My Year in Lyon: Portugal: Lisbon

After a lovely weekend in Madrid, Jen took the night bus back to Barcelona and I hopped on a 1 hour, 20€ (!) flight to Lisboa (or Lisbon in English), the capital of Portugal. A 20 minute bus ride from the airport took me to Rossio Square in the centre of the city, in the Baixa quarter. This beautiful square is lined with cafes and pastelarias, serving the famous Portuguese custard tarts.

Rossio Square, with the National Theater.

View of the statue in Rossio Square from my hostel room window!

My hostel was just on the right - this photo was taken from Rossio Square. The stand-owner is roasting chestnuts for sale. In the foreground is a stairway up the steep hill, which takes you to the hilltop Bairro Alto quarter and the Igreja do Carmo ruins (more on that later!).

My hostel, Rossio Hostel, was located right on the square and for 12€ a night was the absolute best hostel I have ever stayed in (96% rating on Hostel World). If you are ever considering booking even a hotel in Lisbon I would recommend this place - you can stay in a dorm or in a private room. It felt very homey - I spent two evenings at the dining room table doing homework. The staff was super friendly, they had a bit of a halloween party going on with punch for everyone (I arrived on Oct 31) and scary makeup. When I walked into the common area (with lots of cosy window seats for browsing through their library collection) in the morning, they asked me what would I like for breakfast, and offered to make me a scrumptious chocolate crepe!

Kitchen and dining room tables at the Rossio Hostel. Very clean and modern.

My dorm room.

With a very favourable image of Lisbon thus far I decided to venture off to Belém, a suburb at the mouth of the Tagus river, where the Portuguese ships set sail on their voyages of discovery centuries ago. The suburb is easily reachable by tram, and is just down the river from the city centre.

Trams in downtown Lisbon, just outside the old Royal Palace. I took one of the modern ones to Belém (like the one on the right). The ancient red trolleys (like the one on the left) are the main mode of transportation in the city centre.

My favourite place I visited in Portugal was by far the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A good rule of thumb when trying to decide what places to visit is to scope out the UNESCO sites - it's pretty much guaranteed to be amazing!

The monastery was commissioned in 1501 during Portugal's Age of Discovery (when Portugal was a major player on the world stage), soon after Vasco da Gama's return. The monastery is one of the grandest examples of Manueline architecture, the only architectural movement unique to Portugal. All religious orders were disbanded in 1834, but the church is still used (there was a service going on when I arrived).

Mosteiro dos Jerónimos. The section on the right dates from the 16th century, and includes the South Portal, facing the Tagus river. To the left is the more modern section, built in 1850. It now houses the National Museum of Archaeology and the Maritime Museum.

The South Portal. Very intricate!

Monastery towers.

View of the new section from the gardens that separate it from the river bank. Behind the camera is the Monument to the Discoveries.

My favourite part of the monastery by far was the jaw-dropping cloister (I'm pretty sure my jaw actually dropped). I think I took about 200 pictures in the cloister alone! The delicate tracery and intricately carved images unique to each column and surface are truly incredible. I'll let the pictures say the rest:

The Refectory, where the monks used to eat their meals. The blue and yellow designs on the walls are decorative tiles, a common art form in Lisbon. You often see larger designs like these, but you can buy single tiles with a design on them at most souvenir shops.

The Church of Santa Maria in the monastery is still in use today and is has impossibly high ceilings and beautiful embellishments in keeping with the rest of the building:

Across the garden from the monastery is the Monument to the Discoveries. The monument was built in 1960 to mark 500 years since the death of Henry the Navigator, and includes statues of many prominent figures from Portugal's maritime history.

A map made of tiles in front of the monument shows the sea journeys made by Portuguese explorers in the 15th and 16th centuries, all over the globe.

Side view of the monument. It is shaped like a caravel, the ship used by the Portuguese explorers.

The monument on the left, and a bridge across the river Tagus. You can see this bridge from the other side from the top of the Castelo de São Jorge in central Lisbon.

Sailboats near the monument, bridge in the background.

