Lisbon, Portugal

part deux to my portuguese adventure

After visiting Porto, Shanka and I took a train to Portugal's capital city, Lisbon.

The Belem district just by the waters houses the very ports that were used by 15th century Portuguese explorers in their voyages around the world. The Belem tower stands gorgeously by Lisbon's shoreline and is known to be the most photographed building of the city. The tower dates back to the 16th century and was once a ceremonial gateway to Lisbon. God blessed us with good weather today, evident as the light blue hues of the cloudy sky marries perfectly with the blue waters.

We continued to walk towards the impressive Padrao dos Descrobimentos, otherwise known as the Discoveries Monument. The monument is definitely my favourite attraction in Lisbon, just look at the magnificent detail seen in the 33 statues built around the tall white structure. The monument was built in reverence to the explorers (something about Vasco da Gamma, hello eighth grade humanities class) and it offers a great view of the Tagus estuary ahead.

Next, we visited the Jeronimos Monastery which is also a UNESCO World Heritage site, because it is the resting place of Vasco de Gamma. We enjoyed the sunlight in the pretty gardens just outside of the monastery before stepping inside the exquisitely decorated church. You could see the beautiful gothic and rennaisance influences in the way the monastery was built. We didn't spend a lot of time at this architectural gem, however, because at this point my rumbling tummy was as disturbing as a Skrillex drop.

We took a train back to the city, in particular the Baixa-Chiado area. We walked up and down the streets of Portugal, marveling at pretty small alleys and cute little shops and fine looking men throughout our journey. After stopping at a cafe for lunch, Shanka and I waltzed in and out of shops for a little retail therapy. The Chiado area boasts a balance of shops offering traditional arts and crafts, books, as well as popular high street brands.

We ended up at Rossio Square, which has been the highlight of downtown Lisbon since the Middle Ages. I was particularly impressed by the unique patterns of the tiled floor which moved beautifully towards the Column of Pedro IV monument in the middle of the square. I could tell that this was where people usually gather in the city, because there were so many things going on at once. There was a parade with a crowd and people on horses and at this point I had no clue what was going on, but it was still fun to see a more lively part of Lisbon.

The Praca do Comercio square greeted us with elegant arcades housing a plethora of cafes and delicate shops. We stopped by an outdoors cafe in front of the infamous arc which offered us a good hour or so of people-watching. You could also see the uninterrupted views of the Tagus River from this neo-classical square. We ended up going here again the next day, just because it was the perfect spot for a leisure lunch in the city.

The next day we went to a further part of Lisbon to visit the famous Oceanarium. OK, I must admit we kind of ran out of things to do, and according to TripAdvisor the oceanarium was the #1 tourist attraction of the city. Although looking at fish was not our ideal exciting plan for the day, Shanka and I decided to give it a go. It turns out that the Oceanarium is placed nearby to a big shopping mall, where we stopped by for lunch. After chilling inside the Oceanarium (which was to be honest, a disappointment compared to Jakarta's Sea World), we impulsively took a cable car ride around the shoreline which gave us a stellar view of the sea.

Lisbon definitely caught my attention as a place that really respects its past. I see it in the architectural wonders in Belem and in the little alleys of the Chiado area. But Lisbon taught me that the best way to honor history is to beautifully incorporate that into our lives. I like to think that this is the true spirit of the city, and it's not a bad thing to live by. It's not a bad thing at all.