After working for 40 years I finally retired and to celebrate the occasion we are going to travel to Portugal, Italy, and France for 5 weeks.

Our first stop is in Lisbon.  Our last trip to Portugal was in 2016 and we loved it so much that we decided to return to discover what we did not get to see on our first trip.

Day 1: Arrival

We landed in Lisbon and it was simply crazy!  Looks like that Covid is under control and all the European countries are opening their doors and tourist are coming....

This is the line just to check your passports.

More and more flights are landing and it looks like they just do not have enough people working at the airport but in the end we were able to get out after waiting for over 3 hours.

From the airport we took a taxi to meet with our Air B&B agent at the church of São Cristóvão which is about a few minutes from the apartment.

As we were a bit early and had 15 minutes to spare I went in the church to take a few pictures.

Igreja Paroquial Sao Cristovao

Igreja (church) Paroquial de Sao Cristovao is located  on the Escadinhas de São Cristóvão hill in the Baixa district of Lisbon

The exterior of the church is noted for its twin bell towers and Mannerist facade.

The church was originally built in the 13th century, but the building we can see today is mostly from the 16th century. Miraculously the church was spared the worst of the devastating Lisbon Earthquake of 1755.

The entrance of the church with Lots of posters.

The entrance

The ceiling is richly painted and its interior walls are hung with classical, religious paintings.

Closer view of the ceiling.

 Several are canvases in oil with gilded frames by the master Bento Coelho da Silveira (1617-1708).

Coelho da Silveira was one of the most renowned Portuguese artists of the 17th century. Appointed Royal Painter by D. Pedro II in 1678, his works are mostly painted in oil on canvas, an innovative material in the 17th century, under Italian influence.

Sculpture of the virgin Mary

View of the Nave from the entrance.  It is a small, one-nave Church decorated with Baroque paintings in gilded frames.

 The main altar is decorated with the golden throne of the Blessed Sacrament. In the shoulder side altars you can see sculptures of saints, including church patrons.

It is a small church so it did not take long to visit it.  On the 2nd picture you can see Hoa waiting with our suitcases at the bench.

This is the Mouraria neighborhood which has lots of slopes, it is less visited and lots of local folks live in this neighborhood.

Mouraria means "Moorish quarter" and it is largely working class.

Fado Vadio mural

The streets are narrow, hilly streets and lots of stairs. Mostly for pedestrians.

We love it!  It is really unique and there are barely anybody in our neighborhood.

Better not wear high heels for sure when the streets are lined with stones.

Lots of hills to climb to get to the main street but it is really pretty.

We are now in the main street of the district of Baixa which is he most central and renowned neighborhood in Lisbon where the majority of shots and leisure activities can be found.

Small streets leading to Praça da Figueira

NEXT.....Praça da Figueira/Confeitaria National