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On our last morning we went to the tile museum housed in a former
convent by the river, a beautiful and varied displays of azulejos. It is
the only collection of its kind in the world, and some tiles date back to
the fifteenth century. Its highlight is a display of 1300 tiles, 23 metres
in length, depicting the cityscape of Lisbon from 1738, before the
earthquake in 1755. This spot is definitely worth a visit. In the afternoon
I visited the Gulbenkian museum with beautiful displays of Egyptian,
Roman, and Greek art, Lalique vases and jewelry, among many other
things.
On our last morning we took a walk around the downtown of Lisbon;
we were now feeling comfortable about finding our way around. The
last few days had been rainy, but this was a nice morning. However, that
afternoon there was such a downpour that the man-hole covers on the
streets were popping off, and the extreme amount of water was causing
small foot-high fountains to spring up. Some of the subway stations
had to be closed because of flooding; there were about six inches of
water on the roads, all running down the hills to the river! Our driver
who was taking us to the airport was quite tense as he had to navigate
roads that had quickly become rivers, plus other frantic traffic.
We flew to the Azores, to Ponta Delgada on the most populated island,
São Miguel. The hotel where we stayed had a gold maple leaf on the
wall in the lobby; a Canadian was part owner of the hotel. We explored
the town that morning, and visited the military museum – it had great
lookouts to the ocean. That afternoon we left for Canada, but the stop
in the Azores broke up the transatlantic flight very nicely.
Portugal is a varied and interesting country with many historic sites,
and many areas are unspoiled. If you like seafood, this is the country
to visit.

Lisbon: Luso nightclub – Portuguese national costumes.

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