Warning: Castles are Built on Top of Mountains

When Bobby posited for us to visit Castell de Montjuic on October 18th, I readily agreed.  Little did I know that we would be walking up a mountain for what seemed like hours to reach the castle.  We had two options: 1. ride the funicular up to the castle OR 2. walk and enjoy the views.  Can you guess which option we chose?  Can you guess which option we would choose if we were to do this again?  :)  Okay, enough complaining.  Although I was tired (and I wasn't pushing both kids on the stroller), it was worth the stroll (the term stroll used loosely here).  

We exited the metro stop at Espanya and walked up the hill past the Magic Fountain, the Palau National (National Art Museum of Catalonia), the Olympic Park (from the 1992 Olympics), and up to the Castle.  We got detoured a couple of times, but finally made it to the top.  We had about an hour in the castle before it closed.  There was not a lot to see of the castle, but the views of the city and port were nice.  In addition, it was free to enter which is always a selling point for us.  We were able to talk to Amelie about the purpose of a port and how ports operate.  Liam and Amelie loved racing from one end to the next.  We also walked through the grounds and climbed on the large guns.  When we asked Liam if he wanted to get out of the stroller to climb on the guns, you should have seen his face.  He lit up like we had offered him the moon.

After the castle closed we walked back down the hill, but this time through a more populated park.  After going on switch back after switch back we came to a slide.  Surprisingly, for the size and grade of the slide it was really slow.  We then decided we were tired of walking and caught a bus for the remainder of the ride down down to the main square.  

Our goal was to eat dinner and then go to the Magic Fountain.  As we drove by on the bus, we saw the Magic Fountain lit up.  I had done faulty research and thought the shows started at 9 p.m. and ran until 11 p.m.  With it being Fall, the hours were different.  Oops! We ate dinner at an overpriced street cafe, and then walked back to the Magic Fountain to discover we had missed the last show.  Although we missed the last show, we had fun being out again at night.  When traveling, you have to be flexible.  You have to roll with the punches.  We talked it over with Amelie and Liam and had no melt downs or tantrums.  I am thankful they are learning to be flexible as well. 

Amelie and Liam in front of Palau National.  This area rivals with Trocadero Square in Paris.
The palace on the hill with the many fountains and shaped hedges....pretty cool.

Climbing up hill on a less traveled road.

We made it to the castle entrance!!!

The moat was beautiful!  I loved the view across the moat to the sea.

View of the port.  We even heard cruise ships blowing their departure horns.

"On your mark, get set, GO!"

The view of the city right up against the Sea is remarkable.

Great views of the city.  Amelie can now point out Sagrada Familia on her own.

Palau National lit up at night.

The Alfama

The Alfama

Frommer’s Self-guided Walking Tour

Start: Praça do Comércio.

Finish: Castelo de São Jorge.

On August 12^th, we used Frommer to help guide us through the Alfama.  Included below is the information provided for us to follow (in italics) as well as some of our own anecdotes of our experience.   

The streets of the Alfama are best traversed on foot; but at times you must walk up steep stone stairs. Once aristocratic, this fabled section has fallen into decay. Parts of it still allow the visitor a rare opportunity to wander back in time, though.

We did take our stroller and were able to navigate fairly easily throughout the day.  However, we had a great workout as Amelie usually hops on the front of the stroller causing us to push double the weight.  We enjoyed Praca do Comercio as it allows for lots of free space to run.  We also stopped for a bite to eat before we began our quest of climbing more hills.

They were proud that they were both wearing bird shirts.

Liam loves spotting the fish everywhere!

Waiting on our food.  We asked for tap water and the waiter almost wouldn't bring it to us saying that it wasn't good for the children.  After he left Bobby said he probably went and got it from the toilet for us.  Amelie then proceeded to talk about drinking toilet water for the rest of our lunch. :/ 

From Praça do Comércio, opening onto the water at the foot of Rua Augusta, which splits the center of midtown Lisbon, head east along Rua da Alfândega, which links Lower Baixa to the southern tier of the Alfama. When you reach the intersection with Rua de Madalena, head north, or left, to the Largo da Madalena. The square is dominated by:

1. Igreja de Madalena

This church dates from 1783 and incorporates the Manueline portico of a previous church that was built on this site.

Take Rua de Santa António da Sé, following the tram tracks to the small:

2. Igreja de Santo António

Opening onto Largo de Santo António de Sé, this church is from 1812, and was built over the beloved saint's alleged birthplace. 

A few steps higher, and to the immediate southeast, stands:

3. Sé de Lisboa

This is the cathedral of Lisbon, opening onto the tiny Largo da Sé. One would think that the cathedral of a major European capital would be graced with a more impressive edifice, but what you see is what you get. 

Continuing east into the Alfama, go along Rua Augusto Rosa which becomes Rua do Limoeiro. You'll soon be at:

Amelie is loving climbing everything lately.  She found a tree with an impressive root system to climb into.

We saw the trolley go by many times...a couple of times wishing we were on it to help us walk uphill.

Beautiful street views in all directions.

4. Miradouro de Santa Luzia

This belvedere is the most famous in the Alfama. From this viewpoint, you can look down over the jumble of antique houses as they seemingly pile into the Tagus River. The once impressive church, Igreja de Santa Luzia, that opens onto this square has seen better days. The fine glazed tiles that once adorned the exterior have been carted off, leaving the church a rather sorry sight and the victim of graffiti.

