Paris1972-Versailles2003

I have great memories doing this post and great to have updated in my blog. When I first came to Portugal, the first city I visited was Lisbon, this was back in 2012. My area and repeated several times after was Avenida da Libertade, and I am happy to redo this post. Hope you enjoy it as I , and see my many posts on Portugal in my blog.

Let me tell you today about a nice area of a nice city I came to like very much in my many trips there.   It is something nice to remember of the fonds memories of coming home, back to my dear late wife Martine. Oh yes, I am talking about Lisbon, Portugal. So close to it,  I learned the language as well. My oldest boy godfather is from Faro, and played on many Portuguese football/soccer community teams both in USA and France.  I have come several times to Lisbon,and never tired of it; it is so close to home, and so nice.

Getting here as always been by airplane and using either public transport in the city, or a friendly car ride and lots of walks in the city, especially around the Avenida da Libertade area. I have great stories of eating and drinking at by now my friends restaurant Pinoquio at Praça dos Restauradores close to Rossio. The typical Portuguese seafood and vinho verde wine place, love it. Many stories here; like the time gathered all my friends to come here thinking only 7 will come, and the rest show up by taxi and we were 22 without reservation!. I told the staff ,quick needed to find space, they knew me from many times there, and they move, so fast they created three spaces with extra tables/chairs to accommodate my friends, they were all impressed of my contacts lol!

Let me tell you a bit about the city of Lisbon, shall we take a walk.

Praça dos Restauradores or Restoration  square is located on the extreme southeast of the Avenida da Liberdade, and not far from the Praça de Dom Pedro IV (better known as Rossio). This square is dedicated to the restoration of Portuguese independence in 1640 after 60 years of Spanish domination .  The Obelisk in the center of the square was done in 1886, with the names and dates of the battles to reach the restoration in 1640. It is about 30 meters high.

The square is in a rectangular shape surrounded by buildings from the 19C and early 20C .You can admire the Palácio Foz, a palace built from the 18C to the 20C with decorated interiors now the  Museu Nacional do Desporto de Portugal (the National sports museum of Portugal) ; the former Eden Cinema which is now a hotel, with its 1930’s facade as well as the former Cinema Condes,built in the 1950’s in a modernist style that now houses the popular restaurant Hard Rock Cafe of Lisbon.

Coming up to this Restoration square you have the wonderful Avenida da Liberdade  or Liberty avenue that I stayed nearby always . It is a 90 meters wide and  1100 meters  long, with ten lanes divided by pedestrian pavements decorated with gardens. It links the Praça dos Restauradores  with Praça do Marquis of Pombal square. The avenue was done to modeled after the big Parisian boulevards. The Avenida da Liberdade, as well as the Praça dos Restauradores, have their origins in a public park (Passeio Público) inaugurated in the area in 1764. The park was initially surrounded by a high wall. It was revamped in the 1830s and 1840s with new arrangement of the flora as well as fountains, a waterfall and statues. The allegoric statues representing the Tagus and Douro rivers still existing in the boulevard of the Avenue date from this time.

The Avenida da Libertade has several nice hotels and restaurants and it is a prize area to stay in Lisbon as I do …. on my business trips.  Several statues adorned the Avenida such as the  Statue to  Simón Bolívar ,done by the Venezuelan community in Portugal in  1978 ; Statue of Oliveira Martins, 1952 ;  Statue of Alexandre Herculano, 1950; Statue of  Almeida Garrett, 1950;  Statue of  António Feliciano de Castilho, 1950;  Monument to Rosa Araújo, 1936;  Monument to the Fallen of WWI , 1931;  and the Monument to Pinheiro Chagas,1908.  Also ,nice building like the jewerler store Prada, and the the one where was born  D. Maria Pia de Saxe-Coburgo Gotha e Bragança,in  1907.  She  was a writer and better known as claiming to be the illegitimate daughter of king  Charles Ier of Portugal and therefore the Duchess of Braganza, and pretender to the throne of Portugal.  She was, also, known as in publishing book under the pseudo name Hilda de Toledano.

There are three metro stations along the avenue such as Restauradores  at the southeast end, served by the blue line. Avenida at about the midpoint of the avenue, served by the blue line. Marquês de Pombal  at the northwest end (close to a giant roundabout with 4 lanes), served by the blue and yellow lines.

At the very nice Praça do Marquês de Pombal square, also known as the round about of the Marquês de Pombal or traffic circle is located between the Avenida da Liberdade and on the other side the Parque Eduardo VII. In the center there is the monument to the Marquês de Pombal, built in 1934. Done with a stone pedestal and 40 meters high ,the statue itself in bronce. The Edward VII park is a very place to unwind with lovely gardens on a 26 hectare park just crossing the Marques of Pombal Square. Its name pays homage to king Edward VII of the United Kingdom who visited Portugal in 1902, to strengthen the relations between the two countries. Until that visit, its name was Liberty Park (Parque da Liberdade).  Inside the park you have the Carlos Lopes Pavilion (the former Portuguese pavilion of the 1922 Rio de Janeiro International Exposition) and the Estufa Fria (a 1.5 hectare greenhouse garden). On the northern top of the park is a flagpole where the present largest Flag of Portugal of the world is usually flown.  The Lisbon Book Fair is annually held in the Parque Eduardo VII.

