Exploring Lisbon, Portugal’s Capital City

If you’ll remember, when we first arrived in Lisbon, Catherine and Michael met us at the airport and whisked us away to their home for de-jetlagging and outstanding hospitality. That said, we hadn’t had the opportunity to explore Portugal’s capital city at all, so we thought it was about time to check it out.Our bus from Tomar arrived on time at the Oriente Bus Station, a rather impressive bus/train station near Lisbon’s city center. Lisbon is a vibrant city with so much history that it’s hard to describe easily. According to Wiki, Lisbon was founded by the Phoenicians c. 1200 BCE as a trading center, making it one of the oldest cities in Western Europe. The Phoenicians named it Alis Ubbo, ‘safe harbor,’ due to its strategic location at the mouth of the Tagus River. Over the centuries, it was occupied by the Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Visigoths, and Moors. It was under the rule of Afonso I in 1147 that the Portuguese Christian rule was restored. In 1257, under Afonso III, Lisbon…