An urban hike was our plan for today.  Simply, we walked,  a little more than a mile, to a park on the west side of Lisbon call Jardim Estrela, Garden of the Star.  The inner center is super crowded with Easter tourists so it was good to go a little bit out. For those of you who know Lisbon, we got on Garret street and just kep going west.  First we stopped for a quick coffee at a stand up place which really helped me feel a little clearer.  I love seeing the river in the distance from the tops of some corners:

The walk seemed down down down until we arrived at a large impressive govenment building–the Palace of the Republic.  Complete with 2 armed guards in front and a strange looking mural just across the street.  I know nothing about Portuguese politics but it is really interesting to know that they just became a democracy in 1974—like yesterday!  I heard a couple speaking Italian and talked to them a mement.  Cannot wait to get to Italy and talk more.

The variety of the tiles on the buildings is impressive.  Here’s my favorite of today:

Walking on, our route began to climb again which I (and my knees) much prefer to the decending.  The large park was busy.  We finally sat on a bench for a while watching the families, kids on little bikes zooming by and a young people’s exercise group.

The church of the Sacred Heart was right across the street.  Funny, I loved this church.  Although it was fairly typical—full of beautiful paintings and sculptures, it felt somehow “holy” to me.  I lit a candle for our new baby grandchild, expected next week.  I particularly love this very pretty Mary:

On the way back we stopped at a little grocery store and then a bread bakery.  Noticing they had food too, we sat down for a great, hearty vegetable soup.  I also ordered a salad with tuna.  Strange—it had a layer of boiled potatoes on the bottom topped with canned tuna and sliced tomatoes and some black olives.  No lettuce at all.  Oh well…   I’ve gotta say it was hard to not to stop to get egg tarts but we resisted.

After some rest time, we took off in the other direction and found ourselves back in the little park where Jose Saramago house and olive tree are.  We kept walking on the outskirts of the Alfama district, window shopping.  I loved these voodoo dolls:

Walking back I spotted Cantinho do Avillez and we stopped in there to ask about dinner reservations for the next night.  We sat in a window and had some drinks.  Happy as clams.

Back at the apartment Ken tore into our bread and cheese and pork products and other stuff from the grocery store.  We both prefer Italian prosciutto to this particular ham.

In all the shops and stops we heard folks wishing each other Boa Páscoa–which sounds like “Bow Pashqua”  and our hotel left us 2 chocolate bunnies which made a yummy dessert.  Happy Easter and Passover, my friends.