sunnylisbon

Lisboa is full of history. The way of preserving its history is very very impressive. When you go to the Rossio square right next to McDonald, you can see a stone pillar in a clothing store. At first glance, it looks like a decoration of the store. But the pillar is actually the last remains of the hospital real de todos os santos , started by John II of Portugal and finished in 1504 during the reign of his brother-in-law, Manuel I . John II of Portugal The hospital real de todos os santos means All Saints Royal Hopsital. It was also called Hospital Grande(Grand Hospital) because of its size.  Also called Hospital dos Pobres(Hospital of the poor), it was philanthropic to help the poor. At first it was run by a man appointed by Manuel I. Manuel I of Portugal Queen Eleanor, who was Manuel's sister and John II's queen, founded the Brotherhood of the Mercy in 1498. And then in 1564 the charity started to administer the hospital afterwards.  This charity

Visitors from outside Rossio always pass through the Rossio square. Decorated with beautiful calçada and fountains, it shows off its beauty every day. fountain imported from France wave patterned  calçada Rossio means commons. Its original name is not Rossio square. It is D. Pedro IV Square, but not even Lisbonians call it that name. Well, the reason is D. Pedro IV wasn't popular among the commons. Because of him, there was a civil war. You can see his statue in Porto too.  The statue you see in Comerico square is D. Jose I.  D. Jose I. He suffered the Lisbon earthquake and his daughter was D. Maria I. D. Maria I Withe her son Joao VI and her grandson Pedro IV, D. Maria I left for Brazil because of Napoleon. family tree of D. Pedro IV Leaving her people behind was not good. But the worst came later. Pedro declared himself an emperor of Brazil and became Pedro I. He left Portugal in his daughter Maria II's care. But as she

Patel de nata, aka, egg tarte is my favorite dessert here in Portugal. Almost all the visitors love it. They line up to enjoy this delicacy at Pasteis de Belem in the Belem district. Whenever I go there, I see a lot of people standing in line even on off-season. Starting March, more and more people come to Portugal to enjoy the delicious Portuguese food. So to enjoy the delicacy, I always go there early in the morning when there is no line. The owner didn't invent the secret recipe. Actually the owner's ancestor bought it from the monastery. You see the statue of Pedro IV on Rossio square, and not many Portuguese seem to like D. Pedro IV. From the history DVD I bought. When he decided to stay in Brazil as an emperor, he asked his brother Miguel to marry his daughter Maria II and take care of her until she became an adult. But Miguel decided to become the king himself. When there was a civil war between Miguel and Pedro IV, monasteries sided with

There is a book fair at Foz Palace in April. Foz Palace offers free admission for all to enjoy good classical music. However, it is really hard to find the info on their website. So every month, I go over there to get the info. When the admission is free, it is always first come first served basis. So make sure you get there at least by 5. After waiting in line for 30 minutes, the door to the palace will open and you go in. Here is the info for April. From April 1 to April 12 between 14h and 20h, there is a book fair at the palace. On April ​6 and April 7, the book fair is closed because it is not open on the weekend. Every Monday in April they offer free classical music to all the people and this month also on April 4th, Thursday.

I headed to the stadium to see the football game on Monday night. Last Friday, the score was 0:0. And last Monday it was 1:1, also a tie.   So many people were excited about this game. There were more than 50,000 people present. Everybody was rooting for the team. When the captain got injured in the first half, Worried. but I heard he would make a full recovery soon. Ronaldo got injured It was kind of far from my seat to see what was going on. The game didn't go as I expected because in part of the referee. on the way to the stadium, vendors were selling T-shirts and so on.  He got in the way of players so they couldn't move fast enough. I don't know much about football but I felt it was unfair. on the way to the stadium Many Portuguese with children came to see the game.  On my way back home it took a lot longer because of all the people coming out of the stadium. Even though we didn't win the game, the atmosp

Well, when I first started this blog, I promised myself to write one post a day. I knew it was a tall order, but still I thought let's give it a try. As for my Korean blog, I've been posting regularly twice a day like a clockwork. Here not so much. So I am trying to catch up by writing at least two postings a day. Is it stupid? Probably... But trying to keep the promise I made for myself counts a lot. Hopefully I can catch up soon. Yesterday there were just too many people in the downtown area. So I got distracted and got pickpocketed. However, the sunny weather made me feel a little better. Today the weather is just so wonderful. There are flowers everywhere. Just love this sunny weather here in Lisbon.

Sometimes I wonder if anyone is reading my blog. Well, I guess there is plenty of info in English for Portugal. Not like in Korean. Coimbra I've been writing in Korean consistently as there is little info in Korean available. For the first time, they have Korean info at Jeremony Monastery, finally. Coimbra university Traveling here and there in Portugal, I find more and more common treads between Korea and Portugal. Flowers are same here and there.  And then the bamboo woods. I never thought to see them here in Portugal. What a site. When you visit Coimbra, don't miss the botanical garden of Coimbra university. There is no admission fee for this wonderful place. And a stroll through the park and woods is just dreamy.