They decided to go ahead and close Sintra through the 17th because of the wildfires, so we changed things around AGAIN to spend the following two days in Lisbon. We thought, "No worries, we will just go on the 18th!" Little did we know, they would wind up closing Sintra the entire time we were there, so we never did make it to see the mountain top palaces and parks! So disappointing.
We can roll with the punches with the best of 'em, so who is ready for an educational tour of the city? Also, Grant and I have weird thumbs.
YOU GUYS. I take the best pictures! Don't you just love how my finger is in the way? Sigh. Anyway, we decided instead to visit the Belém Tower (pronounced "Beh-lime") and to take a hop on-hop off bus as our mode of transportation.
We started the bus tour in the Praça da Figueira at the station of King John I. He was king of Portugal from 1385-1433, and it was under his reign that Portugal began to flourish in it's overseas expansion. One of his sons (also named John) was the grandfather of Queen Isabella (you know the one who was married to Ferdinand!)
We passed by the Rossio Square North Fountain, with the Statue of King Pedro IV behind it, and way int he background, you can see the Santa Justa lift. Pedro IV was actually known as Pedro I in Brazil, as he actually "founded" Brazil (it was a colony prior to gaining independence) and then he became it's first ruler. He had sort of grown up in Brazil, since French troops invaded Portugal in 1807 and forced his ruling family to flee across the ocean. At first glance, it's a bit curious as to why his statue is here! He became regent in Brazil when his father had to go back to Portugal in the early 1820s but when the Portuguese government forewarned that they were going to take away the autonomy of Brazil, Pedro decided he would stick with the country he grew up in, and declared independence from Portugal in 1822. He even went on to invade Portugal (AGAIN why is he here?) but at the time, there was a rise in absolutism that his invasion had squashed - returning the Portuguese government to a more representative form of government. Oh so THAT is why he is here!
Ok, that's it. I want this building.
We continued on down Avenue da Liberdade, which is a lovely tree lined street that used to be home to the very wealthy in Lisbon. It is still one of the most expensive shopping districts in the city!
As we approached the end of Avenue da Liberdade, you see the statue of the Marquis de Pombal. We waited at a light for the rotary (?!) and Kern decided to wave at some guy in a nearby car. The guy apparently would not wave back, so Kern just kept waiving until he did finally wave! Kern is never one to back down from a challenge!
The street lights in Lisbon have little golden boats on them!
Whoa, those are some pretty buildings!
Ahhh. I'm glad I got to see this beautiful view from Alameda Cardeal Cerejeira - a road that cuts through the Park Eduardo VII. It's one of the best views in the whole city! This 64 acre park was named after Edward VII of the UK, who came here in 1903 to strengthen the British-Portuguese alliance.
Eventually, we made our way down to the Tagus River near the Belém Tower. When we got off the bus, we saw this super cool statue of a replica of the airplane known as the Lusitania, which was flown by Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral in 1922 during their first crossing of the Atlantic to Brazil. This is a life sized model!
Finally, we reached the Belém Tower!
But first... lunch. I had a sandwich and a Pastéis de Nata which are not to be confused with the Pastéis de Belém. THOSE are only sold at the store of the same name from a secret recipe of the Jerónimos Monastery - and apparently the recipe is slightly different. These little custard pastries are delicious no matter where you get them though!
Kern and Natalie were having some lunch and I noticed a fire burning behind them (and behind the 25th of April Bridge, as well as the Sanctuary of Christ the King.)
After lunch, the girls stayed back to use the restroom (always go when you find one, because you never know when you'll find another one!) and we were spying on the rest of the gang who were hanging out in front of the Belém Tower.
We finally joined them and then looked back at the restaurant that we just ate at. Hmmm. The only question I have is - is it a VE zone or a floodway??
We finally walked over to the Belém Tower and learned we had to go buy tickets to go into the tower, so we did that before crossing the wooden bridge. Grant wanted to take his shoes off and get in the water. (No!)
The Belém Tower was built between 1514 and 1520 as not only a kind of gateway to the city, but also as a part of a system of defensive artillery outposts (along with the one in Cascais and the Tower of São Sebastião). The lower battery has 17 cannons, but the tower itself only lasted as a part of the defense system until about 1589, when it became a prison. Interestingly, before the tower was built, there had been a really big thousand ton man-of-war ship called the Grande Nau guarding the area here. No building, just a big boat!
