Day 02, Sat Oct 02

The first day was gone with the transcontinental fly, from LAX to Newark, New Jersey, and to the transatlantic crossing, which took ~7hrs overnight to the first EU city of Lisbon. We slept on the airplane through the red-eyes, woke up several times by the food services, or we did sleep? We were told to see the city the first thing when the plane landed. The city from the air looked well arranging in red roof high rise apartment buildings with coordinated colors.

The international Customs area was all choked up with incoming buses taking passengers out of the airplanes. We were jammed, packed as herds in lines for hours, there was no circulating air and the temperature was warm in the Customs terminal. The airport was a small, packed international quarter with low ceiling height and gray cement walls, very much like an warehouse. It was confusing in the processing lines, going into Lisbon or connecting flights to other parts of EU, the direction signs were all in foreign languages and one could not see past people heads in the front. We finally pushed ourselves through Customs to the baggage, and went out to the waiting buses. We had Gloria waiting on the bus as our tour Guide, who stayed all the way with us to Fatima.

We got out of the Terminal to the have lunch at the first city, Lisbon. The harbor was full of tourists, bus parking was everywhere along its waterfront park. We were cautioned of purse snatching in this crowded tourist area. After lunch the bus took us less than 1 hour of sightseeing around the city from the bus window. After the tour the bus headed toward Satarem, about 60 miles, in the same afternoon.


_______________________LISBON, Portuguese: Lisboa______________________

Is the capital and largest city of Portugal. It is also the seat of the district of Lisbon and capital of the Lisbon region. Its municipality, which matches the city proper excluding the larger continuous conurbation, has a municipal population of 564,477 in 84.8 km� (33 sq mi), while the Lisbon Metropolitan Area in total has around 2.8 million inhabitants, and 3.34 million people live in the broader agglomeration of Lisbon Metropolitan Region (includes cities ranging from Leiria to Set�bal). 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.

Lisbon was under Roman rule from 205 BC; Julius Caesar made it a municipium called Felicitas Julia. Ruled by a series of Germanic tribes from the 5th century, it was captured by Moors in the 8th century. In 1147, the Crusaders under Afonso Henriques reconquered the city for the Christians and since then it has been a major political, economic and cultural center of Portugal.

Unlike most capital cities, Lisbon's status as the capital of Portugal has never been granted or confirmed officially�by statute or in written form. Its position as the capital has formed through constitutional convention, making its position as de facto capital a part of the Constitution of Portugal.

Lisbon hosts two agencies of the European Union, namely, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) and the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA). The Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), is also headquartered in Lisbon.

_______________________LISBON of 19th and 20th centuries___________________

In the first years of the 19th century, Portugal was invaded by the troops of Napol�on Bonaparte and Queen Maria I and Prince-Regent Jo�o (future John VI) temporarily fled to Brazil. Considerable property was pillaged by the invaders.

The city felt the full force of the Portuguese liberal upheavals, beginning its tradition of caf�s and theatres. In 1879 the Avenida da Liberdade was opened, replacing a previous public garden.

Lisbon was the centre of the republican coup of October 5, 1910 which instated the Portuguese Republic. Previously, it was also the stage of the regicide of Carlos I of Portugal (1908).

The city refounded its university in 1911 after centuries of inactivity in Lisbon, incorporating reformed former colleges and other non-university higher education schools of the city (such as the Escola Polit�cnica). Today there are 3 public universities in the city (University of Lisbon, Technical University of Lisbon and New University of Lisbon) and a public university institute (ISCTE.
Parque das Na��es (Nations' Park), where the Expo 98 took place and now a venue for important shows and festivals.


During World War II Lisbon was one of the very few neutral, open European Atlantic ports, a major gateway for refugees to the U.S. and a spy nest.

In 1974, Lisbon was the central destination point of the Carnation Revolution maneuvers, the end of the Portuguese Corporative Regime (Estado Novo).

In 1988, a fire near the historical centre of Chiado greatly disrupted normal life in the area for about 10 years.

In 1994, Lisbon was the European Capital of Culture.

Expo '98 was held in Lisbon. The timing was intended to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Vasco da Gama's sea voyage to India. It was considered by the Bureau of International Expositions[citation needed] the best world expo ever.


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