We were sitting on a park bench late this afternoon, enjoying the cool breeze and a panoramic view of Lisbon when Jan said “we should have done something more today”. My response … “why”?

What did I mean? Let’s start with how we spent our day. Mostly, we wandered the streets of the Chiado district in Lisbon enjoying views like this…

Why do I say we “enjoyed” this view? The steps leading down are clear, but if you look closely you’ll see at the other end of the street the steps are heading right back up. We enjoyed it because we were walking along the top and didn’t have to navigate those steps. Though to be fair, we still took quite a few steps along the way.

We were also treated to many patterns in the sidewalks.

While wandering the streets, we spotted the coffee shop with the best view in Lisbon. We enjoyed the view (we didn’t need a coffee) and went on to investigate local shops with cork products. By then it was time for lunch at a lovely small restaurant we discovered when we were here last year. After lunch it was time to … continue wandering the road to nowhere in particular. You find all kinds of interesting things on that road.

This impressive cypress tree was planted when the Principe Real Garden was opened in 1869. It’s a small garden but it was very pleasant to stroll through while live jazz played in the outdoor cafe.

Then it was time to start back home past this impressive driveway for staff at the museum.

Before long we came to another small park with one of Lisbon’s many lookouts. We took a few minutes to enjoy the lovely weather and the view of Lisbon. I zoomed in to take a picture of these umbrella pines.

This next picture shows what it looked like to the naked eye.

Jan took the next picture that includes old and new – everything from the 11th-century Moorish castle, to a cathedral, to modern construction cranes.

Which brings us back to the beginning of this post, and the end of our day, sitting on a park bench, in the cool breeze, enjoying views of Lisbon.

Actually, not quite the end of the day. For our last evening in Lisbon, Jan found a highly rated restaurant that turned out to be right around the corner from our hotel. We treated ourselves to a lovely, decadent meal along with a fabulous Portuguese wine before taking a very short stroll back to our hotel to pack for the trip to Rome tomorrow.

We spent a few days in Lisbon to enjoy ourselves while adjusting to European time. We had a fabulous time, even when it didn’t look like we were doing anything in particular. I call that something.