Have really enjoyed our stay in Lisbon; we’ve found people friendly and the city interesting – the architecture, the history and the general vibe; there’s more here to explore than we’ve had time for on this trip.

The Rossio railway station

Dom Pedro IV square – with blooming jacarandas

Looking down on Dom Pedro IV square from the top of the Santa Justa elevator

Detail from a staue in Comércio Square

Inside the Estrela Basilica

The Santa Justa Elevator

Rua Augusta Arch

We ‘ve done a bit of wandering on our own, as well as a city tour yesterday and really not scratched the surface.

Sardines – not my favourite (or John’s) but in the spirit of eating local…

A new concept: “snack size” beer

Nata – the famous custard tart – and very good it was too

Some sour cherry liquer advertising – it was a least better than the almond ‘wine’ we tried in Sicily!

A selection if sheeps’ milk cheese

We flew from Milan to Lisbon yesterday morning.  We’ve never been to Portugal before so everything for this leg of the trip will be new.  

It was a sunny Sunday afternoon when we got settled and the world was out and about so we joined them! Our Hotel is on the Avenida Liberdade in the historic centre – and seems walkable for lots of things.

Lisbon is hilly – we took a funicular up the hill behind the hotel thinking we’d get a viewpoint but there doesn’t seem to be any one viewpoint. It was interesting tho’ – we wandered through what seemed to be a migrant neighbourhood – lots of african women in bright prints and indian women in equally bright garb and interesting music and food aromas. We eventually wound up back in the heart of the tourist area – all grand squares, historic buildings (some a bit tatty round the edges) and statues of kings.  While the city has a nice feel and clearly there are lots of tourists, it’s also clear that there’s not the wealth here that there is in Milan or other major italian cities.

Today we had our food walking tour which got us into a residential neighbourhood called Estrela outside the city centre.  We sampled everything from almond pastries fresh from the oven, sour cherry liquer, nata (portugese custard tarts), samosas and a variant of vindaloo curry (from Goa – which was a portugese colony) to fava beans, sardines and salt cod, as well as portugese wines and beer.  There were 6 of us plus 2 guides so we walked between various small restaurants, cafes, hole in the wall bars, bakeries, shops and a small market – by the end we were all truly full!  The company running the tour (Culinary Backstreets) also operate in other places including Naples, Istanbul and Tokyo and we’d definitely use them again.  Needless to say we didn’t need dinner tonight!

Instead we went for a walk in time to see the parade for the local football team – who won the Portugese championship on Saturday.  Much horn tooting, chanting and flag waving!  Portugal also won the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday – it was the other major newspaper headline today.

As usual some pictures will follow.

Entrance to kids design exhibit at the Triennale – the eyes move!
Colours in the staircase in the Triennale

Stained glass in the Duomo

O’Connell’s bar, Via Brera

The Duomo – always amazing!

La Scala – no we didn’t go! And it’s smaller than you’d think

Galleria Vittorio Emmanuele II – fundmentally a fancy shopping arcade

An iconic Milan tram

Via Fiori Chiari – in the Brera area and where we’ve found some nice spots to eat

Tonight is our last in Milan – tomorrow morning we’ll be heading for Lisbon.

It’s been nice to have unstructured time (group tours have their advantages but…) and as we were here 4 years ago we aren’t feeling the need to fit in lots of sight-seeing.  We are even in the same hotel so we’ve had a good idea of our way around. In a strange coincidence while checking in we bumped into a couple from Sydney we met on a walking tour around Lake Como 4 years ago.  Judy and Edward were about to start a self guided walk with the same compnay we just finished our Sicily tour with.  A very small world!

Anyhoo, we’ve had a nice 2 days – after the rainstorm the night we arrived it’s been mild and today was sunny.  Yesterday, after a walk through the castle we went to the Triennale di Milano which was described as a design museum.  We saw three exhibitions – the most interesting was also the most confronting – a collection of different works – film, photography and various installations on the theme of migration, covering everything from the migration of italians to the US in in the late 1800s through to the current refugee crises.  Very thought provoking and some amazing photography.  On a lighter note was a small exhibition about design of  italian childrens’ toys, games etc from about the 1920s on.  The last was a small architecture exhibit.

