Portugal can be summed up in 3 words: Sea, Romance and Sunshine!
While it's true that it’s no longer the Iberian Peninsula's best-kept secret, Portugal has an old-fashioned charm, with medieval castles and picture-perfect villages scattered over meandering coastlines and flower-covered hillsides. From the ancient university town of Coimbra to Lord Byron's favourite Portuguese haunt, Sintra, the country's proud history can be felt everywhere.
Sun-kissed beaches like Cascais and Sagres offer enticements of a more hedonistic sort. Indeed, the dramatic, end-of-the-world cliffs, wild dune-covered beaches, protected coves and long, sandy islands of Portugal's coastline have long enchanted visitors and locals alike. Meanwhile, the country's capital, Lisbon, and its northern rival, Porto, are magical places for the wanderer, with riverside views, cobblestone streets and rattling trams framed by looming cathedrals.
Everything – from cities with ancient and contemporary attractions, colorful medieval villages, charming seaside towns, ancient castles, romantic palaces, rich architectural and archaeological heritage, constant sunshine, green natural parks and mountains, grand rivers, and a vast coastline, all add up to Portugal's surprising variety of landscapes and cultural treasures. All of these and more, which is an astonishing variety for such a small country, combined with lower prices compared to other European destinations, make it one of the most rewarding travel experiences in the world.
Anyhow, it was a long 7-hour drive towards Lisbon with an hour lunch break along the way. We drove past mountains and countryside with lots of trees, switched back our timepieces for an hour, and finally reached our destination.
Lisbon (Lisboa in Portuguese) can be summed up in one word: variety. From the 12th-century cathedral to the modern bridges spanning the Tagus River, from the 18th-century Aguas Livres aqueduct to the futuristic Oriental Station, Lisbon traverses the ages.
Bathed in pure Atlantic light, crowned by the storybook St. George's Castle and straddling seven hills, Lisbon is one of Europe's most visually striking capitals. Looks aside, the city will surely win you over with its genuine friendliness and blissfully laidback pace. As Rafael had said, the Portuguese have 3 speeds: slow, slower, still. I personally experienced this laidback trait in one of my shopping expeditions (which I will elaborate later).
Spread across steep hillsides that overlook the Rio Tejo, Lisbon offers all the delights you would expect from Portugal’s star attraction, yet with half the fuss of other European capitals. Gothic cathedrals, majestic monasteries and quaint museums are all part of the colourful cityscape, but the real delights of discovery lie in wandering the narrow lanes of Lisbon’s lovely backstreets.
Boasting springtime temperatures during the winter and cool summers freshened by a breeze blowing in from the Atlantic, Lisbon offers a rich and impressively integrated diversity. The city's many neighborhoods include Moorish Alfama, home of the city's tallest hill, and 17th-century Bairro Alto, with its hopping nightlife. Museums, castles, open-air markets, funiculars, Fado music - Lisbon's pleasures include these and much more.
Upon arrival in Lisbon, we immediately checked in into our five-star Hotel Altis. According to Rafael, a room would normally cost 500/night. Thereafter, we went for a city tour with a local tour guide.
Below is Lisbon’s version of the San Francisco Bridge:
Lisbon’s version of Brazil’s Christ the Redeemer:
Anyhow, our first stop was the Torre de Belém, Lisbon’s icon.
Just four miles from the center of Lisbon, Belem is best known for Belem Tower, a 16th-century fortified lighthouse built to guard the port. The area is also home to Belem Palace, built in the 16th century by King Manuel, and now the official residence of Portugal’s president.
Built in 1515 as a fortress to guard the entrance to Lisbon's harbor, the Belem Tower was the starting point for many of the voyages of discovery, and for the sailors it was the last sight of their homeland. This was, after all, the port from which famous Portuguese navigators like Vasco de Gama set off to explore the world.
Portugal's caravels sailed off to conquer the great unknown from Belém, and today this leafy riverside precinct is a giant monument to the nation's Age of Discoveries. You can climb the tower and look into the dungeons from when it was a military prison. It is a monument to Portugal's Age of Discovery, often serving as a symbol of the country, and UNESCO has listed it as a World Heritage monument.
The imposing limestone Monument to the Discoveries, also facing the river nearby, is shaped like a caravel and features key players from the era.
It represents a three-sailed ship ready to depart, with sculptures of important historical figures, such as King Manuel I carrying an armillary sphere, poet Camões holding verses from The Lusiads, Vasco da Gama, Magellan, Cabral, and several other notable Portuguese explorers, crusaders, monks, cartographers, and cosmographers, following Prince Henry the Navigator at the prow holding a small vessel. The only female is Queen Felipa of Lancaster, mother of Henry the navigator, the brain of the discoveries.
Inside is an exhibition space with temporary exhibits, an interesting film about the city of Lisbon, and an elevator that takes visitors to the top for some bird's-eye views of Belem and its monuments.
The pavement in front of the monument is decorated with a mosaic that was offered by the South African government in 1960, representing a compass with the map of the world charting the routes taken by the Portuguese explorers .
We were then given some free time to wander around for souvenir shopping and take some snapshots.
Thereafter, we ambled back on the coach and returned to the hotel to doll up for our optional seafood dinner that evening.
Enroute to the restaurant, I took more snapshots of Lisbon. My shots don’t do justice to how beautiful Lisbon really is, but at least you would have an idea.
Lisbon’s version of Segovia’s aqueduct:
The restaurant is situated across from the capital:
Our seafood dinner was one of the best dinners I ever had on the tour. It being a seafood restaurant and me unfortunately being allergic to hard shellfish, I was given a special menu of fish entree, with good Porto wine to boot. It was so yummy that I was in heaven!!!
What a wonderful scene to cap a wonderful evening. Ahhh…. Paradise!
To Be Continued.....
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