Further down the riverbank is the Torre de Belém, also a UNESCO site. This small fortress was the starting point of Portugal's maritime expeditions, and is an enduring symbol of the Age of Discovery. The exterior was designed in the intricate Manueline fashion. The storerooms and prisons below are understandably quite plain, but the Renaissance living quarters on the upper levels are quite beautiful and have a stunning view of the river, on it's way to the Atlantic.

The Torre de Belém, with sailboats going past on the river Tagus. Before a land reclamation project a hundred years ago, the fortress used to stand much farther out in the river.

A solitary fisherman in front of the Torre de Belém, with a sailing regatta going on in the distance.

The upper levels of the fortress.

Very narrow passages!

View from the upper stories.

Sailing regatta on the river Tagus. The tower was a great viewpoint to watch the ships go by.

I walked back up the river to the monastery, down the street from the iconic Antiga Confeitaria de Belém. Lunch or a snack in this 19th century café is an absolute must for any visitor to Belém, and is the home of the local specialty, pastéis de Belém. These rich flaky-pasty custard tarts are ubiquitous in Lisbon, and are a nice snack after a long morning of sightseeing.

Antiga Confeitaria de Belém, since 1837.

2 pastéis de Belém, hot cocoa (pretty much liquid chocolate!) and ham and egg quiche make an excellent lunch!

After lunch I took the tram back to Lisbon, to Praça do Coméricio. This square is at the centre of the Royal Palace, the home of the Portuguese monarchy for 400 years. Today the palace is a bit rundown on the outside and is now home to government offices. The square is bordered on one side by the Tagus river, and there are stone steps that go right down to the water. This used to be the VIP entrance to Lisbon, where ambassadors and royalty would take the marble step up from their boats on the river. This square was the scene of the assassination of King Carlos and his son in 1908, which heralded the end of the monarchy, and was the centre of the Carnation Revolution and the bloodless overthrow of the Caetano regime in 1974. Today there are about a dozen craftsmen selling jewelry and trinkets to tourists in the colonnaded outdoor galleries and the antique red trams rattle through. The grand triumphal arch, opposite the river entrance, leads to the Baixa neighbourhood and the heart of Lisbon.

The triumphal arch, statue of José I (1775) and the yellow Royal Palace in Praça do Comérico (aka Terreiro do Paço - Palace Square).

José I, looking out over the Tagus.

The Royal Palace.

The Royal Palace and the triumphal palace, photo taken from the Castelo de São Jorge.

The Baixa is the lively commercial heart of Lisbon. This district, redesigned after a devastating earthquake in 1755, is one of the first examples of town planning in Europe. This is a busy district with lots of shopping (including some brands we have back home) and cafés. Many of the streets are pedestrianized and tiled. One of the distinct architectural features of the city are the buildings with tiled facades (many have smaller patterns on the individual tiles). Unfortunately, most of the buildings look fairly run-down, perhaps a consequence of Portugal's modern economic woes.

Rua Augusta, which runs from the triumphal arch at the Royal Palace to Rossio Square.

Castelo de São Jorge, up on the hill.

On my second day in Lisbon, I woke up to a huge rainstorm. Once it cleared mid-morning, I climbed the stairs up the street from the hostel up to the Bairro Alto, a cosy residential area with a vibrant nightlife and small, family run workshops.

The most pleasant surprise of my stay in Lisbon was the incredible Igreja do Carmo. Once the largest church in Lisbon, it was mostly destroyed in an earthquake hundreds of years ago. Instead of rebuilding or tearing it down, it was just left there, and is now a beautiful skeleton of a cathedral. I went just after a rainstorm, so it was perfect to take pictures with the soaked stones and the clear blue sky above. There was barely anyone there, and it was only briefly mentioned in my guide book, so I really just stumbled on it by accident while walking down the street. You can't really see it from the street either, so you really have to be looking for it. It was really an amazing experience, I think I took over 100 photos at least! The best way to describe it is like walking through the sun-bleached ribs of a whale, washed up on the beach long ago.