The Tower was built to help defend Lisbon (and really Portugal since the headwaters of the Tagus are all the way over in Spain) against enemies. Of course, when it was built, the 25th of April bridge was certainly not there!
Todd said he would only let nice people in by cranking the wheel to the drawbridge.
The Belém Tower was built in the heart of the Renaissance era and heavily influenced by Moorish architecture but is one of the best examples of the ornate Manueline style - named so for Manuel I and reflective of the wealth Portugal enjoyed during his reign.
KK and Lynne, two fair maidens trapped in the tower. Just kidding! There are tiny little cupolas you can go in on the bulwark terrace (you can see them in the picture below). This might have been a good spot for hide and seek!
Dorothy taking a picture of Kern at the Belém Tower on the bulwark terrace.
Hilariously, I also have the actual picture that Dorothy took!
KK, Grant and I waited in line to go inside the actual tower - not sure what I'm looking at here! The tower isn't very big, and in a pandemic world, it's just best if you wait outside. When one group of people exits, they let another group in.
Those tower stairs were STEEP! Which means if they are steep when you're going up, they're also steep when you're going down! When you go inside, you go straight to the top and work your way back down to visit the four floors.
Kern following Natalie back to the stairwell after we visited the top level Chapel.
I think I would like to do my bathroom tile in this color scheme - the sky blue is so pretty! There are four rooms/floors you can visit (aside from the battery) including the Chapel (on the top floor), the Audience Chamber (on the third floor, and in the picture above), the King's Chamber, and the Governor's Chamber.
Dorothy took the cute (and ridiculous) picture of us in the Audience Chamber.
Everyone's favorite part of the tower is the cool balcony just off of the King's Chamber. I definitely did a royal wave from here. This balcony is where the King would watch the ships set sail and return home from their voyages.
From the balcony, you can also see down into the bulwark nave which leads to the lower battery where we saw the cannons.
Me at the east facing side of the Belem Tower balcony, just off of the King's Chambers.
Eventually, after the tower served as a prison, it became a customs center for ships entering Lisbon and for a time, it was even a lighthouse!
You can see here one of many Order of Christ Crosses that decorate the tower. The Military Order of Christ was the Portuguese reincarnation of the Knights Templar. Prince Henry the Navigator was a Grand Master of the Order of Christ, and was one of the most famous of all of the Portuguese discoverers when he kicked off the Age of Discovery with his exploration of the western African coast, Madeira and the Azores. The Order was a big source of his funding for these explorations.
Oh geez. Hold on with both hands when you descend!
The last room you visit is the Governor's Chamber, where you can walk these really narrow short hallways to get to the bartizans in the corners of the room. They provide nice views of the bridges. The Governor's Chamber is where the customs inspections would occur and taxes would be levied on the goods brought back from around the world.
From the bartizans, you can also see the outside entrance to the tower. I feel like I was spying on people!
I read somewhere that the Belém Tower is one of the 7 Wonders of Portugal - and you can definitely see why!
One very interesting story about the Belém Tower is the story of the rhinoceros. You can barely see the carving of one, down near the water here on the western façade of the tower, slightly right of center in the photo above, under the forward facing cupola. Time and the elements have worn this statue down, but back in 1515, a rhinoceros arrived in Portugal from India for King Manuel I. It was the first rhino the city of Lisbon had seen in about 1300 years and it was quite the spectacle. The king quickly grew bored of the animal (especially after a failed attempt to have the rhino fight an elephant) and shipped it off to Pope Leo X in Italy. Only... it didn't make it. It drowned in a shipwreck on it's way to the Vatican! Rumor has it, they found the dead animal in the sea, recovered it and stuffed it with straw to present to the (less than impressed) Pope! HA! Anyway, they built a little monument to the rhino here.
Grant: The tower is shaped like an L, so therefore, I shall be shaped like an L.
We stopped for a bathroom break near some cannons outside of the tower. Todd and Grant did a little photo shoot.
Ahh, I really love these funky plants that we saw as we made our way toward the Monument to the Discoveries!
Everyone loves a good lighthouse, although this one was closed. It's particularly funny in that it never actually functioned as a lighthouse!
I think we made it about a quarter of a mile before we stopped under some shady trees at Mister Tapas for some cold beverages. We were actually trying to waste a bit of time before our evening sunset sailboat cruise, so of course... we had to have happy hour!
