I walked home late last night from the restaurant which seemed a bit sketchy since I was the only one on the streets in a quiet neighborhood but I did pass one party that was either quieting down or firing up, likely the later, where the street was lined with colorful party streamers/garlands. I stayed up late trying to figure out where I wanted to stay M-Th. I of course ended up with the one the Concierge had recommended but like I said before. I also booked a place closer in the middle of town where I can stay on Wed night before my early flight on Th and that I can walk to everything. Lapa Palace is great but not close to any of the sights or shopping EXCEPT it is close to the LDS Church. The hotel is literally one block away from my church!
The Mormon church hear starts at 11:20 a.m., very random, but so it gave me some free time to explore this morning. I wanted to go to part of a Mass this morning so I could hear the acoustics of these great cathedrals and hopefully some music. I went to Basilica Estrela, a 10 mins walk away. It was lovely inside and I joined the first 15 mins of the Mass and then realized I was way over my head with not being able to understand the language and there was a lot of audience participation, which I was totally clueless to. I did enjoy hearing the singing and getting some of the experience and seeing the church lit with candles and adorned with flowers. That is something that is an added luxury to most faiths, and particularly Catholics. They usually have beautiful edifices that they worship in. I always say, it's a testament to my faith and my belief as a member of our Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints that I attend are not always beautiful meetinghouses for church on Sunday. Our Sunday meetinghouses/churches are usually very simple and plain and functional, nothing compared to the Cathedral that I went into today.Our church is very cautious and humble in how they use the sacred funds of tithing to build church buildings.They try to have many of them all over the world so everyone has one close to them to attend. The LDS Church spends more significant sums of money on the Temples which we believe bind families together eternally and perform eternal marriages/sealings and we believe are "Houses of the Lord."
I hopped on the 28 tram, which is a famous thing here in Lisbon and if you are a tourist you kind of are obligated to do it. It was a bit confusing since once I hopped on, the next stop the driver ushered us all off and said this was the end of the line. We stood in the middle of nowhere and then he pulled up 5 mins later and asked us to get on board. What?! Well I did and took it until they pulled the same thing about a half hour later but this time the line to rebound was about 75 people deep. Across the street from the tram line there was a friendly looking man in a tuk tuk and I went and asked him how much would it be if he gave me a tour around town and then dropped me at my church. He said 35 Euro, I said how about 20 Euro- Done! He took me around all the steep ups and downs of Lisbon and to the viewpoints and through a couple of different churches, and points of interest and then got me to my church in time. The city is so hilly, it is so different than really even SFO since the roads are so narrow and you can't get a good viewpoint until it really opens up on the top or city or down by the River, which runs along the city. But I felt after my tuk tuk tour I had a good idea of the city and where I was at.
Church had about 50 people. Some tourists but mostly locals and again it was like a block from my hotel in a nice part of town in an old 4 story building.There were a couple of missionaries, from Idaho and Arizona, which led the music and gave a talk and there were many Portuguese speaking people from Angola and other parts of Africa, including the Bishop. This was the first LDS Church I have been to that didn't have any translators so sadly I couldn't understand much of the meeting but was able to take the Sacrament and be with others of my faith. When we left the Bishop was really cute and came up and used some of his broken English to talk to us and welcome us. I suggested that he request headphones for the missionaries to interpret the service, they get many tourists here.He seemed glad for the suggestion, especially after I told him everywhere in the world we have been has had headsets, He was surprised and so said he would definitely ask for it. He was very friendly and welcoming. I left church after we spoke since I couldn't really participate without knowing the language and enjoyed a brisk walk back in the rain. (By the way, these few couple sentences sound so much like my own mom, I am laughing. Sooner or later we become our mothers.:) hahaha
After grabbing lunch back at my hotel I made my way to the Jeronimo Monastery, named after St. Jerome and is about 500 years old and used to be the home of monks and the church of the royal family. The interior design and architecture was different than other cathedrals I have been to and they said it was an example of Manueline Architecture, uniquely Portuguese. I walked around the cloister area where the monks used to live before the order was disbanded, and where they worshiped and appreciated that everything was well marked in English. It had a grand cathedral attached to it...it seemed Baroque but with a twist.
Just down the road was the Bellen Tower. This was a 500 year old defense structure and is remarkably well intact, sits like a little castle on the sea. It was fun to walk over the drawbridge and up to the different levels of the tower. It was later used as a place to store ammunition below the tower along with holding some of the elite prisoners. It is an iconic symbol of Lisbon and and Portugal.
I caught a taxi to the National Tile Museum which was formerly a convent which had elaborate tile work lining the walls and one of the most ornate gilded chapels I have ever seen. It had a collection of another uniquely Portuguese art form of Azulejo/painted tiles. The museum documented elaborate tile murals and the Portuguese process which is really painting patterns, designs and murals on tiles before firing them. The collection mostly dates back to the 1700s and was an interesting museum.
