a couple of beers and hamburgers which were actually good!

Feeling like SoCal!

Lagos was a nice town and we stayed in a pretty cool little place, Casa da Moura. A bit old fashioned but the ladies running this hotel were helpful and friendly and they provided a really good breakfast. I found Lagos to be more fun than Lisbon, I like smaller towns I suppose. One day we walked a coastal trail to the lighthouse.

Lighthouse at Lagos.

Later, we took a bus out to Sagres and on to Cabo de Sao Vicente, the extreme southwestern tip of the country. Shelly was anxious to see the old hostel she stayed at when she was backpacking out here many years ago. Sadly, it is no longer possible to get to the place, cliff erosion has caused the area to become too unstable. We did get to the lighthouse though, and the point was a pretty impressive view in itself.

Another lighthouse! At Cabo de Sao Vicente

Soon it was time to leave Lagos and so we took the train from Lagos to Seville, arriving after dark. Luckily our hotel was pretty close to the station, an easy walk. We had a supper of tapas and beer at a place in a nearby mall, our server was an expatriated Aussie! During our stay we visited the cathedral in Seville, ever mindful of our regret at not visiting the cathedral in Burgos back on the Camino!! I must say the the Cathedral in Seville is a most impressive place! It was originally a Moorish temple re-purposed to a catholic cathedral after the Reconquista.  It even has the tomb of Christopher Columbus! It also has a large bell tower which affords a terrific view of the city.

The Bell Tower of the Seville Cathedral...

...and the view from that tower.

Wandering through town we encountered an "international" fair. We were naturally interested to see what the USA exhibit was. Turned out to be pretty small, featuring fried chicken and Duff Beer! Turns out that the Duff actually came from Australia.

Seville was a wonderful town, you could spend a lot more time there than we did. But now we were planning the final phases of our adventure. We decided to go to the bottom of Spain, and with luck, maybe see Africa!