Professor Sharon

Now, you realize I’m only on Day 1 of this amazing trip that we just got back from?  Stick with me – it’ll be worth it!

I want to just tell you about the Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon.  What a treasure!  After an organized tour morning of the Belem Tower, Monument to the Discoverers, Jerinomos Monistery, and the Quelez Palace, you would think we’d be exhausted.  Heck, no – okay, maybe – but we find the best way to deal with time changes and jet lag is to just power through as best you can – and so we did.

The afternoon was free as we were to discover was going to be a general pattern with this Odysseys tour. Some were whole afternoons, some just a couple of hours.  But today we had the whole afternoon.  The bus dropped us off at the Museum.  It costs 10 euros each to get in, and it was very much worth it.

First, let me say that the cafe was delightful!  We stopped there first for a light lunch and ate on their lovely patio.  It was raining a bit, but nothing serious and large umbrellas were provided.  It was clear already that Lisbon lives a lot of life out of doors and is prepared for it.

Me enjoying the cafe lunch – check out the delicious small tomato stuffed with “real” tuna…

When we travel I write small notes about our day, and here’s what I wrote about this museum:  “A wonderful gem.”  Did I say that already?  Well, I’m happy to repeat it – very lovely!  The website has some more history about the museum, and a lovely page of online pieces to enjoy. There were sculptures, paintings, treasures from far and wide collected by Bulbenkian and donated to the city.

Lalique piece

The room devoted to Lalique was our absolute favorite!   Here’s a few photos we took. One of the things that we were surprised by on this trip was the amount of Art Nouveau we saw throughout our visit.  We knew, of course, Barcelona had much to share, but we were delighted to find quite a bit throughout the rest of our tour.

Sharon pretending she owns the dragonfly….

For my next birthday, please?

A few other pieces from this lovely museum for your viewing pleasure:

Oops…we usually take a photo of the artist plague – forgot…

After enjoying the museum all afternoon, we had a walk back to the hotel – many blocks, but the rain had eased up and we were up for some exercise.   We didn’t find anything to snack as we went along; so we went back to the hotel and brewed up some of our own tea and snack that we carry with us.

That evening we went to the Clube (casa) de Fado on the recommendation of the local tour guide that was with us; and it wasn’t all that good at all.  About twelve of us from the group went – the food was a lot and pretty decent, but over the course of two hours and about four courses of food, two women sang two songs each.  A bit of a rip off for sure – it cost 50 euros each.   Hubby and I knew that if we had more days on our own in Lisbon, we would have searched further and found more song and less fancy dinner.  Their website claims lots of good reviews, but I don’t recommend it.

But, we were exhausted by now, so a shared taxi back and to bed for only Day #2!