Last Day in Lisbon

So fast! We planned our last day in Lisbon around the sites we wanted to see in an area called Belém.

First up was the Torre de Belém. This tower was built in the 16th century and it served as a point of embarkation and disembarkation for Portuguese explorers and as a ceremonial gateway to Lisbon.

The tower sits on the north bank of the Tagus River and was intended to help defend Portugal’s capital from attack.

Further upriver is the Padrão dos Descobrimentos, the Monument to the Discoveries. It is a monument to all Portugese who discovered something, including the explorers, writers, rulers, and so on.

It sits on a plaza of Portugese mosaic and echoes the prow of a ship. In the square in front of the monument is the enormous Rose Compass.

The Rose Compass is filled with symbolism including three blowing faces personifying the wind, a mermaid, a mythical fish and Neptune with a trident and a trumpet, riding a marine beast.

It was such a beautiful day that the sailboats were out on the Tagus.

Next we walked over to the Jerónimos Monastery. The monastery was built in the early 1500s by the Order of St. Jerome and is near the launch point of Vasco da Gama’s first journey, and its construction funded by a tax on the profits of the yearly Portuguese India Armadas.

Once inside there is a beautiful arcade that encircles a rather dull courtyard.

You may walk around the entire structure.

A few people of note are entombed at the monastery and there are a couple of rooms that served a variety of purposes. This one was lined with a tile mural.

Adjacent to the monastery is the church in which Vasco da Gama is entombed. Because we were here on All Saints Day the church was only open for services. But here is a picture from the outside!

A short walk away from the monastery is the Pasteis de Belém, reputed to have the best pasteis de nata (egg tarts) in Portugal.

They’ve been making them since 1837 and they might really be the best – certainly delicious!

A short walk from here was the National Coach Museum. Think bibbidy-bobbedy-boo coaches.

Definitely a unique experience, the museum has the real coaches, not replicas, from as long as 200 years ago.

Each coach display holds some historic significance such as belonging to a royal or being a good example of a style of carriage from the day.

For example the coach above was known as a cabriolet because it is a convertible and has the leather front. It is a direct ancestor of what we know today as a cabriolet style automobile. There were many examples of this in these historical coaches.

These three were incredibly ornate coaches filled with symbolism. If you look closely at the one in the center you’ll see two old men touching hands. One reprents the Atlantic Ocean and the other the Indian Ocean. The place where their hands meet symbolizes the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa which was a signifant maritime marker for ships going to/from Portugal and India.

Overall a full day. We made a quick stop at a weekly flea market and then headed back to our hotel room for cocktails and our last Lisbon sundown.

What a marvelous place. Lisbon definitely should be high on your list of destinations.

Tomorrow we leave for Madrid!