Lisbon, Portugal

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. 

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.

Praça do Comércio

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. 

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 6^th 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. 

Castle of São Jorge

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. 

Santa Justa Lift

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. 

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. 

Tiled Buildings of Lisbon

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. 

Jeronimos Monastery

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.

Belém Tower

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. 

São Domingos Church

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.

Jelly Fish At The Lisbon Aquarium

Sunfish At The Lisbon Aquarium

Main Tanks At the Lisbon Aquarium