Our Last Day in Lisbon

We spent the day at the Gulbenkian Museum which according to Rick Steves is the best of Lisbon’s museums.  And it did not disappoint.  Callousness Gulbenkian was an Armenian oil tycoon who gave Portugal his art collection in gratitude for giving him asylum during WWII.  His billion dollar estate continues to fund the museum and ongoing collections.
The museum displays 5,000 years of Egyptian, European, Islamic and Asian art.  It is set up chronologically starting with a gorgeous 4000 year old alabaster cup in pristine condition.  It displayed works of Rembrandt, Monet, Manet, Degas, Rodin, Van Dick, Ruben.  No crowds...you could be inches from the artwork.  We rented the audio tour of the museum and found that to be very helpful.  The final section was devoted to Lalique jewelry.  I’m not much of a jewelry person, but the Lalique pieces are in a world of their own.  Even I loved them and would have taken home a few samples if allowed.  (That goes also for the wonderful human-sized Rodin.)
As we packed up to leave that evening, we thought about our week in Lisbon.  We are impressed with the fluidity of public transportation—the airport flows into the metro system which flows into the bus/trolley and funicular systems, as well as regional and long distant trains.  You don’t need a car in Portugal.  It all works well together and you pay for each ride with the same card (on which you have put $20 or so).  It is an efficient, low-cost way of moving people around the country.
Lisbon (at least the historical districts that we visited) is also human-scale—no sky scrapers...all buildings are 3-5 stories high.  People live above the shops and restaurants.  The food that we ate was plain without sauces and spices.  But it was excellent tasting and healthy...all but the custard tarts, of which we have now set a world record for consumption.  Regular coffee does not make you feel jittery and wine does not give you a headache or hangover.  Why can’t we make products like that in the U.S.?