We spent our third day in Portugal exploring the Belem District of Lisbon. During the age of discoveries, Portuguese explorers set out from this area and today Belem is full of monuments and museums.
Our taxi cab dropped us off right at this airplane monument, which commemorates the first Portuguese flight across the Atlantic in 1922. The flight went from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro.
Our first stop was at the Torre de Belem (Belem Tower), which was built between 1514 and 1520 to defend the port.
We climbed to the top with stops on every level to explore and check out the views.
This tower was one of Henry's favorite places of the trip.
While we were at the tower, we caught sight of a ship leaving the city.
It turns out that it was the Santa Maria Manuela, which was commanded by an old family friend whom we met later in our journey. What a coincidence!
Views from the top of the tower.
We next visited the Monument of the Discoveries, which was commissioned in 1960 in honor of the 500th anniversary of the death of Henry the Navigator.
Henry the Navigator is at the prow of the ship-like monument, and behind him are many Portuguese explorers and other national heroes.
Queen Phillippa, mother of Henry the Navigator, is the only woman on the monument.
On the ground near the monument is a map of the world showing lands explored by the Portuguese sailors in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Henry really liked this fountain on the way to the Mosteiro dos Jeronimos.
We arrived at the Jeronimos Monastery to find long line for tickets snaking around the side of the building.
We managed to get inside the church first, as it didn't require a ticket.
We found the tombs of national poet Luis de Camoes
and Vasco de Gama.
And then, because we had already purchased a joint ticket to the monastery back at the Torre de Belem, we were able to skirt the long line and make it inside the monastery itself.
Commissioned by Dom Manuel 1 in 1496, construction began in 1502. The building was funded primarily by treasures brought back from Africa, Asia and South America.
As I said before, Henry was inordinately fond of the cloisters.
After touring the monastery, we found a cafe for lunch and then walked the cobbled streets to the Museu Nacional dos Coches (Coach Museum).
The Coach Museum is housed in an old riding school and showcases a large collection of ornate horse-drawn carriages.
Our final stop in the Belem District was for pasteis de Belem, warm custard-filled pastries. They were delicious!
After catching a cab back to our hotel, the boys and I had downtime while Gene, Nana and Pop got our rental cars for the remainder of the journey. Navigating the ancient cobbled streets of Lisbon is no easy task, but they were back well before the dinner hour, which is not hard to do as the the Portuguese dine late.
We headed to Baixa, Lisbon's downtown, for dinner,
and found lots of street entertainers in addition to numerous restaurants.
View of the Santa Justa Elevator, built by a student of Eiffel.
We found bacalhau (salt cod)! Bacalhau is such a part of Portuguese cooking that it is rumored the Portuguese have 365 ways to cook it, one for every day of the year. I like bacalhau so much that I enjoyed different preparations of it nearly every day of the trip!
We ended our day with ice cream
in front of the hotel where Pop stayed with his family in the 50s.
Gelado was the perfect way to end our last day in Lisbon!
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