Continue northeast into the:

5. Largo das Portas do Sol

On this square stands the Fundação Ricardo do Espírito Santo Silva, a museum of decorative art.

Loved this tile mosaic depicting the city with boats in the fore ground and the city with the castle on top in the background.

A short but steep climb from Largo das Portas do Sol via Travessa de Santa Luzia brings you to:

6. Castelo de São Jorge

The remains of this once grand fortification have been gussied up for tourists, but it's still the reason most visitors trek through the Alfama. The views alone are worth the effort to reach it, as they offer the greatest panoramas over Lisbon and the Tagus.

We ended our day touring through the Castle.  We love climbing up and down spiral stair leading to tall towers.  We also enjoyed seeing the beautiful views over the city.

Liam had been sleeping through much of the touring and woke up right when we arrived at the castle.

Amelie and Liam loved walking with the Peacock family.

An old dried up fountain:  our form of babysitting so we could get a moments peace.

Entrance of the castle.  

Liam waving at people saying "hi-ya" as they went by.  We didn't have the heart to tell him that was the wrong language.  He has now learned obrigado (thank-you) and hola.

Tile in the ruins of the palace portion of the castle...dates back WAY far (can't remember).

Enjoying the pretty views on top of a tower.

Walking along the walls of the castle were fun (and scary with littles ones too).  I held Liam for a good portion of it.

We walked back down the way we came to the Praca do Comercio and then to the train and then back to our apartment.

For the walking tour on it's own visit http://www.frommers.com/destinations/lisbon/0054020033.html#ixzz2cPiEJwNP

Visiting THE Castle in Edinburgh

Tickets to Edinburgh Castle are not cheap as this is one of the most touristy attractions to visit while in Edinburgh.  We were very strategic about planning our visit on a Monday instead of on a weekend day.  We did learn that on Saturday alone there were over 8,000 visitors to the castle!

Every day at 1:00 p.m. a gun is fired, and it is called the 1 o'clock gun for this reason.  After waiting in line for over an hour to enter the castle, we made it to the area 5 minutes before the shot was fired.  It was loud! We learned that the 'Time Gun' was established in 1861 as a time signal for ships in the Firth of Forth.  The gun could easily be heard by ships in Leith Harbor, 2 miles away. This allowed ships in port to accurately set their chronometers prior to sailing.  We live in Leith so that piece of information was fun for us to know.  Today when it is fired it is half as loud now as it was back in the day which is crazy for me to think about how loud it would have been back then.

We immediately joined a 30 minute tour that provided us with overall history and layout of the castle before we began exploring in depth.  Not only could we see areas of the castle as they once were, we were also able to peruse a couple of museums held within the walls.  These are the areas that we visited:  National War Museum of Scotland,  St. Margaret's Chapel, Mons Meg (a giant 6 ton cannon that shoots 385 pound stone balls), Royal Palace (before Holyrood was built), Great Hall, Queen Anne Building, Scottish National War Memorial, and more.  If you are interested in the history, then you can read and see more pictures HERE.   By the way, Bobby makes fun of me for including these links so hopefully someone out there is happy that I have made looking at the history more convenient.  ;)

We had a long, full day at the castle.  We were actually the last to leave.  Surprise, surprise...the Walkers are going to get their moneys worth out the day.  Haha!  No, it was more about Bobby being so intrigued since he is a history buff.  The museums were interesting with all of the war artifacts.  However, the rest of the family wasn't as amused in the museums.  Amelie enjoyed Craigmillar Castle much better as there was more freedom to climb and run.

Views of the city were great.
We took turns carrying Liam on our backs.
He fell asleep on mine and it about killed me. ;)  Thinking now that he is just too big for a pack.
Next step:  kid leash.  (just kidding....kind of....) 

Eating lunch in the Cafe.  Surprising, the Cafe had reasonable prices and a delicious hot meal. 

We even splurged on a scone, clotted cream, and jam to finish the meal.  You can see each kid awaiting to be fed another bite.
What you can't see is that I was in a similar pose. ;)

Everyday there is a different reenactment at the castle.  At the end of this soldier's tale, he shot his gun.
Because we were in the square and close in proximity, it was LOUD.
Liam continues to ask about "Shoot? Man? Gun?"
It made an impression!

This was the prop from a WWI plane that didn't yet have the right timing with the guns. Bullets were actually timed to shoot through the prop on each rotation.

Prisoner of War Area in the prison.

Aren't they cutie-pies?

Liam in Mons Meg.  Mons Meg is a cannon made in 1449.   

Inside St. Margaret's Chapel, which is the oldest surviving building in Edinburgh.  It was constructed in the 12th century.  It is a very small chapel.  Weddings are still held in this chapel.  We actually saw a bride and groom drive up through the castle to be married here.  

An area of the castle retold the story of the Scottish Crown Jewels also called the Honours of Scotland.  There are 3 pieces that we were able to see on display:  crown, sceptre, and sword.   The picture above shows the finding of the Honours by Sir Walter Scott in 1818 after they had been hidden for over 100 years. 

Inside the Great Hall.  

While I agree with Amelie that this was not my favorite castle experience, we did however learn a lot about the Scottish military and Edinburgh's overall defense over the centuries.  We also enjoyed the good weather and being able to have the freedom to be out and about.