Portugal, Spain and Dubai Day 2 Lisbon Portugal 17 Sept 25

Our guide, Luis, met us in the hotel lobby at 9am, our driver got caught in peak traffic and arrived a little later.
We found out that like so many other cities in Europe, Lisbon is a City of Seven Hills, joining Rome and Istanbul that we know of!
Now for a bit of history, it is sort of part of all our tours, you have to understand where the city/country came from to understand why it is what it is now.
So here we go. The Greeks and Phoneticians founded a trading post in the area 3200 years ago. They gave it the name, Olisipo. The Roman’s conquered Olisipo about 2200 years ago, the Roman roads and aqueducts are said to have laid the foundation for the cities urban development. In the 5th to 8th centuries three Germanic tribes successively ruled Lisbon, the last, the Visigoths left fortifications behind that can still be seen in the city’s layout. The Moors were the next, conquering the city in 714 and occupying it for the next 450 years, the city is said to have flourished under Islamic rule. During this period Christian and Norman forces staged many raids but never succeeded in seizing control. In 1147 King Alfonso I of Portugal captured Lisbon with the help of the crusaders and re-established Christian rule. In 1256 Lisbon was made the capital of Portugal by King Alfonso the III. In the 15th and 16th centuries Lisbon was the heart of the Portuguese empire and became a very wealthy city. It was then that the iconic landmarks of the Belem Tower and the Jeronimos Monastery were built. In 1755 a 7.7 to 9.0 earthquake and resultant tsunami struck Lisbon. It was one of the largest natural disasters ever to strike Europe. About 12000 building’s were destroyed by the earthquake, with fissures up to 5m wide opening up in the city. The Tsunami that followed brought waves of up to 6m up the Tagus River and destroyed many more buildings. This all happened on All Saint’s Day, and fires caused by candles that were burning to mark the day burnt for 6 days. As a result of all this about 60000 lives were lost in Lisbon and much of the city was destroyed. Theresa’s a lot going on that week!
The city we see today was predominately built after this event, and now has a population of 600,000 (or over 3 million in greater Lisbon.) Portugal was neutral in both WW1 and WW2, and so was left untouched by the wars.
We started our tour of the city at the Moorish St George Castle built on top of a hill in the 800s, and rebuilt in the mid 20th century. All that is left are the walls and fortifications of the central bastion. The city was a walled city, with rings of walls built in concentric circles away from the Castle. The Castle is now a great place to view city and surrounds. It was not destroyed by the earthquake as it was built on top of rock. Unlike most of Lisbon which is built over mud.
As we walked down the hill we saw the Lisbon Cathedral, commissioned to be built 1 year after Lisbon was captured by King Alfonso I. It was built in a Romanesque style. Opposite the cathedral is the Church of St Anthony, the patron saint of Lisbon. It is built on the site where he was born. As we walked further down the hill we went through an area with a lot of Fado Restaurants. Fado is a style of Street or working-class music famous in Lisbon. While it is being performed it is customary to remain silent as a show of respect for the music and the musicians. I will add more on this in tomorrow’s blog, we are going to a Fado Restaurant tonight.
At the bottom of the hill we came to the original settlement area of Lisbon, the Alfarma district. Here lots of natural springs and water sources were found, enabling settlement. We saw an old drinking Fountain for people and beside that one for animals. Back in the day, many drinking fountains were often restricted to people of certain social class, below which you couldn’t use it. We also saw an old Political Prison from the days under the rule of the dictatorship of Salazar, it has now been converted in to a museum of Liberty.
We got back in our car and drove along the foreshore and passed the huge Commercial Square, the largest square in the city, in the western part of the city. This is also called the Monument Section. It is home to the Belem Tower, Jeronimos Monastery and the Monument to the Discoveries, and also the home of the famous (and delicious) Portuguese Tart, “Pasteis de Belem”.
We got to see behind the scenes at the Pasteis de Belem, to see how the tarts are made. Apparently, they make around 20,000 units a day. There were very long queues of people wanting to try these tasty morsels. We got one each and sat in a park opposite to savour them. They were easily the best we have tried.
The Monument to the Discoveries celebrates the golden age of Portuguese exploration and colonisation. It features statues of many of Portugal’s most famous explorers and those that recorded the historic Expeditions. It’s very impressive. The forecourt to the Monument is tiled to look like waves, and at certain angles in makes flat ground look like it if full of depressions and rises.
The Jeronimos Monastery, is a very big impressive building that, like the Tower of Belem, survived the events of 1755. The monastery structure contains both a monastery and a church. In 1833 Portugal was secularised and the Monastery was closed. It was the monks from there that first began making the Pasteis de Belem. The recipe they used is still the same one used today.
The Tower of Belem is a 16th century fortification on the banks of the Targus River and served as the location for the embarkation and disembarkation for the Portuguese explorers. Unfortunately for us it was covered in scaffolding and tarps for restoration. Alongside the tower is a statue of a plane, commemorating the first flight across the Atlantic Ocean from Europe to Rio de Janeiro, made by 2 Portuguese pilots.
Crossing the Targus River here is the 25th of April Bridge, a huge twin deck bridge, named after the date of the revolution when the dictator Salazar was overthrown in 1974. On a hill on the far side of the river is a statue, “Christ the King”, inspired by the statue Christ the Redeemer in Rio.
This is such an interesting and relaxed feel city, we both felt it would be an easy city to stay in for a long time. But enough for now, Fado awaits us.