Ben’s Big Birthday

Well, Chantale’s now hanging out with a 65 year old guy.

So, up early and off the mall via the metro. Really. Had to get a new suitcase. Stopped on the way for coffee and pastry. Ben got a small carrot cake pastry- not as good as the carrot cake that Chantale ALWAYS bakes him, but it sufficed.

New suitcase back at the hotel, we then took an Uber out to the Torre de Belem.

“The Belém Tower, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is one of Lisbon’s most striking monuments and the icon of a country historically moulded by its proximity to the ocean and its maritime discoveries of new worlds.
Discoveries by Portuguese navigators transformed Lisbon into the world’s main trade hub in the 15th and 16th centuries.
To protect the city, King João II conceived a pioneer project to defend Lisbon from enemy ships, a work completed in 1514 and which included the building of the Belém Tower, designed by architect Francisco de Arruda.”

We passed the Jerónimos Monastery, one of the most prominent examples of the late Portuguese Gothic Manueline style of architecture in Lisbon. It was erected in the early 1500s near the launch point of Vasco da Gama's first journey, and its construction funded by a tax on the profits of the yearly Portuguese India Armadas.

The Maritime Museum, where Ben was now able to get a senior discount (Happy Birthday!), provided a fascinating overview of the early days of Portugal as a seagoing superpower. It was the first European country to settle Africa, and established trade routes around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of the continent to India. The Portuguese were the dominant European power in India from 1500-1600.

Walking along the banks of the Tagus River, we visited the Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Discoveries Monument) commemorating the Age of Discoveries.

We had booked a Lisbon food tour, and met up with our guide David at a plaza not far from our hotel. We sampled a variety of typical local drinks and foods - including sour cherry liqueur, beer, wine, chorizo, cod cakes, gelato and a famous pastry called patis de nata.

In between the food stops we learned about history and some local landmarks.

Lisbon isn’t an ancient- looking city; it was destroyed by an 8? earthquake in 1755, so literally the entire city dates from that period. Many beautiful buildings, and sidewalks and plazas abound with decorative pattern stonework.

David showed us one church, Igreja de São Domingo, originally from 1241, and rebuilt after two earthquakes, that was most recently been rebuilt after a fire in 1959, with much of the charred and splintered stone left intact and exposed. Stunning in person, as much for what was restored and what was not.

We watched the preparation of Lisbon’s famous pasteis de nata, at one bakery and tasted them fresh out of the oven. Wow! Delicious…Read more