Finally, A Nice Day

Finally, A Nice Day

15 days in Portugal and we finally had a beautiful day, a bit cold but dry after 10AM. It seems everyone in Lisbon felt the same way, as the streets were packed with people. We went out for a “random exploring” trip using our transit cards and headed towards the water, then walked back in towards the city. Without much thought put into it, we ended up in the Alfama, an old section of town with a blanket of tourists on everything. It was a bit of work to take some snaps without tourists in them, mostly looking up.

Alfama

One thing that nice for photography – with the tight streets and the interesting rooftops, the shadows were intriguing, especially with the ancient walls.

Alfama Shadow

And then there were the beautiful skies over the rooftops. It felt like a dreary curtain over the city had been lifted after two weeks.

Lisbon

Many people have washing machines but no dryer, so clothes hang outside to dry. The break in the weather meant clothes hanging everywhere as weeks of wash needed to be finished.

Alfama Wash

Lisbon occasionally provides scenes reminiscent of San Francisco. Well not quite, the steps are pretty unique to Lisbon. This unfolded in front of me as I walked down the steps and had to turn around and take a photo.

Handstand

Wandering back onto the main streets, there were Sunday mini-festivals in squares and along the boulevards. One was a market with mostly sausages and cheeses at each stand and an accordion band. Another was a DJ and lots of couples dancing, probably ecstatic to be outside without umbrellas and raincoats.

Lisbon Dancers

Tomorrow we are expecting a bit more rain but the rest of the week should be conducive to outdoor wandering.

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