The Elevador de Santa Justa is an elevator that gets you from one street to another that's 20 yards west and 100 yards up. Lisbon is hilly. They closed the exit to the street at the top, so you just have to take in the view. Lisbon is full of elegant squares, after its inelegant earthquake.

Some of the ruins don't look too bad either. This is about 30 yards from the top of the elevator, across a yawning gap.

Since I couldn't get off the elevador to visit the Bairro Alto, I wandered up the road and got the Calçada da Gloria (a cross between a tram and a mountain goat) instead. This lead me the church of São Roque, which is quite ornate.

One of Lisbon's more respected cultural venues is the Gulbenkian museum. I can't say I rated the museum apart from its cafeteria (Lisbon is cheap and the food is good), but the gardens were good.

Best statue in the collection.

Same stream, other direction.

Next time I go to Lisbon I'm going to venture out of town, to Estoril and Sintra and suchlike places. This will probably involve going inside the Rossio Station, to see if it's any fancier/dirtier than the outside.

The Castle is ancient, dating from Roman times. It was captured by the Arabs and retaken by the Portuguese in 1147. It became the residence of the King of Portugal, which probably explains the verandah, and was one of the building which survived the 1755 earthquake.

The joint was lousy with photographers, camera bags everywhere and zooms the length of your arm, but I was the only one who too a monopod to let me shoot ISO 50 film in the last hour of sun. Just thought I'd get that on record...

Unfortunately, when used it I to shoot that statue from the other side, with the stone keep behind it lit up like gold in the setting sun, I made a mess of the exposure and forgot to bracket. Oh well, so much for being a smug bastard.

A bit further along the verandah. Those trees must be a great place to hide from the sun in summer.

I would welcome a translation of this sign.

This little git didn't show up until twilight, when I'd loaded fast print film instead of my luscious velvia. Didn't spread his tail either, just wandered around pecking at leaves. I'm having roast peacock at the first opportunity.

I chose this hotel on the grounds that (1) I could book it on the same web site as my ticket (2) it's in the middle of everything and (3) it got a "Best Restaurant in Lisbon" award a few years back. Dinner was good.

Cool fountain, huh?

It being November, I had the 170 rooms to myself (apart from the usual 45 person American tour party), so they put me in a Penthouse the size of a barn on the top floor for my 29 quid a night. Nice view of the Bairro Alto.

Out front is a plaza full of fountains an funky metal kiosks, of which more later.

Straight down from the window.

The castle sits on a hill.

There's a flight of stairs leading down to a special tower, presumably this is the only way to pour boiling oil without it getting cold by the time it hits the poor bloody infantry.

Lisbon is next to a river.

They paint their houses colours nobody would use in England.

The buildings lend it a very cluttered, characterful sort of feeling.

Somebody went mad with the fountains in the plaza out front of the hotel. I love it. After all the drizzle, it was nice to get wet deliberately.

The bits of Lisbon which aren't closed for renovation, have usually just been demolished to make room for a hotel. What will go in that gap behind this fountain wall? 

Something like this, on the other side of the square?

A long line of mini-fountains forms the spine of the square, and parents spend Saturday afternoons telling their kids to stay out of it or glaring at English tourists who cut through the middle to check the light on the other side.

I've always wanted to be a bad influence.

The roads keep sprouting stairs without warning.

The builders and architects of Lisbon have an improvisational streak.

Whilst the residents make good gardeners.

Everything is mixed -- the weather, the colours, the styles...

These things choke all life for 15 yards downwind.

My five year mission to visit and photograph every Virgin Megastore in every capital city proceeds apace.

If you look about a third of the way in from bottom right, you can just make out the other catering establishment on this square.