Today I was keen to go back into the Duomo and we thought we’d get to the ticket office when it opened at 8am and beat the crowds.  On the way were we passed by a parade of folk in what looked like the outfit of a catholic order of some kind.  Turned out that the Duomo was closed until 9 due to a ceremony involving them.  We were then directed to a different ticket office which wasn’t open, so we queued back where we were as it was supposed to open at 9.  Except at 9 that changed to 10. So off to a different spot to queue to be told that today we didn’t need a ticket.🤷‍♀️

So eventually we got in.  I wanted to see the stained glass; we went on the roof last time and it’s amazing but this time lots of the statues are behind scaffolding for restoration so we didn’t bother.  We are still a bit mystified as to the ceremony that was still going on when we got in but it seems to be something to do with the centenary of the vision of the Madonna by 3 children at Fatima in Portugal – which we visit as part of our next tour.

After that we had a bit of a wander around the shops including finding Via Montenapoleone, the most concentrated area of fancy brands I’ve ever seen – truly how the 1% shop!

We carried on strolling up to Corso Como to a design/clothes/book shop we visited last time – turned out they were exhibiting the best of the World Press Photos for the last yeat. It carried on the theme of interesting/confronting from yesterday but again, some of the photography was amazing.  Around Corso Como Milan was out – shopping, lunching etc – its a significant hike from the main tourist area around the Duomo so it felt quite relaxed and less frantic.

Looking forward to our last italian meal for awhile – although last night we went to a japanese restaurant which was great.

As usual some pictures will follow.

The weather was fabulous for all of the walk and our last day in Taormina was hot and sunny, with Etna really clear to the south.

We headed off relatively early for the climb up to Sant Maria della Rocca, perched on the hill behind the town.  It was a bit of a slog up stairs but the views were great.  We were going to climb up further to the Norman castle but the army had shut it off – the forthcoming G7 strikes again!

We spent the rest of the day getting a few bits and pieces in town, chilling in our apartment (and washing!).  Our final group dinner was at a restaurant nearby with yet again lovely seafood and local wines.

We transferred to Catania for the trip to Milan this morning.  The airport was chaos – Alitalia were having computer issues and security were having issues too so despite arriving early we literally got to the gate in time to board.  It’s supposed to rain in Milan for the next few days so expect it’ll be indoor sightseeing.

So below are some pictures – Etna from our balcony (again!😀), inside Sant Maria – John finally had change for a candle, coming down – that’s the castle at the top (the handrails had rusted and fallen over the side along a lot of the path no liabilty issues here!), and a couple of the Duomo and piazza.

Back in the land of fast Wifi – otherwise know as Milan!

Photos are the farmhouse and vineyard we visited – you can see how close the lava came!  And of the walk on Etna – invyhe beech woods and on the lava

Fortunately it wasn’t a walk up Etna but a walk on the slopes taking in woodland and one of the still barren lava flows from the 1981 eruption.

It was an interesting walk – lots of wild flowers, and also good views to the summit of the mountain and across the valley.
After the walk lunch was at a vineyard in the valley.  The 1981 lava flow covered some of their vines but in the way of bushfires, changed direction and didn’t cover the lot so they still produce a rosè from their old vines. The food was rustic, local and tasty and the wines interesting. And the pear brandy was rocket fuel!

Pics to follow…

 

 

Today was our free day in Taormina.  I’ll do another post about our walk at Mt Etna national park yesterday but today’s excitement was that today’s stage of the Giro d’Italia passed through Taormina.

Conveniently, the climb into the town passed near the end of our street. We got there about an hour early but it didn’t take long for a small crowd to form.  And you are very close to the riders – no safety barriers here! At the corner we were on there was a lone local policeman keeping spectators off the road, managing traffic and directing the larger advance vehicles around a very tight corner.

It’s quite a production with sponsors’ vehicles plastered with ads and blasting music, team advance cars, lots of polizia on motorbikes, roving merchandise vans and helicopters before the cyclists even arrive. And after come more team cars with lots of expensive bikes on their roofs and finally, bringing up the rear is a fleet of ambulances!

No idea who’s winning but here are some pics!