Belem - home of the Seafarers and Explorers

Up and at em and off to Belem (the Portuguese word for Bethlehem) , the city where most of the explorers left from. We thought we would take the bus or the train. Down the street we walk, well for the train you need a prepaid ticket and the machine was broke. Off to the bus. We wait at the stop, here comes #15, we start waving and he waves back. Different buses stop at different areas and we were at the wrong one. We tried hailing a cab. A definite no no in Portugal, you have to go to the designated taxi stop. OK we will keep walking, we finally found the stop for bus 15. The first one was standing room only, we decided to wait (we really wanted the tram). Finally another bus comes, still standing room only, but we are getting on. Somehow we got split up, the three amigos went in the front door and I went in the far back one. LOL. The back of the bus was full of Portuguese while the front was Brits and Canadians, luckily I had my yellow hat on so they could see me, but I wasn’t 100% sure if they were on the bus for the first few stops. My good friend Lindsey finally made it back to keep me company, took her awhile as she was stopping to talk to everyone on the way. LOL

The bus let us off at a beautiful little pastry and coffee shop called Versailles. It was definitely coffee time. They also had lovely little quiches and savoury pastries and yes custard tarts.  Feeling energized we set off on our walk of the river 

Next stop was the Monument of the Discoveries (Padrao dos Descobrimentos).  On one side of the monument are the famous explorers and the other side are the financiers and leaders of the "Discovery Age".  Henry the Navigator is at the top, then King Alfonso V and then Vasco da Gama.  There was an elevator that took us to the top where not only was there a great view of the city, but also a great view of the map of the world showing the Portuguese conquests.  There was also a great view of the Presidential Palace (which luckily is where the King was during the devastating earthquake of 1755) and the monastery where Jim’s favourite custard deserts were made.

When you stood/walked on the floor of the world, the wavy blue lines almost gave you vertigo as they felt like they were moving just like gentle waves.

 At the bottom of the monument there was an exhibit which seemed to depict the monsters of both sea and land that people thought inhabited the world.  I loved the fact that they had a quote from that great Englishman William Shakespeare there.  A quote that we could all keep in mind with all the events going on today.  

  

A great view of the Belem Tower from the top of the Monument.  

Continuing our wander along the waterfront we came to the Torre de Belem (a world heritage site), built in 1519 it was situated on an island in the Tagus river just off the shore, to stop invaders from entering the area. 

Jim and I decided to walk up the tower, 93 steps, very narrow and spirally. Here it is off season and the stairs were non stop people going up and down. There was a green light to let you know when it was your turn, unfortunately tourists don’t have a lot of patience so once on the way up and once on the way down, we came to a standstill while the people in front of us met up with people going the other way;. On the way up we had 4 Germans in front of us luckily because they were not backing down from the French who were on their way down.

We lucked out with the weather, it only rained when we were inside buildings, etc.  Time to head back to Lisbon to continue our tour.  This time we jumped in a tuk tuk - basically a golf cart with a tour guide.  A great way to travel.  

Tip:  Forget the fancy shoes, take good walking shoes with a good tread.  Everywhere is cobblestones and they can get quite slippy when wet and especially when walking down hills.