Portugal, Douro River Valley, September, 2009

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Portugal, Adventure #26, Page 2

Tower of Belém

Belém is a community area, west of Lisboa, and includes the Jerónimos Monastery with the Santa Maria church and the Monument to the Discoveries - All within 400 meters of one another. The 'Tower of Belém' was "built to commemorate Vasco da Gama's expedition and remains a reminder of the maritime discoveries that laid the foundations of the modern world. North African influences can be seen on the upper parts. The tower was built in 1515 as a fort in the middle of the Tagus River". The Great Earthquake of 1755 moved the river, such that the Tower Fort is now on the North bank of the Rio Tagus. Remarkably, the Tower is virtually undamaged. The fort has many nautical features similar to a sailing ship.

Canon Deck.

Above Left: Canon Deck.

Above Right: Stern Castle (literally).

Monument to the Discoveries

Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Literally: 'Monument to the Discoveries'):

Monument to the Discoveries.

"The monument consists of a 52 meter-high slab of concrete, carved into the shape of the prow of a ship. The side that faces away from the river features a carved sword [and symbolic cross - Dennis] stretching the full height of the monument. It was conceived by Portuguese artists, architect Cottinelli Telmo and sculptor Leopoldo de Almeida as a temporary beacon of the Portuguese World Fair in 1940. The Monument to the Discoveries represents a romantic idealization of the Portuguese past that was typical during the regime of Dictator Salazar." - Wikipedia.

Henry the Navigator leads the congress. More or less, one side is for Sailors, Navigators, and Military Leaders while the other side is for Scholars, Chart Makers, Nobles, and Religious Leaders.

A picture of the Discoveries Monument is typically pictured or portrayed on the cover of Portugal Tour Books.

Portuguese Seamen.

Portuguese Discoveries in South America.

The compass rose and world map showing different Portuguese Discoveries is a donation from South Africa.

Baixa (Downtown Area), Rossio, Pedro IV Square

Rossio means 'Large Square' and actually the downtown area has a couple long malls and three or four adjacent squares separated by one city block. Generally 'The Rossio' is considered to be the Pedro IV Square. This area has been a meeting place for centuries. We ate there every night. Most restaurants don't open until 2000 hrs and we learned this may be because of the heat. People just don't feel like eating until its cooler, which seems to be about 8 PM. We were in Lisbon in the second week of September and each day got as high as 35° or 36°C (95-97°F). It's warm.

Statue of King John I in Figueira Square.

Lisbon Area

Above Left: It's the '25th of April Bridge'. Construction began in 1962 on the orders of then Dictator António de Oliveira Salazar. The bridge was named after the dictator. But on 25 April 1974 there was a quiet regime change called the 'Carnation Revolution' (where a few people were placing carnations into rifle barrels of soldiers or just wearing new carnations). People also tore down the Salazar sign on the bridge and painted '25 de Abril' - No one ever changed the new bridge name (and Portugal became the Republic that it is today).

The '25th of April Bridge' was created by the same designers as the Golden Gate Bridge (in San Francisco, California), but it is not a copy. For example, the Portuguese version has cross supports in the trestles where the golden gate has none.

The Statue of Jesus is a smaller duplicate of the statue in Rio de Janeiro (Cristo Redentor / Christ the Redeemer).

Above Right: Sarmento's, Jewlry since 1870. It's at the base of the Santa Justa vertical elevator. We contributed to their longevity.

Sintra, Portugal

The village of Sintra contains, apparently, two National Palaces, one known as the Sintra National Palace or Town Palace or Summer Palace and the other known as Pena National Palace. The town of Sintra was originally a Moorish Stronghold with a Castle and Fortifications on the top of the mountain called 'Castelo dos Mouros'. We got to see the Town Palace.

The origins of the Town Palace probably started with the Moorish occupation in about 1000 AD. King Afonso Henriques took possession after running the Moors out of the region. Subsequent construction is mixed Gothic, Manueline, and Renaissance (added to a Moorish base). The Palace represents different architectures and accoutrements fitting different styles through the centuries.

Castelo dos Mouros.

Terry and I went back to Sintra to see the Pena National Palace but the Military was performing an exercise involving field artillery and the resulting traffic jams and lack of help had us scrambling and totally lost - we had to abandon our re-visit to Sintra.

Cascais and the Ocean

Cascais is on the coast and is about 30 Kilometers West of Lisbon (also Sintra is about 10 Kilometers to the north [inland]). It is a traditional summer resort town within easy train or car travel from Lisbon. Cascais started as a maritime town but is now trendy with many homes from Jet Setters and International Nobility (many that were exiled from their home countries since WWII).

The town has a casino named Estoril Casino. Interestingly, with Portugal being neutral in WWII, spies from the Axis and from the Allies kept an eye on each other in this town at Estoril Casino. One of the Embassy Staff members from the UK was named Ian Fleming; perhaps his experience in Cascais gave him the idea for his book 'Casino Royal'. Also, scenes from a James Bond movie, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, were filmed in this area.

Ocean View, west of Cascais.