After visiting Nazare, I continued my drive to Lisbon, arriving at dusk. I had rented a room in a renovated Medieval building in the Alfama district, the oldest part of Lisbon.

I had some difficulty finding the building in the confusing streets of Alfama, it turned out it was on a short dead-end extension of another street. My room was only a half a block from the National Pantheon, which loomed over the neighborhood.

What is a Pantheon? Here it is a building where famous Portuguese are entombed or memorialized with cenotaphs. The building itself has an interesting history, construction was started in 1681 as the Church of Santa Engrácia. Construction was soon abandoned, then resumed in fits and starts. In 1916 it was made into the National Pantheon, but the central dome was not completed until 1966. The architecture is very different from the typical Catholic churches of the era, being laid out as square rather than rectangular, and lacking the flying buttresses and their interior niches or chapels. There is an interior balcony surrounding the nave which is accessible by climbing the long flights of stairs. The balcony provides access to the terrace, actually the roof of the building. The terrace provides excellent views of the surrounding area including the docks.

Having only a few hours left to see the city, I hired a ride on one of the "put put" motorized rickshaws that, together with their drivers, have been imported from India. This provided a convenient means of seeing much of the Alfama district. Particularly convenient because so much of Lisbon is very hilly and I'd have given up before reaching the important locations, mostly on the hilltops. Given my time restraints, I had no chance to see the other districts of Lisbon, that will have to wait for a possible future trip.

Following my ride, I toured the Church/monastery of São Vicente of Fora, a more traditional cathedral started around 1582. A truly gigantic building, in addition to the traditional nave, it is chock-full of rooms, corridors, cloisters and more, all extensively decorated with walls of glazed tile mosaics showing historical scenes. Like the Pantheon, it has an accessible roof, and I convinced myself to climb up the 26 or so meters to see the view. (Having been in the broadcasting business has given me an appreciation of high places...) There was, as I expected an excellent view, including of the Pantheon, only a few blocks away.

Twice a week, there is a flea market in the grounds surrounding the Pantheon, and I was there to view it. Curiously, the Google Arts and Culture page describes the "Flee Market". I saw nothing there that would make me flee.

That evening, I had dinner at a nearby restaurant which had a live performance of Fado, true ethnic Portuguese music.