Belem and Fado Night 2

Today, Saturday, we took the tram out to Belem to see the Monastery de Jeronimos, the Belem Tower and the Monument to the Discoveries. The monastery was built as a thank you to the discoveries made by the Portuguese explorers. It's a beautiful building with lots of Moorish influence, especially in the cloisters. It was fairly busy and we actually got to watch part of a wedding that was going on in the cathedral. Later when we were able to go in to the church we saw the tomb of Vasco de Gama.

Before seeing the monastery we had first visited the Monument to the Discoveries. It was built in 1960 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Henry the Navigator's death, and it is Henry who leads the procession of kings, queens and the spreaders of Christianity on both sides of the 170 foot monument. In front of the monument is a large marble map of the world showing Portuguese discoveries and possessions.

We also visited the Tower of Belem, a structure built to protect the harbour of Lisbon. Of course after all this hard touristy work we needed a treat so we visited the Casa Pasteis de Belem and had some of the specialty, pastels de nata, called Pastels de Belem here.

After this we bused back into town and took a funicular to the Chiaro area of Lisbon and made a few stops along the way, one of them being the Institute of Port. After our "walking tour" we made our way back to the Alfama once again for a second night of Fado, this time at the at the Porte d'Alfama. Good food and a waitress that sings Fado. In the Alfama they're getting ready to celebrate the Festival of St. Anthony, the patron saint of Lisbon, which takes place on June 12. So there are a number of street parties throughout the area already and lots of loud music, food and drink. Wild times in the Alfama tonight....and every night, I think.
Whew, this was a very busy day.
K&M

Location:Largo de São Domingos,Lisbon,Portugal