Today, we arrived in Lisbon which is a really funky city built on seven hills, on the mouth of the Tagus River. It is a very old city, with occupation back from between 600 and 800 BC. Like much of the rest of this area, it has been controlled by so many different groups and many of them for hundreds of years.
In 1755, they had this massive earthquake and along with it came fires and massive tsunamis that pretty much wiped out the whole area. The leader of the city at that time was a guy who goes by a short and catchy name, Sebastian Jose de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal and he organised the rebuild of the city and created a copy of the Champs Elysees in Paris as a starting point. It has wide streets and cool squares and any of the old buildings that owners want to remodel, have to keep the old facade, so that it remains the buildings remain with a similar flavour. One thing that does remain though, is a aqueduct that is something like 18km long and has pieces coming off it that make the whole system about 50-something km long. It was built in the 17th century, so was quite new when the earthquake hit. I don't know if that had anything to do with it, but in places it is VERY high.
You will note in this picture that graffiti is huge in Lisbon. I can't actually say I have seen anywhere near as much anywhere else, but here any surface is a canvas!
Now, this video is something to see! It is the central square in the old city part of Lisbon which was built new late 1700's. Very cool and clever, considering they won't have been able to drive past it to see the optical illusion, like we can!
I learned two new phrases today. The first is 'love depressed' when the Kings best mate feel in love with the Queen and didn't stand a chance, so he became 'love depressed' and painted his house black. Weird, but true.
The second phrase was during dinner when the waiter proudly produced 'Cheese of Goat'. He said it would be the most amazing thing we had ever eaten. It wasn't. It tasted like blue cheese, gone soft. Cheese of Goat is off my menu!!!
In 1755, they had this massive earthquake and along with it came fires and massive tsunamis that pretty much wiped out the whole area. The leader of the city at that time was a guy who goes by a short and catchy name, Sebastian Jose de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal and he organised the rebuild of the city and created a copy of the Champs Elysees in Paris as a starting point. It has wide streets and cool squares and any of the old buildings that owners want to remodel, have to keep the old facade, so that it remains the buildings remain with a similar flavour. One thing that does remain though, is a aqueduct that is something like 18km long and has pieces coming off it that make the whole system about 50-something km long. It was built in the 17th century, so was quite new when the earthquake hit. I don't know if that had anything to do with it, but in places it is VERY high.You will note in this picture that graffiti is huge in Lisbon. I can't actually say I have seen anywhere near as much anywhere else, but here any surface is a canvas!
Now, this video is something to see! It is the central square in the old city part of Lisbon which was built new late 1700's. Very cool and clever, considering they won't have been able to drive past it to see the optical illusion, like we can!
I learned two new phrases today. The first is 'love depressed' when the Kings best mate feel in love with the Queen and didn't stand a chance, so he became 'love depressed' and painted his house black. Weird, but true.The second phrase was during dinner when the waiter proudly produced 'Cheese of Goat'. He said it would be the most amazing thing we had ever eaten. It wasn't. It tasted like blue cheese, gone soft. Cheese of Goat is off my menu!!!
Sorry, I have to disagree about the cheese. I loved it
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