The crazy crew having some drinks at Mister Tapas.
Because we can't be serious, Dorothy told us to pretend like we were asleep!
And of course, we HAD to get a picture of our waiter (thankfully, Kern did not challenge him to a foot race!)
Grant was bored during happy hour, so he went down to the water to sit. I called this one, "The Loneliest Boy in the World." I probably should get him a sibling or something.
The Monument to the Discoveries is a striking monument that commemorates the Age of Discovery in 15th and 16th century Portugal.
Henry the Navigator leads the way on this statue that opened in 1958.
We didn't get one of these but a TON of people were walking around with pina coladas made in actual pineapples! They actually had a few stands along the waterfront that sold this drink!
In the square in front of the Monument to the Discoveries, which was donated by the South African government, there is a huge compass with a mappa mundi in the center of it. You can go to the top of the Monument to the Discoveries and get a great view of this, but we did not have time!
KERN! This was so funny! Notice Todd and the kids up on the little balcony area to the right!
Natalie, closer up and not jumping! It kind of looks like she's getting stabbed by that giant sword!
Some of the most famous of Portugal's explorers are actually on the OTHER side of the monument (the one facing east). More on that in a bit!
Finally, it was time for all of us to head over to the docks!
KK and Todd boarded the sailboat first!
After happy hour, but before the boat drinks were served, we snapped this group pic right before we set sail.
We had the FUNNIEST guide who I think was named Carlos. That's what Kern said, anyway. As we sailed west toward the Belém Tower, he told us a bit of the history of the various towers and monuments along the way. There was a group of girls on the front of the boat with us too (they were there for a bachelorette party. Honestly, we were crazier and having more fun than they were!)
A nice view of the Belém Tower from the sailboat on the Tagus.
The Monument to the Discoveries, with humans and sailboats for scale.
This is the side of the Monument to the Discoveries that has the more well-known explorers on it. King Alfonso V and Vasco de Gama (with the beard) are directly behind Henry the Navigator here. You can also see Ferdinand Magellan (it looks like he has a towel draped over his arm.)
My very unserious fellow explorers on the Bavaria 50 cruiser (and look at the cute one with the dimple on the right!)
My babies, exploring the Tagus River.
I don't know why I got the biggest kick out of the 25th of April Bridge and the Sanctuary of Christ the King. Probably because I'm certain this is actually the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, right next to Christ the Redeemer in Rio! Doesn't anyone have any original ideas anymore!?
Now THIS building was super cool. If you look closely, it's designed to look like a stingray! Even the walkway behind it that goes over the roadway looks like the tail of the ray. This building is actually the MAAT - the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology.
At last, Carlos came out with the beverages after taking our order. You got a choice of white wine, rosé, beer, water or like a bottled iced tea.
Someone apparently gave Dorothy the entire bottle of rosé! Oh boy!
I started with rosé but quickly moved back to beer! Cheers to a beautiful sunset, KK!
You might not notice, but there are some paintings of various aquatic life down that the base of the tower here on the 25th of April Bridge. Super cute! For those of you wondering about where this falls in the superlative world - it's currently the 46th longest suspension bridge in the world. Meanwhile, the similar-looking Golden Gate bridge comes in at 19th! This bridge was originally named the Salazar Bridge for António de Oliveira Salazar, the Portuguese dictator who was overthrown in the April 25, 1974 Carnation Revolution. They obviously wanted to rename it!
One major difference between this bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge is the support beams - here they are shaped like an X, but on the Golden Gate Bridge, they are horizontal.
One other difference between this and the Golden Gate Bridge is that there is an additional level for train transportation (in addition to motor vehicles.) Please don't leak on my head!
Grant was showing Carlos a magic trick. This led to Todd showing him how to pull a penny from behind someone's ear which he then went and immediately (poorly) performed the same trick for the bachelorette party. I'm not sure they found this as funny as we did!
The sun was setting and it made really pretty shadows on Commerce Square and the Alfama neighborhood. You can see the Lisbon Cathedral just over the rooftop of the yellow building in front.
This is a wider view of Commerce Square, the Arch of Rua Augusta (from 1875) and the statue of King Jose I in the center of the square.
The Alfama neighborhood might be my favorite!
Oh boy. Things are starting to get weird.
Todd briefly considered a mutiny, but thought better of it.