The fairly nondescript entrance to the Igreja do Carmo.

Nearby is the Neo-Gothic Elevador de Santa Justa, an elevator connecting Bairro Alto to the lower Baixa built in 1901. This was certainly the most unique elevator I have ever seen!

The Elevador de Santa Justa.

View of the street below from the Elevador de Santa Justa

View of Lisbon from the elevator. You can see the top of the triumphal arch on the right, the two towers of the Sé cathedral on the left, and the Tagus river in the distance.

The Chiado neighbourhood is an affluent shopping area, with beautiful old churches and old-world coffee houses. The Café Brasilera, once the meeting-place of intellectuals and writers, remains popular. It's wood panelling and wall mirrors take you back at least 100 years.

Café Brasileira.

One interesting historical fact I learned in Portugal was that for about 100 years (300 years ago), Portugal was part of the Kingdom of Spain. Spanish and Portuguese have about 10% of words in common - my Brazilian friends can often pick up the gist of what the Spanish students are saying. Portuguese sounds a lot different than I expected it to - it sounded almost eastern European to me, not at all similar to Spanish or Italian. To my ear, it sounds more relaxed and less-rushed than I expected. Interestingly, my Brasilian friends also visited Portugal and found that their version of Portuguese was very different from 'Portuguese-Portuguese'. Brazil has been independent from Portugal since the founding of the Empire of Brazil in 1822 (later the Republic of Brazil), so it makes sense that there would be large linguistic differences.

Overlooking the city is the austere medieval Castelo de São Jorge. Originally a Moorish stronghold, it was transformed into the residence of the Portuguese Royal family (before the current Royal Palace, built in 1511) by King Alfonso Henriques when he recaptured the city in 1147. Over the centuries it has also been used as a theatre, prison and arms depot. From the towers and ramparts, you have a view of the entire city, all the way to Belém.

Cannons in the castle gardens.

The current owners of the castle: a family of peacocks.

The Portuguese flag flies from the ramparts.

Bridge to the citadel.

Down the hill is the Sé, Lisbon's 12th century cathedral. Originally built in 1150, it has kept it's austere Romanesque façade through hundreds of years of renovations. This is where St. Anthony of Padua was baptized in 1195, and the resting place of the relics of St. Vincent. Recent excavations in the Gothic cloister have revealed Roman remains.

The Sé cathedral. The lines in the picture are the cables for the antique red trolleys that convey Lisboetas up the many hills of the city.

Inside the Sé.

I loved the luminescent simplicity of the ceiling in the nave.

The other major church in Lisbon is São Vicente de Fora, completed in 1627. This grand Italianate church is also the home of the Bragança Pantheon, where the tombs of almost every Bragança king and queen lie. It's a little overwhelming, being in this small room with the bodies of almost every King and Queen of Portugal, several Emperors of of Brazil and the odd prince or princess. I was a little creeped out by the statue of a woman praying beside the tomb of Carlos I and his son (assassinated in 1908 in front of the palace) - it's so lifelike I jumped a little bit when I first walked into the room!

São Vicente de Fora - the white towers on the left, as seen form the Castelo de São Jorge.

The main entrance.

Decorative tiles again - typical of Portuguese architecture.

The Bragança Pantheon. These are the tombs of almost every Bragança monarch.

Stone woman praying at the tombs of Carlos I and his son. This is very lifelike in person - this room really creeped me out!

Walking around Lisbon was a treat in itself. Warning: lots of hills! Narrow cobbled streets, crumbling buildings, red antique trolleys, tile façades, steep inclines, medieval fortresses and churches - this is the most unique city I have been to so far. I definitely got the feeling that it was past it's prime and in dire need of an economic upswing, but nevertheless it was a very special place to go. If I had another few days in Portugal I would like to have visited the Palácio Nacional in Sintra (a day trip from Lisbon) and the City of Coimbra. The remaining photos are a collection of streetscapes, that I hope will give you a greater feel for the city. A visit to Portugal is definitely worthwhile if you are in the Iberian peninsula and is much less expensive than most destinations in Europe.