Thursday 10/31/2024 

Woke up at 6 and went to breakfast – a very nice buffet with great coffee. Met some fellow pilgrims and chatted over coffee. Weather is forecast in the 60’s and cloudy with a slight chance of rain.  At 9:30 we assembled in the lobby and were greeted by our tour guides Rafaela and Jorge.  We boarded the mini-bus with the gang and we were off to the Castle of St. George. The bus let us off and we hiked a loooooong uphill cobblestoned street/sidewalk/square to the ticket area.  There was already a line for tickets, but we bypassed and went right in.  Rafaela then lectured on the History of Lisbon and Portugal. We had great views of the city.

 

 

Our hotel is where the green parks meet

 

 

Selfie atop the hill of St. Jorge

 

Then we walked down the hill over the cobblestones, amid the traffic and throngs of tourists. We passed by the tile shop Rafaela recommended and so, Shirley turned aside to shop.

 

 

Artist at work – original stuff

 

 

A happy shopper

 

As we continued to descend though the old city, we were regaled with tales of the History of Portugal and their kings (worthless and not) as well as Pombol, The (Prime) Minister – who reconstructed Lisbon after the 1755 earthquake. (It happened on November first by the way.)

 

More shops, great views, history lessons and chit-chat among the group happened throughout the descent. We stopped by a couple of favorite stores – a coin shop, a watch shop, a book store and an ice cream shop.  

 

 

Brian and Karl at the coin shop

 

 

Naino exiting the watch shop (empty-handed)

 

 

Shirley and Rafaela in front of the world’s oldest (still running) bookstore

 

We met our bus for the 30 minute ride to lunch.  Chef Jose Avillez is a Michelin rated restauranteur. We ate at Bairro de Avillez, one of his four establishments (the one not Michelin 2 star rated) and were treated to some great Portuguese dishes.  We had a great variety of items to choose from including a Bra's Cod with exploding olives to Shrimp Acorda (a must-try) to grilled octopus and varieties of chicken. Wine flowed of course.

 

 

Bairro de Avellez

 

We walked a lot more down into the city.  Lots of people, shops and vistas. On a sad note, one of our party was pick-pocketed and lost his wallet.  Lessons were learned (the hard way).

 

We wound our way back to the mini-bus and back to the hotel.  Some had a short nap before Brian texted an opportunity to go to the 7 PM All Saints vigil Mass at St. Sebastian, a 17 minute walk from the Hotel.  We met in the lobby and were off.

 

 

This was a small, but very beautiful church in the neighborhood. The priest was very joyful and passionate which came through even though we didn’t understand a word he said. 

 

After Mass we speed-walked to Pateo 51, another outstanding restaurant near our Hotel. The Mass goers arrived 20 minutes late for our reservation, but they held it and we had a very nice dinner.

 

We were back to the Hotel at 11 PM and collapsed into bed.  14,119 steps today and 11 slights fo stairs! Whew!