We drove from Tarifa up to Sevilla and spent the night there. The hotel was pretty cool. We didn't spend any time in Sevilla, because we chose to explore Lisbon instead. We picked up an hour on the drive into Lisbon which helped us.
We had an extra hour before our tour started, so we went to see the new LDS temple being built. It is scheduled to be completed in September.
We quickly learned why they recommend you not drive in Lisbon. It was absolutely crazy! Poor Joel had to go to the bathroom really badly and we couldn't find our parking garage and the streets are tangled and not labeled. Our Apple maps was always about a minute behind and not showing all street options. We took so many wrong turns that we were an hour late to our tour. I have to tell you that once we actually got there Lisbon exceeded our expectations, and if we had extra time we would have loved to stay longer. We did a half day tour through Premium Tours and I can't recommend Herlander enough. He stayed and not only made up the hour we lost, but stayed beyond even that, so we could see everything we wanted to. He gave us an amazing tour and we got a full history of Portugal in the bargain. It was awesome! We first went to Belém. This district of the city is from where all the great ships embarked as they set around the world during the golden age of Portugal.
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| Belém Tower |
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| Monument to the Discoveries |
The jewel of this district is the Monastery of Jerónimos. We had enough time to go inside the cathedral portion of it.
It is the best example of "Manueline" architecture and it actually survived the tsunami after the Lisbon earthquake in 1755.
They may not look like much but Joel and I both agree that these pastéis de Belém were probably the single best thing we put in our mouth the entire trip. You can put cinnamon and sugar on top and they are warm and amazing!
We walked through the different neighborhoods of Lisbon: Chiado, Barrio Alto, Baixa, and the Alfama. Lisbon reminds me a lot of San Francisco with its trolley cars and hilly, winding roads. It just happens to have hundreds of years more of history.
Lisbon is called the city of 7 hills for a reason. We definitely walked straight up hill several times.
This is the main plaza: on the top right hand corner you can see the Alcazar - the old castle that overlooks the whole city. The views were absolutely spectacular. We had a lovely dinner and then headed further north in Portugal.
We had an extra hour before our tour started, so we went to see the new LDS temple being built. It is scheduled to be completed in September. 
It is the best example of "Manueline" architecture and it actually survived the tsunami after the Lisbon earthquake in 1755.
They may not look like much but Joel and I both agree that these pastéis de Belém were probably the single best thing we put in our mouth the entire trip. You can put cinnamon and sugar on top and they are warm and amazing!
We walked through the different neighborhoods of Lisbon: Chiado, Barrio Alto, Baixa, and the Alfama. Lisbon reminds me a lot of San Francisco with its trolley cars and hilly, winding roads. It just happens to have hundreds of years more of history. 
Lisbon is called the city of 7 hills for a reason. We definitely walked straight up hill several times. 
This is the main plaza: on the top right hand corner you can see the Alcazar - the old castle that overlooks the whole city. The views were absolutely spectacular. We had a lovely dinner and then headed further north in Portugal. 
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