Castelo and Sé

With a day of gorgeous, Manueline architecture under our belts, we trekked across the city and up winding stairs to our old neighborhood where we stayed last time to visit old favorites. First we stopped at Castelo São Jorge where we relaxed outside the castle walls, taking in the sunshine and the views of the city while reminiscing about things we love about Lisboa. Crossing the bridge into the castle walls, we explored every nook and cranny. Atop of the walls the boys peered over battlements at the drops below and through arrow slit thingies, marveling at the thickness of the walls. We then wound our way through narrow streets to Pois Café, our favorite coffee shop, for a mid-afternoon snack and meia de leit, before crossing the street to the Sé (cathedral) where we beelined back to the cloisters to see the archeological dig with its layers of Iron Age settlements under Roman settlements under Moorish settlements, and the generally-extremely-cool-old stuff contained within. We ogled over the ancient sarcophagi with their dogs at their feet chewing on chicken feet and heads, and wondered what the books the young princesses were reading for all of eternity said. Happy with our visits to old favorites, we followed familiar paths back across the city to our apartment for the evening.

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