Hello again! Here are the too many photos of the second part of my visit. I hope you enjoy these too!
Monday was a pretty relaxed day: we went shopping in town (I got myself a couple of things in the sales, woohoo) had some nice food, relaxed and went to the beach with my friend and her daughters at the end of the day.
Mr D and I got his and hers emergency beach towels at the Chinese corner shop. They’re beautiful.
I wore a light cotton dress by Kookai that is perfect for hot Summer days and my Pucci sunnies (both via TK Maxx)
I also visited a church I had never before seen open. As with most churches (and you can find one on every corner) in Lisbon, the baroque art is very beautiful to look at. You can find a couple more images here, here and here.
We also climbed to the top of the Rua Augusta stone arch. It was a novelty for me as it has only opened to the public recently. I got to see the city from a whole new perspective!
You can see what the main street in downtown Lisbon looks like from above here and you can see what the arch looks like from the ground here.
The next day it was my birthday and I started it in the best way possible by visiting the Lisbon flea market with husband and friends. I did some great finds but I haven’t taken any photos yet. Hopefully I’ll be sharing them over the next few weeks.
I wish I could buy the strange naif style paintings. I really loved the futuristic autobahn one, I wish I had asked for the price. I could always kept it for when I live in my own apartment again…
What a funny coincidence that there were two totally unrelated people selling the same image.
The funny thing about this photo is that the sign is misspelled.
It was so hot this cat was sleeping in the shade, under a car. I can see the ZZZZs in the photo!
I also visited this really good shop called Tesouros de Portugal (Treasures of Portugal). They don’t have a website yet but you can have a look at the facebook page here. I went in there because I was looking for one of our traditional northern scarves and I found it there! They have a lot of goodies, all of them authentic or handmade in Portugal. These days because of the tourism boom there are way too many shops downtown peddling cheap made in China imitations of our traditional arts and it’s a shame that a lot of people who visit don’t realize it is so. So when I buy something that’s traditional I actually prefer to pay a bit more and know I am supporting the artisans of my country.
Later that day I met with my family and we had dinner together. I got all dolled up for the occasion and had my first attempt at an updo. I am terrible at doing hair as I have had my hair short for most of my life! The dress is from one of the H&M Garden Collections and I got it from Ebay. The see through clutch is from Bershka and I got it on sale the previous day. The sandals are the same golden ones from Topshop and the nail polish is by Kiko and was a present from my friend Sandrine.
The next couple of photos were taken by my sister Ines. She is 14 and has a fashion blog called Fashion Maniac. Most of it is in Portuguese but trust me when I tell you that she is good!
The next day I hauled my luggage back to the UK, making me want to come back soon!
