Katherine LaPoint: Lisbon (part two): tour of a castle and other things

We set aside the week-end to explore a little bit of Lisbon. This was the vacation that we decided not to over do it on the museums and monuments. It's exhausting to go someplace new, like Paris or Rome, and know that you have to see EVERYTHING. That's why you go. Lisbon however, was our beach vacation, so it was okay for us to not see and do everything that the Internet or travel books told us to. We just picked a few things that we thought would be neat as well as a few places that our friends recommended.

We decided to go to the Castle of São Jorge first because what's another castle ruin? From there we wandered down to the oceanfront where we ate lunch in Praça do Comércio, checked out the area that was destroyed by the earthquake of 1755 , as well as a little bit of shopping. It was a great introduction to the city made even greater by Scott doing the impossible. I say impossible because we parked on a hill that was so steep and narrow that only locals usually parked in this area; not crazy tourists in a rented car with a 1000 euro insurance pending until we returned it without any additional dents or scratches. Anyway, long story short, Scott ended up having to somehow maneuver our vehicle as to not hit the car in front of us, behind us, and the insane person doubled parked next to us. Did I mention this was all done in a manual. So lots of fancy footwork. Anyway, after about ten minutes of what felt like a gazillion three point turns, we made it out without crashing, stalling or any nervous breakdowns. Moral of this story, my husband is an amazing driver.

And now on to some photos...