This was the FUNNIEST thing - the kids like to pretend to be Rose and Jack from Titanic (this isn't news if you follow this blog at all!) so of course, we had to continue the tradition.
The bachelorette party broke out into song for the kids, singing Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" which was hilarious!
Never let go, Jack. There was room on that floating door for you, too.
The sunset was GORGEOUS behind the 25th of April Bridge!
We glanced at the south bank of the Tagus and needed a second look when we noticed there was an elevator there! This 50 meter elevator is known as the Panoramic Elevator of Boca do Vento and it's been around since 2000. They sure like their elevators in Lisbon!
NOT Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro. Much like a lot of other religious monuments, this particular statue was built in thanksgiving for the city largely being spared during World War II. It is 110 meters high (base and statue) and has sat well above the Tagus River since its inauguration in May of 1959. You can go up the tower- you can see above that there is a platform at Jesus's feet.
Todd contemplating why they built a second Christ the Redeemer statue in Lisbon.
Kern and Dorothy enjoyed the sunset too!
At first, you see the world's cutest little boy... but look closer at his sunglasses. KERN!
Kern took this super cute picture of Lynne, too!
But Grant took a series of pictures with my good camera, including this neat picture of wine bottles and the sunset over the Tagus River.
Grant also took this cute picture of me and Todd (as we were taking a selfie of ourselves!)
AND Grant took this hilarious picture! I love it - you can see genuine laughter and the sunset in the reflection of my sunglasses. Well... truth be told, I'm SURE Kern said something hilarious that got us laughing!
Me and my boy enjoying that beautiful Lisbon sunset.
We really had the best time on this sunset sail!
Kern actually took this cute one of Natalie with the Sanctuary of Christ the King and the southern end of the 25th of April bridge in the background. His iPhone is better than mine.
I think there might be a photography contest the next time Kern and Grant travel together. Kern took this cute picture of Lynne and Dorothy, two of Wilmington's finest ladies.
STUNNING!
I mean really... it doesn't get much better than this.
Adios, sunshine.
We really had a blast with Lisbon by Boat. 10/10 would definitely recommend!
Instead of dropping us off back by the Monument to the Discoveries, they actually asked us all if we would have preferred to be dropped off closer to the city center. Of course! So we pulled into the Doca de Santo Amaro and that's when the fun began. HA. Kern and Dorothy take fun VERY seriously.
Let's try to go find a restaurant!
While hunting for a restaurant and bathroom, Dorothy took Grant for a little twirl.
The only problem was... all of the restaurants were booked. And Natalie had to go to the bathroom. And no one had cell service to call an Uber. So Kern, Todd and Natalie took off to find Wi-Fi and a bathroom, while the rest of us waited. Randomly, a taxi pulled up and I shoved Dorothy, Grant, Kathleen and Lynne into the cab and sent them back home while I waited by myself for the other three to return (hopefully with a confirmed Uber!)
Meanwhile, Dorothy was VERY worried that the other three hadn't found me. Because none of us had cell service, I couldn't really just text them to tell them where I was. But they did find me! Of course, Kern was really messing with Dorothy in this hilarious text thread! (His phone was an international work phone that *sometimes* was able to send texts, but he was the only one, and his service was spotty!)
We managed to get back in the apartment building and I think Natalie was terrified of the rest of us when we rode up in the elevator together ha ha.
Everyone else was wiped out but Kern, Dorothy, Todd and I wanted to go out and grab a bite to eat. We found this great little tapas place not too far from our apartment - República das Tapas. That guy behind us is giving us some serious side eye!
We had a great waitress who made excellent drink recommendations. Too bad Dorothy couldn't join the rest of us for drinks.
The menu was only in Portuguese (actually always a sign that a restaurant has potential) and we ordered several small plates, including octopus, calamari and beef.
The pink lighting was very loud but I kind of loved it.
After dinner, they gave us small aperitifs, much like they do at restaurants in Germany. Of course, Todd and I had limoncello!
Dorothy and I linked arms and pranced the whole way back to the apartment!
Once we arrived back at the apartment, we noticed for the first time a 9/11 memorial just outside of the apartment building. It read, "Tribute from the People of Lisbon to the victims of the attacks perpetrated in New York and Washington on September 11, 2001." Obviously designed to look a bit like the former World Trade Center towers, it was a touching little tribute.
A fun day was had by all in Lisbon!
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