The Holidays Are Illuminated

Anticipating the Holidays

Throughout the month of November we had a growing sense of anticipation about the holidays ahead. As we walked around Porto, we saw metal frames being installed on lamp posts and knew that sometime in early December, the city would sparkle. Around the corner from our apartment, we saw this building, already decorated for Christmas.

And sure enough, on December 1st, the switch was thrown and the lights came on. For our last post of this year, we wanted to share some photos of what we’ve seen in Porto and other places we’ve visited recently.

Matosinhos

The first big display we saw was in the town of Matosinhos that adjoins Porto to the northwest. Mike had been there for a meeting in late November and saw the preparations being put in place. He said it ought to be amazing…and it was.

In front of the Câmara Municpal, the city hall, is a long fountain. Over it was assembled a row of frames with lights that reflected in the fountain and helped light up the nearby Christmas market.

Cascais

The town of Cascais, west of Lisbon on the Atlantic coast, welcomes visitors to its historic city center.

All around the city center were lights, and people out enjoying them on a mild December evening.

But the thing that made us stop and look twice was this street lined with pointsettias.

Belém

During our visit to Cascais and Lisbon, our friends Nancy and Denise invited us to attend the Jardim da Alice – Alice’s Garden – exhibit at the Tropical Botanical Garden in Belém. The park was transformed with large illuminated figures from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. These were not your typical holiday lights, but it was a unique, fun event nonetheless.

After visiting with Alice and her friends, we walked down the main street of Belém and admired the lights.

Lisbon

We spent several days in Lisbon and enjoyed exploring several neighborhoods by day, including the Cais do Sodré area where the Time Out Market is located. On our last evening in town, we took a long walk down the Avenida da Liberdade, one of the main streets. We began at the Praça do Marques do Pombal, with it’s monument honoring the Marquis of Pombal, the man who oversaw the reconstruction of Lisbon after a devastating earthquake nearly leveled the city in 1755.

We walked along the Avenida and some side streets for several kilometers. The further we went, the more people we encountered. We passed through the Praça do Rossio (Rossio Plaza) and admired the Christmas tree and the illuminated fountain. Then, after climbing a very steep hill, we entered the Chiado neighborhood. There we saw some of the most vivid lights of the evening.

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If you’d like to see more pictures from the Lisbon / Cascais area, check out Nancy’s blog – Expat in Portugal – here and here.

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Porto

Back home in Porto, we have spent several evenings wandering through some of our favorite parts of the city to see the holiday lights. The Rua de Cedofeita is one of our favorite walks and we found it brightly lit. At it’s end, we entered the plaza at the Universidade do Porto and saw this impressive star.

It seems like every side street has lights…and no two streets have the same ones.

And finally, in the plaza in front of the Câmara Municipal do Porto stands a large Christmas tree made with lights that change color every few seconds.

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Closing Out The Year

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If you haven’t already done so, please take a moment to read our other recent post, A Serious Note, and join us in taking small steps toward eliminating hunger around the world.

Thanks for reading and taking action / Obrigado por ler e agir.

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