Sunday 23 June 2024
Today we went to Belem, a short train ride from Lisbon. We started with the Jerónimos Monastery Monastery which had the most amazing architecture. It was annoyingly poorly organised (and you know I hate a disorganised queue!) in that they paid no attention to timed tickets. No matter what time your ticket was for you still all had to join the back of the 30-60 minute queue. Ah well, I had a book and JC wandered off with his camera. It was certainly worth the wait.
I loved the gargoyle like faces.
The photographer at large.
Afterwards we visited the maritime museum which is always a must-see on my list.
Lots of maritime goodies but, as always, it’s the navigational tools that grab me.
They had a big hanger full of boats, a royal barge and seaplanes, one of which had done a final leg of the first ever flight across the Southern Atlantic. Portuguese naval aviators Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral flew across it in 1922 using three different Fairey III biplanes (they kept breaking them) over 6 weeks. Crazy.
We walked down by the River Tagas, past the monument to Padrão dos Descrobrimentos. The lighthouse was all scaffolded up which was sad, but at least it's getting some tlc. It is vertical in real life - just the angle of the photo I took (panic not).
On arriving at Belem Tower we were advised it was sold out. So we hopped online, bought some tickets, and entered. Touché!
I don't often see signs re: what to do in case of an earthquake. In fact Lisbon appears tuned into natural disaster management as there were tsunami warning and evacuation zones in Lisbon.
We were one of the last to enter as it was closing within the hour, so we were hustled from room to room and weren’t allowed on the roof space or to the terrace, except to snap a few shots. And find a survey mark of course.
However, better a rushed Belem Tower than not at all, and we we found it fun to be last in as most others had walked off when told it was sold out.
We swung by the Church of St. María of Belém which is next to the monastery. We were allowed to sneak in the back during a service and snapped our goal - the sarcophagus of Vasco da Gama.
We stayed late in Belhem as JC wanted to take some night photos. All very beautiful but not an early night - another busy day (this is supposed to be a relaxing holiday...).
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