More Lisbon and environs

In the western part of Lisbon, an area called Belem, we visited a small fortress (Torre de Belem) built on the edge of the Rio Tejo in the 16th century and an extensive Marine Museum once an elaborate monastery, Mosteiros dos Jeronimos, constructed after Vasco da Gamas' safe return from India. The monastery was built on the site of a small chapel where da Gama and his shipmates had spent time before their departure on the historical journey. A huge amount of money was spent on this elaborate monestery, much of which apparently came from income from pepper and other spices acquired as a result of the explorations and colonization. (Though the discoveries were amazing accomplishments and aptly celebrated as such, they were also early colonization and exploitation of the goods and lives of other civilizations.) South of the monastery near the river (which joins the Atlantic just to the west) is a large and quite spectacular monument to the explorers, the Padrao dos Descombrimentos, inaugurated in 1960 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Henry the Navigator's death. Both sides are adorned with large sculptures of people of some note with Henry the Navigator at the prow of the ship-like structure.

Have quite a few good photos of much of this area including the Torre de Belem, the outside of the monastery and the Padrao dos Descombrimentos.

The photos included are the Torre de Belem, the Monastery and cathedral, the entrance to the monastery (now a maritime museum), the Padro dos Descomrimentos and one photo of Sintra(see below). (The blogger software only allows 5 photos per posting so will put together some collages so that I can provide more views of these areas.)

From Belem we went to Sintra, a beautiful city (26,000 pop) northwest of Lisbon. Sintra is situated high (about 270 meters) in the mountains - so it extremely hilly and filled with unusual architecture - castle, palaces, churches and botanical gardens. It is said that the Iberians made it a "cult" centre; the Moors built the castle and the palace, the medieval period built the monasteries and the nobility/aristocrats of all groups used it as vacation and refuge - the wealthy fled here during the destructive 1755 earthquake. More narrow and charming streets to wander than you can imagine, and great exercise as it is extremely hilly. If you look closely at the photo of Sintra (last photo in this post) you will see an interesting turreted house situated on the hillside above this part of the town. Apparently Byron visited Sintra and claimed it to be paradise.

We had only a short time here, unfortunately. Walked up and down, took photos and had a drinks and pastry at the "Lord Byron Restauante"! Lot's to return for.

These trips are a nice idea to get a taste of an area, but they have serious limitations, especially for areas like Lisbon and Sintra where there is so much that one could see, learn about and enjoy. On this trip the time factor was a limitation but it was it was also limited by a less than helpful tour guide.