(This story continue from Part 1 - Part 2 - and Part 3)
**ONE DAY LISBON TOUR**
Days by days, the training finished late, normally after six which might be normal for Portuguese people but it was a bit too much for us due to the different working-hour. I, my colleague, as well as others didn't have many chances to discover Lisbon as we would like to. As a result of that, many of us agreed to arrange a one-day Lisbon Tour which will cover many important tourist attractions in Lisbon and nearby area.
++GOT TO KNOW LISBON (or the local name 'LISBOA')++
Lisbon (Portuguese: Lisboa) is the capital and largest city of Portugal. Its municipality, which matches the city proper excluding the larger continuous conurbation, has a municipal population of 564,477 in 84.8 km² (33 sq mi). Due to its economic output, standard of living, and market size, the Grande Lisboa (Greater Lisbon) subregion is considered the second most important financial and economic center of the Iberian Peninsula. The Lisbon region is the wealthiest region in Portugal and it is well above the European Union's GDP per capita average - it produces 45% of the Portuguese GDP. It is also the political center of the country, as seat of government and residence of the Head of State.
Flag of Lisbon: The Flag of Lisbon is a gyronny of four parts of black and four of white with the coat of arms in the center. For civil use there is a version without the coat of arms. The gyronny pattern indicates city status.
Municipal coat of arms: The Coat of arms of Lisbon is composed of a golden shield with a black silver lined sail ship on a see of seven wavy stripes green and silver. At both ends of the ship, two ravens, each pointing to the center of the shield. A golden mural crown of five towers (indicating capital and city status respectively) surrounded by the collar of the Order of the Tower and Sword and by a white scroll with the motto "MUI NOBRE E SEMPRE LEAL CIDADE DE LISBOA" (most noble and always loyal city of Lisbon) in black.
Lisbon is situated at 38°42' north, 9°5' west, making it the westernmost capital in mainland Europe. It is located in the west of the country, on the Atlantic Ocean coast at the point where the river Tagus flows into the Atlantic Ocean.
The city occupies an area of 84.8 km² (33 sq mi). The city boundaries, unlike those of most major cities, are narrowly defined around the historical city perimeter. This gave rise to the existence of several administratively defined cities around Lisbon, such as Amadora, Queluz, Cacém, Odivelas, Loures, Sacavém, Almada, Barreiro, Seixal and Oeiras, which are in fact part of the metropolitan perimeter of Lisbon.
The western side of the city is mainly occupied by the Monsanto Forest Park, one of the largest urban parks in Europe with an area close to 10 square kilometres.
Source: WIKIPEDIA
++CABO DA ROCA (CAPE ROCA)++
We stopped for a few times, visited a fisherman village, Cascais, Avenida da Republica. But those are just places along the way to Cabo da Roca which located in the Portuguese municipality of Sintra, west of Lisbon district. Cabo da Roca is the cape which forms the westernmost of the European continent. Our guide describe that this place is described by the old Portuguese poet, Luís de Camões, as "Aqui...Onde a terra acaba e o mar começa...Here...Where the land ends and the sea begins".
Since Cabo da Roca is located in the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park, the nature was well preserved. The air was cold and windy. I was on the cliff near the tourist centre, felt very delighted with the magnificent scenary of European / Mediterranean / atlantic nature. I murmured a song which is like this in English,
"Cold, clean, fresh the air I breathed,
O Roca the fair.
Feel the Sun and the ocean smell,
Birds are in the air.
On my back is greenish hills,
shrubs and herbs grow there.
On right hill a light house still,
O my view is fair.
The great ocean is rumbling shrill,
Atlantic is there.
O Roca cape, my dream was filled,
O westenmost so fair."
O Roca the fair.
Feel the Sun and the ocean smell,
Birds are in the air.
On my back is greenish hills,
shrubs and herbs grow there.
On right hill a light house still,
O my view is fair.
The great ocean is rumbling shrill,
Atlantic is there.
O Roca cape, my dream was filled,
O westenmost so fair."
I wish all of you can sing it and feel the same way I was... I spent as much time as I could there, explored and shooted pictures. I noticed that I have so many pictures there I would like to share...
I think this part is getting too long, so, the rest of this trip wil becovered in the next part.
THIS STORY CONTINUE ON PART 5
1 comment:
what is that song?
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