Modern Lisbon

We had read in Rick Steve's guiebook that we should see the Oriente Train Station and the area of the 1998 World Expo, so we headed out there this morning.  The station is quite something.  Very modern.

The Oriente train station by Architect Santiago Calatrava was commissioned by the city of Lisbon in 1993, after an invited competition. Its immediate goal was to serve the great number of visitors expected for the World Expo in 1998. 

When you exit the station you cross the street into a the huge Vasco da Gama Mall.  You can walk straight through the mall and into the Parque das Nacoes

Flags of all the countries for the 1998 World Expo

Terry's latest male conquest

Vasco da Gama Bridge is 17km (11 miles) long (10km/6 miles of which pass over water), making it the longest bridge in Europe when it opened in 1998 and still today one of the longest in the world. 

(It has the same length as the road-rail tunnel-bridge linking Denmark and Sweden). 

Its vastness forced engineers to factor in the curvature of the Earth during its construction. That makes it a superb feat of engineering, made up of several sections supported by pillars, built at a cost of one billion US dollars. 

It was inaugurated on March 31, 1998 after only 18 months of construction, and just in time to carry visitors from southern Portugal, Spain, and other parts of Europe to Expo98. 

What on first look appeared to be weird statues in the water

Turned out to be human forms in various poses as if enjoying the water

the walk of the pines along the River Tagus

We had dinner a a restaurant called Cerejaria Ramiro - seafood

mostly shellfish- good for me as I don't eat the fishy fish. Ha

we think these are barnacles!  Eeeeuuuuu!  Didn't order these

Shrimp with garlic sauce bread and a beer.  Yum!

Sandy had clams

Terry shrimp

and we all helped eat this giant prawn - these usually come in pairs as they are cut into two pieces.  Really big prawns.  Imagine the lobsters.  Ha

a really fun place - no reservations - we got there early so didn't have to wait.  When we left there was a line out the door.  Really busy and popular with delicious food.

Since this night I have been decidedly under the weather.  A day of nausea and then two of other things not spoken of in polite company.  Not great for my last four days in Lisbon.  I have been at home on the couch.  Hopefully, as we leave for Barcelona this morning, I am on the mend.  Talk to you next from Barcelona.