If the Praça do Marqués de Pombal is at one end of the Avenida da LIbertade passing by the Praça dos Restauradores, then the Rossio Square  as it is known locally but actually officially is the Pedro IV Square  or  Praça de D. Pedro IV  is located in the other extreme. Being one of the main squares since the Middle Ages. It has been the setting of popular revolts and celebrations, bullfights and executions, and is now a preferred meeting place of Lisbon natives and tourists alike. The current name of the Rossio pays homage to Pedro IV, King of Portugal. The Column of Pedro IV is in the middle of the square. Here you have another metro station Rossio on the Green line as well as the train station by same name (previously called Central) and the nice National Theater of Dona Maria II. It was built on the former landlot of the Estaus Palace built itself in 1450 to house the foreign dignataries and nobles visiting Lisbon . In the 16C the palace was the place of the Portuguese inquisition , save from the earthquake of 1755 it was later destroyed by fire in 1836. The theater was completely redone and opened in 1978.

All up and down the Avenida da Libertade passing by the glorious Square of the Marques of Pombal, then the Restauradores square and finally reaching the Rossio is chic grand wonderful Lisbon and easy central to all with good local public transportation. A wonderful area, beautiful walks and looking forward to be back when possible.

Some webpages to help you plan your trip here ,and it is a must in my opinion ,are:

The Lisbon tourist office: https://www.visitlisboa.com/en/p/why-lisbon

The city of LIsbon on public transports in Portuguese: https://www.lisboa.pt/cidade/mobilidade/meios/a-pe

The Portugal tourist board on Lisbon: https://www.visitportugal.com/en/destinos/lisboa-regiao

There you go , a nice piece of real estate in lovely quant Lisbon for you to set your wings on. Hope it helps your plans. And remember, happy travels, good health,and many cheers to all!!!

And here is a pleasant update older post of a family trip that allow me to show them where I have been on business trip before. I enjoy the educational trip and hope you enjoy it as I. This is when I took a detour to Darmstadt, Germany!  I like to reminicent of this city in Germany a bit ok.  First, thank you all for following my blog ,its a pleasure having you around.

I came to know the city of Darmstadt because my company had a branch there that reported to me Finance wise. My interactions were daily so eventually I traveled a couple times there in 2004! As I recall all my business trips with the family in a general sights views basis, they were interested on all the places I have gone to ,of course. Once, we decided to vacation in Germany back in 2015, I told them would be a perfect opportunity to visit this off the beaten path city, and so we did.  It had good impressions on me and later the family as well so its time to tell you again about it on a bit of history side. Here is the story ,briefly.

Darmstadt is a city in the Hesse region part of the Rhine of Germany; closest cities are Frankfort Main at about 30 km and Mannheim at about 45 km as well as Heidelberg.  It is call the City of Science due to the proliferation of technical schools and research centers there including the technical University founded in 1877.

Darmstadt is connected to a number of major roads, including two Autobahnen the no 5 and no 67 however the main road passing west east is the bunderstrabe 26 and the north south no 3. The public transport system of Darmstadt is integrated in the RMV (the transportation authority of the Frankfort Metropolitan Area). The backbone of public transport in Darmstadt is its modern tramway network of 9 lines and a local bus service serving all parts of the city. Darmstadt is furthermore connected to the Frankfort S-Bahn train network and being served by regional bus lines. Furthermore, regional rail lines R64, R65, and R66 connect six secondary railway stations within the city. Darmstadt is connected to the Frankfurt rapid transit network by the S-Bahn line S3. Darmstadt can be easily accessed from around the world via Frankfort Airport which is located 20 km (12 mi) from central Darmstadt and connected to it via the expressway autobahn no 5 and S-Bahn rail as well as several bus lines and a direct express bus-link , Airliner. On my business trips I came to the airport.

A bit of history I like

Darmstadt was chartered as a city by the Holy Roman Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian in 1330, at which time it belonged to the counts of Katzenelnbogen. When the house of Katzenelnbogen became extinct in 1479, the city was passed to the Landgraviate of Hesse , and was seat of the ruling Landgraves from 1567 to 1806, and thereafter to 1918 of the grand dukes of Hesse. The city became the capital of the princes of Hesse-Darmstadt from 1567 while the creation of the landgravat of Hesse-Darmstadt created after the death of Philip the Magnanimous. Part of the possessions of Philip the Magnanimous were ceded to Hesse-Cassel, Hesse-Marbourg, Hesse-Rheinfels, Hesse-Darmstadt, and Dietz. In 1668, Friedrich Jacob Merck purchase the pharmacy of Engel and put the basis of his empire of the future Merck KgaA pharmaceutical company of today.   In 1711 the Great Landgraves Caroline of Palatine-Deux-Ponts-Birkenfeld and Johann Heinrich Merck of the mentioned family were the initiators of forming a Circle of Romantic composers such as Goethe, Herder, and Klopstock.

