Lisbon Scenes, 1

Our megalithic visits done for now, we drove west to Lisbon on May 19th, and with a variety of wrong turns and U-turns eventually found Camping Barcelona, the city's big 4 star campground in the northern heights overlooking the metropolis. We spent several days here in 2009, including Xmas (many posts, just search "Lisbon" in the search box). On the 20th we did nothing, and rested, and then on the 21st we took the bus, #714, into town, passing through Belem and the western neighborhoods and even a museum or two we will get to. Our goal for the day was to do the free (for tips) city center tour and then maybe have a nice lunch and visit something else.

The city center is one of many plazas and monuments and
buildings, most all of them dating only from 1755...the earthquake
that killed 90,000..and pedestrian pavement done with the white
and black paving stones, macro-mosaic; imagine walking on
this one if you have vestibular issues...

Even on the old city tour, we saw a number of art nouveaux

And art decaux

And even a famous art nuvo/gothic elevator
designed by one of Eiffel's students

The Portuguese didn't invent tiles, but they
certainly have perfected their use

The above turned out to be the world's oldest
bookstore still in business (according to
Guinness)

Portugal is not a 3rd world country and the tuk-tuks are merely
a tourist novelty; here's a tiled one

We have an uncanny habit of walking onto movie sets...this
one possibly set in the 30s

Anyway, our tour begins; note to self if I ever become a tour
guide: keep verbiage to minimum while customers are standing
in the hot sun on reflective pavement

Monument to Mark Zuckerberg

Former convent/brewery where we had dinner in 2009 (I never
forget convent/breweries)

Pretty street, down to the river

More tiles, more grillwork, balconies

Looking across Alfama to the castle

Jacarandas incredible here too

I thought the meeting of tram and trolley at the former royal
castle really tied things together, color-wise

Monument on the former parade ground; yes, that's an
elephant on the right in the monument; one of the former
kings collected them (this was before Ferraris)

More gorgeous buildings

Some under wraps

Beautiful art deco theatre in North Lisbon

And more monuments

Anta Grande Do Comenda Igreja

Our project for the morning, after watching the cork harvest, was to find another anta, the Anta Grande Do Comenda Igreja. With a little help from the Megalithic.co.uk this was not too difficult: locate the GPS point, park by the gate, open and close it (did you lock the car?), walk a kilometer or so across someone's field/woods, spotting numerous megalithic piles, keeping a eye out for bulls, until you see a slight rise among the trees, with megaliths atop it. In the case of this Anta, there was little doubt, since it is relatively unique: a megalithic double-decker.

Megalithic pile a few hundred yards off the "trail"; could be
the real thing; could be just a pile the aeons of generations of
farmers collected there; in this part of Alentaje, they're all
over the place; megalith builders from the Isles would have
been envious of the ease of getting at these rocks and the short
distances to move them

The Anta..Igreja is actually signed

In the Isles, we have seen stone rings surmounted by a dolmen,
but never anything like this: an alle couverte of some size
surmounted by a huge dolmen; all very structured

Entrance to the alle couverte; "covered alley"; passage grave

The surmounting dolmen; huge stones

Lightning struck the capstone and broke it in half; and there
it sits

Another view of the dolmen

View of the mound on which the whole thing sits

Looking into the passage grave; huge capstones; would have
been impressive all by itself

From the entrance to the passage grave to the dolmen

Looking down to the floor of the dolmen

Huge stones

Terrain; pastoral, cork trees

Another view of the two-fer

Parthian shot; one of the most interesting we have seen yet;
oh, same age as all the rest around here (and up north and east),
4, 5, or 6 millennia ago

It's A Corker!

Parts of the Iberian peninsula are cork country: cork is harvested every ten years from cork trees, in commercial forests, and also along road sides. As one drives around, or walks around, one sees trees whose bark has been cut off, for the lower 8 or 10 or more feet, blackened, and painted with a single digit number--the year previously harvested. Rarely, however, does one get to see a crew harvesting the cork, the old-fashioned way. Although I have enjoyed Chateau Screwtop as well as Chateau Plastique, as a traditionalist, I will always prefer cork, and, now, ever more, will appreciate the quality of cork bottled wines. Other things being equal.

Cromlech Do Portela De Mogos

After further research and reconsideration, I decided maybe the Cromlech do Portela de Mogos was on the right side of the highway, not the left. So we drove back, reconsidered again, checked the GPS, and, after two minutes wandering in the cork forest, easily found the cromlech, another of the important ones. We spent the night at another aire de camping cars, further up the road. On the right side.

About all the signage you get from the road; wear boots, carry your guidebook,
phone, GPS, etc. Maybe some water.

Over there...in the trees

Interpretive signage

Escapees