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| Lisbon |
In January we spent our long weekend over Martin Luther King
Day in Lisbon, Portugal. Lisbon is the largest city in Portugal and the oldest
city in Western Europe. Suspended on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean, Lisbon is
one of the rare Western European cities that face the ocean and uses water as
an element that characterizes the city. Lisbon fascinates travelers with its
white bleached limestone buildings, intimate alleyways, and Mediterranean
climate, all good reasons why the terraced city is such a popular year-round
destination. Lisbon is built on seven hills making good walking shoes a
necessity.
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| Rooftops of Lisbon from Castle
of São Jorge |
On Saturday we spent the day exploring the city. Our first
stop was the Praça do Comércio or Commerce Square. From the Praça do Comércio
we could see the Christ the King statue. The Christ the King statue is a
Catholic monument and shrine dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ
overlooking the city. The monument was inspired by the Christ the Redeemer
statue in Rio. The statue was inaugurated in 1959 to express gratefulness
because the Portuguese were spared the effects of World War II.
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| Praça do Comércio |
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| Christ the King |
From Praça do Comércio we decided to hop on one of the vintage
1930’s bondes (streetcars) and ride it around the Bairro Alta Quarter. We
enjoyed listening to the history of Lisboa and taking in the historic sites of
the city as our streetcar made its way through the labyrinth of pathways and
narrow streets.
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| Street Cars in Lisbon |
After our historic streetcar journey we made our way to the Castle
of São Jorge. This structure can be seen from almost everywhere in the city
from the tallest hill in Lisbon. Archaeological excavations on the castle
grounds have identified a human presence in the Tagus valley as far back as the
6th century BC. The first fortifications most likely began around 48
BC when the Romans, Visigoths and the Moors occupied the castle. São Jorge served
as a Moorish royal residence until Portugal's first king captured it in 1147
with the help of northern European crusaders on their way to the Holy Land. It
was dedicated to St. George, the patron saint of England, and became the royal
palace until a newer palace was built in Commerce Square. Most of the castle
was destroyed over the years, but still includes a long extension of walls and
10 towers. Today the castle houses a restaurant, archaeological museum, and
gardens. While climbing the towers and walking along the fortifications we were
able to capture beautiful panoramic views of Lisbon.
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| Castle
of São Jorge |
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| View from Castle
of São Jorge |
Lisbon is
full of hills and to communicate them a lot of lifts, trams and trains were
built in the city. The Santa Justa Lift is an elevator that connects the lower
streets of the Baixa with the higher Largo do Carmo (Carmo Square). The seven
story vertical structure was built in 1904 and consists of a metallic tower,
observation platform, walkway, and base. Eiffel and its disciplines influenced
the iron lift in a Neo-Gothic style. From the top of the Santa Justa Lift we
were able to see a different perspective of the city.
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| Santa Justa Lift |
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| View From Santa Justa Lift |
From the Santa
Justa Lift we could see the ruins of the Carmo Convent. The Carmo Convent is a
medieval convent ruined in the 1755 earthquake. A Portuguese knight founded the
convent in 1389. The stone roof over the nave collapsed after the earthquake
and was never rebuilt, and only the pointed arches between the pillars have
survived. Now the ruined arches stand in the middle of the rebuilt city as a
reminder of the worst day in Lisbon's history. Today the church is used as an
archaeological museum.
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| Carmo Convent |
Almost all of the buildings and sidewalks around the city of
Lisbon are covered with beautiful tiles. Azulejo (or polished smooth stone) is
a form of Portuguese or Spanish painted, glazed ceramic tile work. The
discovery of the many decorative uses for tiles is due to the influence of
Arabic culture, which was present in Portugal for many centuries. It has become
an icon of Portuguese culture, having been produced without interruption for
five centuries. In Portugal azulejos are found on the interior and exterior of
churches, palaces, ordinary houses, schools, restaurants, and even railway
stations. These tiles are applied to walls, floors, and even ceilings.
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| Tiled Buildings of Lisbon |
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| Tiled Sidewalk of Lisbon |
On Sunday we
decided to venture further out into the suburbs of Lisbon so we bought a day
ticket for the hop on hop off bus and headed to Belém. The city of Belém’s name
is derived from the Portuguese word for Bethlehem is a civil parish of the
municipality of Lisbon. Our first stop in Belém was the Jeronimos Monastery is
the most impressive symbol of Portugal’s power and wealth during the Age of
Discovery. King Manuel I built the monastery in 1502 to commemorate Vasco Da
Gama’s voyage and to give thanks to the Virgin Mary for its success. Monks of
the Order of Saint Jerome whose spiritual job was to give guidance to sailors
and pray for the king’s soul populated the monastery. The monks called the
monastery home until 1833, when the religious orders were dissolved and the
monastery was unoccupied. Through different periods in its history the
monastery has been used as the burial place for royal pantheon. The monastery
was designed in a style later know as Manueline, a richly ornate architectural
design that includes complex sculptural themes incorporating maritime elements
and objects discovered during naval expeditions, carved in limestone.
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| Jeronimos Monastery |
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| Jeronimos Monastery |
In the city
of Belém our second stop was the fortress Belém Tower. Belém Tower was built in
1515 to guard the entrance to Lisbon’s harbor. The tower was built from lioz
limestone, a light colored, rare stone local to the Lisbon area. The building
is divided into two parts: the bastion and the four-story tower. On the outside
of the lower bastion, the walls have spaces for 17 canons with portholes open
to the river and an ocular in the north. The four-story’s of the tower have
fenestrations and battlements, with the ground floor occupied by a vaulted
cistern. Facing the river are arcaded windows, delicate Venetian-style loggias,
and a statue of Our Lady of Safe Homecoming, a symbol of protection for sailors
on their voyages. The ancillary storerooms of Belém Tower were later used as
prisons.
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| Belém Tower |
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| Belém Tower |
After seeing
the sights in Belém we visited the São Domingos Church, which was built in
1241. Unfortunately, the church was grossly destroyed in the 1755 earthquake
and was rebuilt using ruble for other destroyed buildings. In 1954 a fire completely destroyed the
church’s interior. It reopened in 1994, without hiding the marks of the fire. São
Domingos has a single nave, with the chancel in black marble. Some of the most
important royal weddings and christenings were celebrated at São Domingos, but
it was also from this church people were condemned to the bonfire by the
inquisition.
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| São Domingos Church |
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| São Domingos Church |
In the
evening we hopped on a bus and visited the Lisbon Oceanarium. Lisbon is the
home to the largest indoor aquarium in Europe. The aquarium is home to about
25,000 fish, seabirds, and mammals in an enormous central tank that is the size
of four Olympic-sized swimming pools. The main tank of the aquarium features
sharks, rays, barracudas, eels, and schooling fish. The oceanarium is one of
the few aquariums in the world to house a sunfish due to their unique and
demanding care requirements. The exhibits cover every major ocean on the globe with
an Arctic exhibit, an Atlantic Ocean tank, a tropical Indian Ocean habitat, and
tanks housing species from the Pacific's temperate waters.
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| Jelly Fish At The Lisbon Aquarium |
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| Sunfish At The Lisbon Aquarium |
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| Main Tanks At the Lisbon Aquarium |
