The Start of Markovic Adventures: Honeymoon to Portugal, Part Lisbon 2

Lisbon

When planning our trip, we were advised by several reliable sources to do a Jewish tour of Lisbon with Paulo Scheffer. Josh and I were skeptical because we weren't interested in spending alot of money to tour a city we can see on our own. Well, the tour was INCREDIBLE. It was worth every penny and is truly a must-do for anyone remotely interested in Jewish history planning to visit Lisbon.

The tour was 3.5 hours and gave us a great understanding of Lisbon history, which is both fascinating and somewhat tragic - its golden age was the age of discovery in the 15th century and today many buildings in central Lisbon are abandoned and written off as victims of the next earthquake, expected approximately every 250 years... which happens to be any day now. One of the coolest things we learned is that the main shopping area in central Lisbon still uses the original sewer system from Roman times. It survived the earthquakes and still works!! The Jewish history is probably more fascinating and definitely more tragic. The Inquisition lasted longer and was more cruel and fanatic than other inquisitions, including Spain's. Paolo was a tremendous story teller and had us clinging on to every word he spoke. After the tour, Josh and I agreed that if someone took a picture of us during the tour, we would probably be caught wide-eyed with gaping mouths. Paolo himself comes from Jewish and crypto-Jewish decent and has an interesting story of his own life to tell.

Lisbon

After the tour, we went to a a restaurant in the Chiado neighborhood called Fabulas, which served the best sparkling Sangria I've ever had. It was passion fruit flavored! The food was okay but the atmosphere and company were delightful.

Afterwards, we took a train to Sintra, a truly majestic town 45 minutes outside of Lisbon. We explored the grand Pena Palace and were FLOORED. It was truly the most spectacular building I have ever seen. Each room was more grand than the next. The details on the furniture and wall and ceiling decorations were marvelous. And when we stepped outside, the view was breathtaking. The palace sits on top of a mountain surrounded by luscious greenery and other beautiful structures in the distance. We were advised to take the transfer tram up the hill for 2 euro and did so because we were short on time. The climb looked do-able but certainly challenging.

Entering Pena Palace

Pena Palace

Quinto de Regalia

We then hustled over to the Quinto de Regalia, a very impressive structure from the outside but the inside doesn't hold a candle next to Pena Palace. However, we loved wandering through the gorgeous grounds. The paths were so green and serene and the waterfalls and beautiful structures kept it unique and interesting. We especially enjoyed walking through the underground caves. We felt like we were running through secret passages.

We returned to Lisbon exhausted and starving and enjoyed another all-you-can-eat buffet at a vegetarian restaurant called Terra. We arrived back at the hotel to an incredibly thoughtful and kind gift from the Jewish community - a care package of Kosher food for the rest of our travels! They sent us crackers, challah rolls, meat, candy, Pringles, chips and Tradition soups. After learning how difficult meat and some of the other Kosher items are to come by in Lisbon, we felt especially touched by their gesture.

What a wonderful way to end our visit to Lisbon. Better get to bed - we have a 4:15 AM wake up call coming our way to head to Madeira!