After a fun morning at Oceanário de Lisboa, we ate lunch in Parque das Nacoes and then took an uber to Castelo de São Jorge. Perched high in the hills of Lisbon, the site was settled in the 7th century BC, while the castle itself was built by the Moors in the 11th century. In 1147 the castle was captured by Christian Crusaders and over the next few centuries it served as both a defensive structure and a royal residence. In the late 14th century the castle was dedicated to Saint George, the patron saint of England, when King Alfonso Henriques gifted it to his English wife, Philippa of Lancaster. The castle was expanded at various points over the centuries until it sustained significant damage in the earthquake of 1755. It underwent a major renovation in 1938 that was somewhat historically inaccurate but turned the site into a major tourist attraction.
It was crowded in the area but the line to buy tickets was relatively short and moved quickly. Kids 12 and under are free, “youngsters” 13-25 are 5 euros, and adults over 25 are 10 euros. After purchasing tickets we passed through the turnstiles and walked up the hill to the magnificent Miradouro de São Jorge. This viewpoint provides one of the most iconic views of the city of Lisbon, Rio Tejo and the Ponte 25 de Abril.
The miradouro terrace features a statue of Portugal’s founder, King Afonso Henriques, in the middle of courtyard. We continued our walk through the ruins of Paco da Alcáçova, the main residence of the royal family that was destroyed by a series of earthquakes in the late 16th century. Today the site contains gardens, old cannons, and arched wall remnants from the original structure.
We walked down a narrow lane into the inner fortress and came to a garden area. While the gardens were very pretty, the real attraction here was the peacocks! We had spotted one up on top of a wall as we entered the area and everyone had stopped, craning their necks to get a good look. Little did we know that all we had to do was continue into the gardens and we would see peacocks everywhere. But the biggest surprise of all was an adorable baby peacock following its mom around!
After following the momma and baby peacock around for way too long, we headed to the castle itself. A stone bridge crosses what was once a moat and a small door serves as the entryway to the citadel’s barbican, a low outer wall that serves as an extra layer of protection for the castle.
Once inside, we enjoyed wandering around the courtyard and climbing the castle walls. We loved exploring the ramparts and ducking into some of the castle’s 11 towers.
We came upon a long set of steep stairs that went far down the hill to Torre de São Lourenço, one of the remaining outer fortifications. The stairs are protected by battlements and provided safe access to a well outside the castle. I was the only who made the trek down the stairs, and I’ll be honest… it may not have been worth it. The view from the tower was less impressive than from the higher areas of the castle. What was impressive was the steps themselves and the realization that well water was lugged up and down these steps.
When I finally made my way back up the steps, we explored the walls and towers a little longer before heading back out of the castle. The boys were getting tired so they sat on a bench while my husband and I explored around the outside of the castle.
Castelo de São Jorge is definitely one of Lisbon’s top sites and we all really enjoyed wandering the grounds – following the peacocks, enjoying the views, climbing the castle walls. In retrospect though, I feel like we missed out on a few of the bigger attractions within the castle, like the camera obscura in Torre de Ulisses, the museum, the archaeological site, and the Porta do Moniz. I wish we had at least had a map that showed the highlights and gave some of the history to the site. I don’t necessarily feel like we missed out on a ton but I think there were some missed opportunities to improve the experience a little. I’m not sure my kids would agree though. They were happy to be aimless and unscheduled and there is definitely something to be said for that.
