Castel Sao Jorge

Travelling to St. Jorge was an experience in itself. Almost felt like a Disney ride where you walked through one street scene with all the sounds and smells and then another. There was a doggy day care or SPCA (only one dog), street musicians, a busy area of restaurants, vendors selling fruit, all modes of transport including multiple tuk tuks trying to get by the cobbled streets. Once in the castle (long wait if you don't pre purchase a skip the lines ticket) and then a very pleasant park at the top with beautiful views, shade trees and the odd peacock strutting along.

Castelo de Sao Jorge is a military fortress with ancient origins. The site dates back to the Bronze age. Iron age. Phoenician, Greek and Carthaginian ruins were found in the area. Romans also built a fort here as Lisbon was a Roman capital. A small fortress was built by the Visigoths during the fifth century. It was modified and enlarged by the Moors in the mid-eleventh century and during the reign of Afonso I of Portugal (1109 – 1185), Its current structure dates to a large campaign of work from the time of D. Alfonso III (1248-1279)and transformed into a Royal Palace. The latest "reno" to the historical foundation being completed in October 2022. when they strengthened the structural stability of the tower, replaced lost materials, placed precision gauges for monitoring displacement, removed vegetation growth to control biodeterioration, surface cleaned, repointed joints, pinned and grouted cracks and gaps. Conclusion: A lot of care goes into preserving these old structures!
As Renan the day before had told us, for any construction project in Portugal, an archaeologist is required to oversee the process. Doug noted that major employers here are anything tourist oriented, construction and....archaeologists!Read more