In 1806 after the end of the Germanic Holy Roman Empire the landgravat of Hesse-Darmstadt became the Grand Duke of Hesse and the Rhine. This Grand Duke had the protection of the Tsar of Russia, nephew by alliance to the first Grand Duke.  The princes and lovers of arts made Darmstadt an intellectual and cultural capital and towards 1900, a center of the Art Nouveau movement; many institutes especially the German Academy of the Language and Poetry and the Aesthetics and Industrial Institute continues today this tradition. In 1844, the monument to Ludwig Langer was built in the square Louise (Luisenplatz) with the statue of the Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig. From 1898 to 1908, the Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig had name 7 artists to create the colony of artists of Mathildenhöhe. His mother was a child of the Queen Victoria and his sister Alix of Hesse-Darmstadt married the Russian tsar Nicolas II to come to a tragic ending. To note, all 3 tsars having married princesses of Hesse-Darmstadt were assassinated.

In 1918, the defeat of Germany made end to the monarchy. Two sisters of the Grand Duke, the tsarine of Russia and the Grand Duchesse Elisabeth were assassinated with their families by the Russian Bolsheviks. The son of the last Grand Duke, openly against the Nazis died with his wife, his mother and the children in 1937 in a suspect airplane accident. Darmstadt was the first city in Germany to force Jewish shops to close in early 1933, shortly after the Nazis took power in Germany. Darmstadt was first bombed on in July 1940, and 34 other air raids would follow before the war’s end. Post-war rebuilding was done in a relatively plain architectural style, although a number of the historic buildings were rebuilt to their original appearance following the city’s capture on 20 March 1945 by the American 4th Armoured Division. At the end of WWII, Darmstadt was among the 112 communities where U.S. Forces were stationed. Early units stationed here included elements of the U.S. Constabulary, Air Force units and a Quartermaster School. As part of the U.S. Army’s ongoing transformation in Germany, the Darmstadt military community, by then designated as U.S. Army Garrison Darmstadt was inactivated on 30 September 2008. Even after the garrison inactivation, however, there is still one unit active in Darmstadt not showing in some official documents until much later, this is the 66^th Military Intelligence Group at the Dagger Complex on Eberstädter Weg. They have created a community ,and the base is just a datacenter now. 

You can easily spent a day here on things to see and I would say as a side trip to Frankfort or even Trier near where we were base! And once in the city on foot is glorious! Many of these have a separate posts in my blog so pictures will be few if any here

The Evangelical Church, The Russian Chapel of Darmstadt, and the Saint Louis Church. Other interesting places to see are the History House of Darmstadt, the colony of artists of Mathildenhöhe , the German Center for Art Nouveau and its museum. The Prince Georges palace built in 1710 old residency of the landgraves and today housing the wonderful collection of porcelain from the Grand Dukes in which almost all were gifts of the Imperial and Royal families of Europe forming the biggest collection of porcelain coming from the Grand Ducal factory of Kelsterbach and other German and Russian factories. The Regional museum of Hesse, the Hunting museum, the city hall building built from the 16C to 18C, the column of Louis Ier of Hesse; the castle Frankenstein and the nice theater of Darmstadt.

The Luisenplatz, the central square of the city, forms the center of the city and is the main public transport hub. Other important squares are the Marktplatz near the old city hall and the Sabaisplatz at the Mathildenhöhe. Among the most important parks are the English style Herrngarten in central Darmstadt. In former times it was part of the Royal Gardens used exclusively by the dukes of Darmstadt. Today it is a public park . The French style parks Prinz-Georgs-Garten and Orangerie, the modern style Bürgerpark or People’s Park in northern Darmstadt and the mystical Park Rosenhöhe, or Rose Heights, which also serves as the cemetery for the dukes, with two impressive mausoleum buildings in its remote parts. The Botanischer Garten or Botanical Garden in eastern Darmstadt is maintained by the Darmstadt University of Technology with a fine collection of rare plants and trees.

Some webpages to help you plan your trip here are:

The city of Darmstadt on things to see: https://www.darmstadt.de/sprachversionen/english/discover-darmstadt/

The Darmstadt tourist office: https://www.darmstadt-tourismus.de/en.html

The Germany tourist board on Darmstadt: https://www.germany.travel/en/cities-culture/darmstadt.html

The Frankfurt Rhein Main region on the Mathildenhöhe of Darmstadt: https://www.frankfurt-rhein-main.de/en/Discover-Experience/Sightseeing-Attractions/Architecture-Technology/Mathildenhoehe

Enjoy the seldom visit areas of Germany for a wonderful local experience and by going to Darmstadt you will feel just that, unique. Hope you enjoy the post as I.

And remember, happy travels, good health ,and many cheers to all!!!