Cool and Not So Cool Street Art...

Along the waterfront in search of a restaurant for dinner, we passed a lot of street art on the decaying old warehouses.

We enjoyed watching sunset over the city and the 25 de Abril Bridge, a suspension bridge built in 1966 by the same company that built the San Francisco Bay Bridge with the upper level for cars and the bottom level for the train.

Ruins, Sangria and Ferries...

Next to the elevator was the Carmo Convent, built in 1423 and ruined by an earthquake in 1755.

It has been a museum since 1864, with many of the  arches and outer walls rebuilt in 1912.

It’s always fun to come across a selfie mirror while wandering around, including at the ruins of the convent...

...and in front of a riverfront bar.

We stopped in one of those riverfront bars for a carafe of sparkling sangria, however, instead of taking a photo of us on the terrace, I took one of the bathroom full of cool antiques instead.

We followed our innkeeper’s advice and took a ferry across the Tagus River to Cacilhas, which was home to Lisbon’s shipyards until the 1990s.

Exploring Lisbon...

Our apartment was conveniently located near a train station and within easy walking distance of the historic district. This was my favorite street art in our neighborhood.

More examples of a building needing renovation...

...and those that have already been updated.

The historic center is hilly and colorful.

We went up the Santa Justa Lift, built in 1902, for fantastic panoramic views over the city. 

Off to Lisbon...

When researching our travel plans, I was happy to see that Transavia had very affordable flights to Madeira. However, their return flights were over twice as expensive. Luckily TapPortugal’s fare was more reasonable for our return and I was thrilled to learn that they offered free layovers in either Lisbon or Porto. Thus, we were able to add a two-night stay in Lisbon for less than the Transavia flight would have cost even after considering the cost of our additional accommodation.  

The big difference with this leg of our trip was that Ashlynn was going solo. Since she knew she’d soon be travelling on her own for modelling, she wanted to sample what that would be like. She said good-bye to us at Lisbon Airport and headed off to a hostel for two nights of exploring on her own. She even went to some churches as well as the aquarium and a DJ event.

Veronica joined Jimmy and me in a very nice apartment built in a restored traditional 19th century building (ours had the two white dormer windows on the left). 

The owner had thought of everything and gave us some great recommendations. 

We enjoyed our breakfasts and one dinner on our charming rooftop terrace. 

While our building had been lovingly renovated, the one across the street was completely bricked up. Lisbon was definitely a strange combination of restored and decrepit.

Final Night in Madeira...

We enjoyed yet another grilled vegan dinner on our final night in Madeira complete with our usual bolo do caco and Madeira wines.

We also enjoyed the heated pool on that beautiful night...

...and the show put on by the lunar eclipse at moonrise.

Hills, Art, Lizards and Bananas...

While the family was off diving, I went in search for some art. It was quite a steep walk up the streets from the beach to get to MUDAS Contemporary Museum of Art, which is the gray building at the top.

Of course, the views were great.

It was a small museum, but there were some cool pieces.

On the walk down I spotted these colorful lizards.

I found a different route that went along a small levada.

This refrigerator has clearly been repurposed.

There were banana trees among the houses. As I still had time to kill when I got back to the beach, I sat at a café and started writing an article about our trip for the AWC.

Diving in Madeira...

Since the water temps were cold enough to require thick wetsuits, I once again watched my family head off to go scuba diving without me.

It’s just as well that I didn’t go, because both girls loved the dives but they were very cold. They went down to 95 feet (29 meters) on the first dive and 65 feet (20 meters) on the second. There was no coral, but lots of eels, crabs and fireworms on the rocks. They especially enjoyed seeing a sea turtle and a ray. 

I enjoyed seeing their boat in the distance from two vantage points. If you look very carefully you’ll see them in the middle of this one...

...and then moving between dive sites.