I regrouped back at the hotel before heading out to another late dinner and Fado show. Tonight I ate at Adega Machado, which was really in the restaurant district of town which was hopping by the time I left around 11 p.m. Had many more festive decorations hanging between buildings over narrow streets. I sat next to a couple from Sydney who are traveling in Portugal and Spain for a couple weeks. Enjoyed visiting with them during dinner and fun to hear their response to the Fado performance. They were nearly as captivated as I was last night. Tonight the performances kept getting stronger ending again with a male singer who looked 90 yet sang like a passionate man in his 20s- he was outstanding.
The Mormon church hear starts at 11:20 a.m., very random, but so it gave me some free time to explore this morning. I wanted to go to part of a Mass this morning so I could hear the acoustics of these great cathedrals and hopefully some music. I went to Basilica Estrela, a 10 mins walk away. It was lovely inside and I joined the first 15 mins of the Mass and then realized I was way over my head with not being able to understand the language and there was a lot of audience participation, which I was totally clueless to. I did enjoy hearing the singing and getting some of the experience and seeing the church lit with candles and adorned with flowers. That is something that is an added luxury to most faiths, and particularly Catholics. They usually have beautiful edifices that they worship in. I always say, it's a testament to my faith and my belief as a member of our Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints that I attend are not always beautiful meetinghouses for church on Sunday. Our Sunday meetinghouses/churches are usually very simple and plain and functional, nothing compared to the Cathedral that I went into today.Our church is very cautious and humble in how they use the sacred funds of tithing to build church buildings.They try to have many of them all over the world so everyone has one close to them to attend. The LDS Church spends more significant sums of money on the Temples which we believe bind families together eternally and perform eternal marriages/sealings and we believe are "Houses of the Lord."
I hopped on the 28 tram, which is a famous thing here in Lisbon and if you are a tourist you kind of are obligated to do it. It was a bit confusing since once I hopped on, the next stop the driver ushered us all off and said this was the end of the line. We stood in the middle of nowhere and then he pulled up 5 mins later and asked us to get on board. What?! Well I did and took it until they pulled the same thing about a half hour later but this time the line to rebound was about 75 people deep. Across the street from the tram line there was a friendly looking man in a tuk tuk and I went and asked him how much would it be if he gave me a tour around town and then dropped me at my church. He said 35 Euro, I said how about 20 Euro- Done! He took me around all the steep ups and downs of Lisbon and to the viewpoints and through a couple of different churches, and points of interest and then got me to my church in time. The city is so hilly, it is so different than really even SFO since the roads are so narrow and you can't get a good viewpoint until it really opens up on the top or city or down by the River, which runs along the city. But I felt after my tuk tuk tour I had a good idea of the city and where I was at.
Church had about 50 people. Some tourists but mostly locals and again it was like a block from my hotel in a nice part of town in an old 4 story building.There were a couple of missionaries, from Idaho and Arizona, which led the music and gave a talk and there were many Portuguese speaking people from Angola and other parts of Africa, including the Bishop. This was the first LDS Church I have been to that didn't have any translators so sadly I couldn't understand much of the meeting but was able to take the Sacrament and be with others of my faith. When we left the Bishop was really cute and came up and used some of his broken English to talk to us and welcome us. I suggested that he request headphones for the missionaries to interpret the service, they get many tourists here.He seemed glad for the suggestion, especially after I told him everywhere in the world we have been has had headsets, He was surprised and so said he would definitely ask for it. He was very friendly and welcoming. I left church after we spoke since I couldn't really participate without knowing the language and enjoyed a brisk walk back in the rain. (By the way, these few couple sentences sound so much like my own mom, I am laughing. Sooner or later we become our mothers.:) hahaha
After grabbing lunch back at my hotel I made my way to the Jeronimo Monastery, named after St. Jerome and is about 500 years old and used to be the home of monks and the church of the royal family. The interior design and architecture was different than other cathedrals I have been to and they said it was an example of Manueline Architecture, uniquely Portuguese. I walked around the cloister area where the monks used to live before the order was disbanded, and where they worshiped and appreciated that everything was well marked in English. It had a grand cathedral attached to it...it seemed Baroque but with a twist.
Just down the road was the Bellen Tower. This was a 500 year old defense structure and is remarkably well intact, sits like a little castle on the sea. It was fun to walk over the drawbridge and up to the different levels of the tower. It was later used as a place to store ammunition below the tower along with holding some of the elite prisoners. It is an iconic symbol of Lisbon and and Portugal.
I caught a taxi to the National Tile Museum which was formerly a convent which had elaborate tile work lining the walls and one of the most ornate gilded chapels I have ever seen. It had a collection of another uniquely Portuguese art form of Azulejo/painted tiles. The museum documented elaborate tile murals and the Portuguese process which is really painting patterns, designs and murals on tiles before firing them. The collection mostly dates back to the 1700s and was an interesting museum.
I regrouped back at the hotel before heading out to another late dinner and Fado show. Tonight I ate at Adega Machado, which was really in the restaurant district of town which was hopping by the time I left around 11 p.m. Had many more festive decorations hanging between buildings over narrow streets. I sat next to a couple from Sydney who are traveling in Portugal and Spain for a couple weeks. Enjoyed visiting with them during dinner and fun to hear their response to the Fado performance. They were nearly as captivated as I was last night. Tonight the performances kept getting stronger ending again with a male singer who looked 90 yet sang like a passionate man in his 20s- he was outstanding.
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