Portugal Day 2

Continuing with our holiday we awoke to find that most of Portugal was on strike. Before leaving the the hotel we asked where the protesters were planning to be in the hopes of some how avoiding them while we explored the city. We were told that the protesters were planning a huge rally in the afternoon so we jump in a taxi and headed out to a another neighborhood mentioned in our guide books.



Cable cars parked because of the strike:(



















Gateway onto one of the side streets















Same gateway and I was wondering if the car would fit thru. It did but just barely:)


















Elevador de Santa Justa is a Neo-Gothic lift built in the early 20th century.
















View from the elevator and I think this is the only family picture taken of all of us on this trip:).













Another view of the city from the top of the elevator.













A walk way at the top of the elevator takes you to the burnt ruins of the Carmo church. This church was destroyed during the 1755 earthquake and left as a reminder of the devastation of that event.


























Around mid day we started to see signs lining the square about the strike and more and more people gathering in the city square.
















Strikers gathering















TV crews filming and a few police offers starting to show up.











Pretty much at this point we decided it was time to get out of Dodge as they say. The kids were tired of walking, and if you haven't guessed already Lisbon is a very hilly place and those cobble streets are pretty hard on your knees so we headed for a open top tourist bus to take us around the area. We all enjoyed listening to the history of Lisbon and seeing even more tile work and the archetiture style of the city.


Down town train station













City prison













Colorful neighborhood











Tiles on buildings




















This is a partial picture of the President's House, the guards posted outside.











I am linking this post up to the Home school Field trip hop