At the risk of boring you I’m going to post some more pictures taken on day two of my wander around Alfama. It is an extraordinarily photogenic place. Wherever one looks there are beautiful, quaint or curious things to see. Despite doing a bit more reading around the subject I’ve failed to find explanations as to why this area survived the earthquake. It seems to be built on rock so maybe that’s the reason.
Steps abound, too are countless tiny ginnels with great names such as Alley of Canes. Another jewel in the Alfama crown is the Lisbon tram system. I’m awed at the site of a tramcar pushing itself between buildings with less than a metre on either side! The way the dip down into streets and haul themselves back up is fascinating too. When writing about train journeys a little while ago I hadn’t thought about trams. They too are essentially romantic for travellers, especially the ones with older cars such as Lisbon or Graz. And as with trains most of the passengers are simply going about their daily business.
We said our goodbyes to Lisbon yesterday lunchtime and we all set off for Almoster, a small town about 70km ENE of the capital. We had a treat in store but that’s for another post …
