Walking the Alfama District

 Cricket and I Alfama walking tour

I am back in Lisbon and at the hostel it's been up and down last night people came back by 3 am and woke me up carried on till almost 4 am, I finally hit the wall and they stopped. I decided to take the free walking tour you just tip at the end what ever you think it is worth. I had breki which was crepes pretty good and some coffee. I went to my room and caught up on things and read since the tour was not leaving until 10.30. There were only a couple of people for the tour but we were leaving 6 more showed up. 

The guide was good and she knew her stuff  the tour was of the Alfama district of Lisbon. Lisbon's old town goes back to more than 1,000 years in the Morrish quarter of Alfama, which is Lisbon's oldest neighborhood. Like other Arab towns, Alfama was laid out in a maze of narrow, twisting streets and blind alleys with roofs that nearly touch either other to afford protection from the hot sun.  The walk was really uphill and downhill and I told them I am coming but I had to go slow down hill because my bad knee feels pressure going down. I really lost them at times but I would find them again around a bend, and sometimes members of the group would look to see if I was coming. We went up to a view point Miraduro de Santa Luzia we could see Lisbon quite well from this view point, even though it was cloudy it was clear. After the walking tour I decided to head out for awhile and hop the metro and choose a few areas to explore.

view from Miradouro de Santa Luzia

Música Tradicional de Portuga

outside someone's house

Coraco da be Alfama

I decided to visit Estrela Garden (Jardim da Estrela) which is located across from the Estrela Basilica it is considered the Central park of Lisbon. It was full of beautiful statues and palm trees and various other plants, even a banana tree also ponds with ducks and a cafe too. I walked through the park admiring the views and then I walked across the street to the Basilica, a man asked me if I wanted to visit the took so I bought a tickets somehow I thought there was an elevator NOT  I had to walk up the stairs and there were about 12 flights of 11 stairs each. I took my time climbing and got to the top where I had some good views I snapped photos of the Towers and by the clock. I headed down and went through the basilica. I then walked back to the park to the cafe by a pond got a pepsi and sat and enjoyed it and watched the ducks and relaxed. I had seen a bus marked Restauradores which I knew was the metro stop near my hostel so I walked to and checked the bus stops until I found where it left from and top the bus back, beat the long walk back to the metro.

Bell Tower

Looking inside Basilica from the roof

Up on the Roof

Estrela Basilica