Almada & Cacihas

Almada and Cacilhas are two towns on the opposite bank of the Tagus River from Lisbon. Almada is known primarily from the monument of Christo Rei – Jesus the King. Cacilhas is a great place for a real Portuguese meal.



We started our journey to these two towns with a ferry ride across the Tagus River. It only lasts about 10 minutes, but from the deck there is a beautiful view of Lisbon.

And, yes, today was sunny and bright!!

Almada is a small non-tourist town with narrow streets and when walking you have an amazing opportunity to see how people really live in Portugal. (Of course, we are now some of those people living in Portugal, aren't we?!)

Anyway, in Almada everything goes up! So up and up and up we walked to Christo Rei.

The monument was built in the 1950s in thanksgiving for avoiding the horrors of the Second World War. The inspiration for Christo Rei was of course the Brazilian Christ the Redeemer. Both monuments are really very similar to each other.

(This is the one in Rio - Christ the Redeemer - for those who may not remember.😎)

From the statue you can get a really good view of the famous 25th of April Bridge - which is another way to get back to Lisbon.

We decided to take the tuk-tuk back down the hill to Cacihas.


Fernando II Gloria 

Fernando II Gloria – the frigate of the Portuguese Navy – proudly stands on the shore in Cacihas. It was built in 1843. She made her first voyage in 1845. It was the last ship that was built for military purposes in the country and the last ship that took the route between Portugal and the Indian colonies.

 For only a couple of Euros you can board the frigate and learn more about the history of Portugal, as well as see what life was like on such a ship.











There was one more place we wanted 
to visit - Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Bom Sucesso Church.
The outside isn't much to look at - just a little old church with a light blue facade. 

 

In the middle of this church is the real gem. The altar itself is extremely richly decorated, but it is for azulejos – blue, traditional tiles – it’s worth stopping here. They cover entire walls and depict scenes from the Bible. They are really beautiful.

Now for that Portuguese meal mentioned at the beginning of the blog - more specifically, seafood.
There are many places to eat in Cacihas. 

We picked one.
We decided to try something we had never heard of before and give it a try.

Cuttlefish

Maybe a Portuguese version of fish and chips.
HAHAHA
It chewed like those pink school erasers.
HMMMMM
It turns out that this isn't even a real fish. 


Cuttlefish are relatives of squid and octopuses.
And, nope, it doesn't taste like chicken!!
AT ALL!