Portugal Part I - Introduction to Lisbon

After many years of wanting to go to Lisbon, I have finally made it. And yes, I am so very happy I did it!

It's funny, I have been sitting in front of my laptop for some minutes now, trying to structure what I want to share with you about this lovely city, but I cannot decide. It is simply amazing, beautiful and welcoming. What it transmits to me is joy of life and and a sense of being proud of your roots and your past while still embracing development, technology,...short for: the future.
Lisbon is all about steep small rock-paved streets, small boutiques, flavours of the past mixed with new fast-paced modern eating places, castles and futuristic places which, funny enough, were created for the expo 1998 (so go back in the past as well), it's about the celebration of life (street festivals), it's about the wind blowing in your sails...
Although Lisbon has its own character, its own personality, and you can see that for example by the way streets are paved or how houses are decorated (with the famous azulejos), once you step down from Praça do Comércio towards the Tagus river (Tejo), and look west, to your right, and take a deep breath, you will  feel how the whole world opens in front of your eyes and your heart will crave for new, distant places. Maybe this explains the conquerors past of the city, of the country...
All I knew at that moment was, that I wanted to see and learn as much as possible about what was surrounding me, and I was happy the adventure in Portugal had begun for me. I was about to discover many treasures, some exploited by many, others known by few.
Join me the following days for a trip in the beautiful land of the Portuguese.

(Photos taken by me/with my camera)