Portugal, Spain and Dubai Day 5 Lisbon Portugal 20th Sept 25

Today was a free day on our itinerary, we were left to our own resources. That meant a slow start to the day.
Breakfast a bit after 9am, and we eventually made it out of the hotel some time after 11am. We walked down the street, Av. Da Liberdade, to have a look inside a big church that sat at Largo de São Domingos, just around the corner from Rossio Square. Egreja Sao Domingos is one of the city’s most historically rich and visually striking churches. Founded in 1241, it was the scene of a massacre of “new Christians” (converted Jews) by a mob in 1506. It was also tied to the Inquisition with Jesuit missionary Gabriel Malagrida executed there in 1761. It has survived earthquakes in 1531 and the great one in 1755, it was gutted by fire in 1959, destroying priceless art works. Instead of fully restoring the church after the fire they preserved the fire damage, including the scorched pillars and blackened walls, it looks very dark, but shows resilience at the same time.
After there, we went to have a look at the National Theatre Building, but unfortunately for us it is under repair. It is a building with a rich history including links to royalty and the Portuguese Inquisition. It was gutted by fire in 1964 and didn’t reopen until 1978. It was designated a National Monument in 2003.
Next went walk through Rossio Square, and looked at its fountains and central Monument column. The square is paved with the same optical illusion pattern of waves that we have seen throughout Lisbon.
We then walked across the road and had a look in the Lisbon Train Station. The station is built into a hill, all lines to it come via long tunnels under Lisbon’s suburbs.
We continued up the hill to have a look at Igreja de São Roque Lisbon. We had been told the chapel nearest the alter on the left was very special, unfortunately a private service of some sort was on, and access to that part of the church was restricted and we couldn’t see it. The church was constructed on a plague cemetery, and was dedicated to Saint Roch, the patron saint of plague victims. It is of the Baroque style, very ornate and bedazzled with gold. The ceiling is hand painted on timber boards. The chapel we wanted to see is world renowned, the Chapel of St. John the Baptist: Often called the “world’s most expensive chapel,” it was built in Rome with gold, ivory, lapis lazuli, and agate, then shipped to Lisbon and reassembled in 1752. It’s a pity we didn’t get to see it.
It was lunch time, so we walked back down the hill across the square and to a small cafe called Solar da Madalena, highly rated for its Bifana. I had a Bifana Tradicional (bread, pig meat & sauce) and Deb had a Bifana Com Queijo (bread, pig meat & cheese). I followed a local gastronomic custom and had a beer with mine, a Sagers Beer! This cafe reputably made some of the best Bifana in Lisbon, we can now tick that off our bucket list!
From there we walked down R. Augusta to Praca do Comercio on the foreshore of the Targus River. We were drawn there by a distant view of a large arch at the end of R. Augusta. On the way we saw something called the “Santa Justa Lift” on a side street – a stand alone highly decorated cast iron elevator, built in 1902. A very impressive looking structure that has a viewing platform at its top.
When we got there, the arch we could see from afar was very impressive, its name was Arco da Rua Augusta. It is a very ornate 18th century triumphant, highly decorated arch. There was also a large statue of King Jose I in the middle of the square.
On the river side of the square there is an ‘iconic” Lisboa sign. We got photos of it, and some with us on it. Was lots of fun.
We then walked back to our hotel. We went via one street back from the main road. We came across extremely long queues (maybe 300m each side of the theatre) of children and their parents lining up for a “Aorigem dos Rosa” show, the children and some of the parents had all the merch and colours of the group. (I gather its something like a Portuguese wiggles, but I could be wrong )
Around 4pm a protest march came down Av. Da Liberdade right in front of our hotel. We watched it for a while from our balcony. It took around 1hr for the march to pass our hotel. It was a march organised by the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers protesting about changes in labour laws, and specifically aiming to protect workers rights and collective bargaining.
And that finished a diverse sort of day.