Last Moments in Lisbon...

Along the way to the botanical gardens, we saw a nice view of the St George’s Castle...

...and the funicular that makes the short journey up the steep hill.

The gardens were small, but a peaceful place to escape the bustle of the city.

We picked up lunch, in fully biodegradable packaging, from an incredibly small vegan café and ate it in a park near this funky tree being supported by a ring of metal.

Took a few more photos along our last walk down to our apartment to grab our luggage and head to the airport.

We were happy to meet Ashlynn at the airport just as planned. I was relieved and happy that her first solo trip was a success.

More Historic Lisbon...

On our final day in Lisbon, we decided to take the historic street car for a loop around the historic district. It was nice idea, but the execution wasn’t great as it was so crowded we couldn’t sit and then it got stuck while workers repaired the electrical lines. Lucky for me, we hopped off right in front of a small jewelry shop where I found the perfect pair of earrings made of cork.

Once back on foot, we visited several churches and this lovely viewpoint...

...with a massive tiled wall.

This tiled entryway even had tiled planter boxes.

The National Theatre D Maria II was built in 1848 in the neoclassical style. Rossio Square featured an optical illusion depending upon which way you viewed the mosaic as here it looks like the ground is wavy...

...but here it is flat.

One of the funniest places we happened across looked at first like some kind of circus-themed candy store. What a surprise to find that the entire store sold just one thing: canned sardines.

We were so enthralled by the colors and displays that we never stopped to consider that we were never even offered a taste of these traditionally cheap fish, but that didn’t stop us from paying a premium to buy my dad a can with his birth year shown on a new can of fish.

Electricity Museum...

Next door was the old Tejo Power Station, a thermoelectric plant built in 1914, expended in 1951, shut down in 1975 and converted to a museum in 1990 to present the evolution of energy.

It was incredible to walk next to the gigantic boilers and other equipment, all of which were shiny clean.

To add to the atmosphere, there was a laser show on the walls.

There were also a few rooms of art as overflow from the MAAT next door. This castle was made out of cigarette cartons.

Later we walked a bit further west to see Belem Tower (a defensive tower built in 1519), the Monument to the Discoveries (a statue built in 1960 of Portuguese explorers) with this large map on the ground in front...

...and Jeronimos Monastery (built in 1601, secularized in 1833 and now housing a church and several museums).

After dinner on our terrace, we came across this entrance while in search for a cocktail bar.

MAAT: Museum of Art, Architecture, Technology...

Our next destination was MAAT, which opened in 2016. The building was cool both inside and out.

In the main hall were giant spheres that reacted to music and sound in an exhibit called A Thermodynamic Imaginary by an Argentinian artist.

The other exhibit, in collaboration with several other European museums, was The Eco-Visionary Project: Art and Architecture after the Anthropocene focusing on critical visions in the face of the environmental transformations that affect the planet. While many of the pieces showed scary, negative views of the damage climate change can wreak, they also showed creative solutions to solve this huge challenge facing us all.

As you can see, it was hard to stop taking photos of this incredible building.

LX Factory Street Art...

There was art scattered all over the complex. Some deep but with typos...

...some likely to provoke nightmares...

...some beautiful and others confusing...

...and some political.

Awesome Repurposed Industrial Complex...

Our destination was LX Factory, once a threads and fabric manufacturing complex in 1846 and now a vibrant mixture of restaurants, stores, galleries and creative service companies. As it was Sunday, the LX Market of handmade crafts was taking place.

Ironically, we ended up choosing to have lunch at Mez Cais, a Mexican restaurant with a wrestling theme. Margaritas and tacos seemed like a strange choice in Portugal, but the food was delicious and we enjoyed having a chat with the owner.

There were lots of opportunities to take photos of Veronica, such as in front of the restaurant...

...and in this incredible bookstore.

Ler Devagar (meaning Read Slowly) moved to this former printing facility in 2009. It’s so cool that they kept some of the old equipment in the vast space housing 40,000 new and 10,000 used books.

Veronica is always happy when visiting a bookstore.

There was also lots of cool street art scattered around the complex. 

Exploring Further...

The next day we took a train to the western part of the city where we saw this cool art at the station...

...and these dolphins below the 25 de Abril Bridge. We also caught sight of Christ the King, the 260-foot (79 meters) statue built in 1959.

Our path turned inland as we went in search of a vegan restaurant Veronica found on the Happy Cow app. Along the way, we saw some more colorful buildings.