Bits and Bobs

As Winter continued we fell into a pattern of doing small but vital jobs on the boat and picking places to visit. We also enjoyed our small part of the river at Parque de Nacoes.We enjoy walking along the river towards the vasco de Gama bridge, there are often interesting boats berthed along the wall outside the Marina. This is the three masted schooner Santa Maria Manuella. which started life supporting long line fishermen on the Grand Banks. She now sails with charter crew to Maderia and back.

The photo below shows the Vasco de gama bridge, and the modernistic architecture of the Expo site.

While wandering around the old town in the city we came across this shop.

It sells only Sardines......

But in a sort of Willie Wonka way....

Isnt it fabulous?

One of the jobs we had to get done was to have our liferaft serviced, this was done very efficiently by a local firm we were told about by our OCC port officer. Good for another three years.

We were blessed with a lot of nice weather in January and we made the most of it by re exploring places we had previously visited but missed a bit.

One of these was the Parque Eduardo VII in central Lisbon, that's the English Edward the 7th by the way.

Hidden away to the right of this picture is the Estufa Fria or Greenhouse, this is a little hidden gem and is built on the site of an old quarry.

The term "greenhouse" is possibly misleading as it actually covers several acres, almost invisible from the park it is full of exotic flora in different environments, desert, jungle etc.

Also a touch of Jurrasic Park (Black Edge Beanie again )

As you walk around it is possible to walk out to see the duckpond. The small building opposite holds an exhibition of dinosaurs.

Its possible to get lost in the many grottos within the gardens.

The entrance fee includes entrance to the dinosaur exhibition, it is also possible to have an event staged within the greenhouse as a large venue is available, when we were there it was being prepared for a wedding...

The exhibition is small but interesting.

We hope never to meet one of these in the flesh!

Life in the Marina was coldish until the sun was up then it was really very pleasant.

I installed more 12 volt charging points for our increasing number of phones, tablets, and other tech which needs USB charging. I also replaced all the interior lights for LED ones which are far brighter and more efficient.
We arranged to be hauled out so we could antifoul the boat for the coming season. We agreed with Alex at the small yard here to come out for a week on the 8th March. Meanwhile we bought some good antifouling paint locally, even with a 10% discount 7.5 litres cost us an eyewatering 360 euros.

We did get some free stirring sticks though!

Museum of Costume and Theatre

Even further afield was the museum of costume, this needed us to go further on the Metro than we had been before and then a walk to find the museum.

This is housed in a country house which is worth the visit by itself, slightly run down and crumbly it is set in extensive and beautiful grounds, there is also another house in the grounds which houses the museum of theatre.

The day started slightly cloudy but soon cheered up.

It is possible to get very close to the exibits, and examine the intricate tailoring and stitching, its  also possible to cop a crafty feel............

The rooms of the former villa are very lovely and compliment the costumes perfectly. Information is provided in English and when we visited for a time we were definitely the only visitors as the attendant had to go in front of us and switch on the lights!

Lynne is very interested in clothes and seemed a bit disappointed that you cant actually try things on....

A nicely presented and interesting collection from 18th 19th and 20th centuries set in a stunning villa.
After looking at the collection we carried on to explore the grounds. Its possible to buy tickets for each museum or the grounds, we bought a combined ticket for all.

The grounds are extensive and there are several cafes to sit end enjoy a beverage, again as we were well off the tourist track and it was January it wasn't exactly crowded.

The gardens were established in the 19th century by a family whose home was the villa housing the clothes museum. some of the larger trees mainly exotics are very large indeed!

I may have said this before but Lisbon constantly amazes me because of the amount of green space in a capitol city.

The gardens have a slightly Italianate feel, you could be in Tuscany. We walked along the many paths and were helped by our map (you do need this) to find the other museum, Museum of Theatre.

This again is housed in an imposing villa and has recently undergone extensive renovation.

The staff could not have been more helpful, I don't know if we were unusual but an English speaking member of staff seemed to be attached to us and pointed out many exibits.

There was a guide tour going on but unfortunately it was in Portugese, so our English speaking helper was invaluable.

A lot of the exibits were costumes, which need no translation.

There are interesting displays and models of Lisbon Theatres.

Also a large collection of puppets.

Sancho Panza and Don Quixote.

Our assistant insisted we avail ourselves of the dressing up box, Lynne didn't take much persuading, she loves dressing up!

 We wandered back into the grounds which have large mobiles of exotic creatures along with a small maze.

I have no idea what they can be used for.

But they don't look totally out of place, we had a coffee in the small cafe in the beautiful pink villa.

By this time the sun had come out and the grounds were looking splendid.

We explored the many sculptures to be found in the gardens giving the Black Edge Beanie an airing!

A bit off the tourist trail but in our opinion a hidden gem.

We reluctantly left for the walk to the Metro station, the gardens alone are worth the visit, the different museums are each fascinating in their own way.

Further Afield (a corner of a foreign one)

One of the places we have always wanted to visit is the English Cemetery. This is a rather lovely green space in the Estella area. It is only open on certain days and closes early so we needed an early start to get there on the Metro. Luckily the weather continued fine and sunny.

I suppose some may consider a cemetery a bit morbid but I have always found them interesting, This particular plot is know as the English cemetery as being protestants we were not able to be buried in Portuguese churches. Of course other nationality's are represented.

There are also a few war graves, immaculately kept as we have come to expect worldwide.

It is a peaceful and restful space and in a peculiar way does in fact feel English, signs are in English, there are privets and obviously the residents are invariably from the grey isles.......

Of course some of the exceptions are very interesting characters............
As the place closes early in the afternoon we decided to walk to the terminus of our favourite tram, the 28. This is at Prazeres, or the "Pleasures" in Portugese. How nice would that be?

 On the way is a fairly modern church in a square which Lynne was keen to visit as there is a market there, its the building in the background of the photo. It turned out to be nothing special so we wandered towards the tram stop looking for somewhere we could have lunch.

I have no idea what a pedibus is but would love to know...... we found a small cafe for lunch just outside yet another cemetery, This was actually the Prazare or Pleasures, a strange name for a graveyard. The cemetery was formed after an epidemic forced the authority's to  abandon the usual practise of burial within chuches due simply to numbers.

It is very extensive and follows normal practise of above ground internment in small mausoleums.

We visited the small chapel in the centre of the grounds which had a small exhibition of photographs about the death and funeral of the last King.

The chapel itself is very plain for a Portuguese place of worship but was non the less very attractive.

While we were visiting a series of youth military groups came to parade and have a small ceremony commemorating a General whose tomb was in the cemetery. It was the trumpet playing that had drawn our attention to the cemetery in the first place.

There also was a small coterie of veterans in attendance.

Some of the mausoleums are incredibly elaborate.

Lynne still finds the whole thing rather creepy!
One of the more unusual was this marble workbench, obviously commemorating a woodworker.

If you look closely the detail is amazing there are tools scattered on the bench and the workmanship is superb.

Overlooking the river and the Suspension bridge is the firemans cemetery. You can see Christo Rei on the horizon.

We were well off the tourist track but once we had jumped on a number 28 it rattled us back to the centre of Lisbon where we got off at the plaza Commercio before catching a bus home.

You can tell its January because Lynne has her coat on!