Lisbon, Portugal

We left Seville in the evening and crossed the border into Portugal as the sun was setting.  We tried to get a picture of the country sign...

...well you'll just have to believe me that it said Portugal. :D

We spent the night in a coastal city and I don't remember the name.  We stayed in a nice hotel and we took our time sleeping in and getting ready.  Paul and Glenn did venture out to the beach, but Paul forgot to take the camera so we don't have pictures of that.  But they did have fun.  Paul said that Glenn fell into the water at one point and as he walked around his pants kept falling down because they were heavy and he is so skinny. :D

Then we made our way north to Lisbon.  Sunday, May 12th was another beautiful day--and actually kind of warm.  This statue, which reminded us of the famous one in Brazil, was the first thing that we could see from the freeway as we made our way into the city.

  Lisbon was like any other large European city--confusing.  The streets were narrow and had too many cars and too many one-way streets and not enough signs indicating said streets.  We took several wrong turns as we tried to make our way up to the castle on the top of the city...but we got to see the downtown a lot and enjoy it from several angles. We actually got pulled over by a policeman...but they only gave us a warning.  So that was good.  

We finally got up to the hill and found a parking spot.  Glenn had fallen asleep and Mom wasn't feeling too well.  So she volunteered to stay in the car with Glenn while the rest of us walked up to the castle and to see the views.

Castelo de S. Jorge

 In this courtyard there was a man playing a classical guitar.  It really contributed to the atmosphere--otherwise it would've just been more ruins and more stairs. :D  We liked it so much that Dad bought one of his CDs.  And we really like it.

And here were some views of the city from the top of the hill that the castle was on.  It's amazing and kind of incredible to see all of these apartments and other buildings so close together and seemingly without rhyme or reason.  It's so interesting to see how they have just been built over time and it didn't seem like there was any city planning going on. :D

Monasterio dos Jeronimos

After walking around the castle area, we came down closer to the water and saw the Monastery.  It was a really large building and complex really.  It was so ornate and decorative, especially on the outside.  Inside it was kind of dark, but still beautiful in it's own way.

 This is the tomb of Vasco de Gama.  He was a famous explorer who was the first commander to sail directly from Europe to India.  Pretty cool.

Belem Tower or Tower of Saint Vincent

This fortified tower was built as part of a defense system at the mouth of the Tagus River and as a ceremonial gateway into Lisbon.

We spent some time along the river and enjoyed the beautiful day.

I was down below with Glenn, looking for shells and having fun with the water.  The others had found other Americans who actually had heard of Mormons and they were all deep in conversation.

 This was an amazing structure.  It was a Monument to the Discoveries.  We thought that perhaps it was Christopher Columbus at the front, but it isn't.  It's Henry the Navigator.  The detail was beautiful and very well done.  And it was huge!

 Glenn had fun climbing through these cool trees.

 And Paul and Dad had fun looking at all the cool sports cars.

And that concludes our time in Portugal.  Well, not exactly.  We had dinner there and spent the night there.  But we didn't go visit anything else while in Portugal.