We spent the majority of the day sightseeing in the Lisbon suburb of Belém, visiting the Monastery of Jerόnimos, the Monument to the Discoveries, and the Belém Tower. When we arrived in Belém the line for the Monastery was at least an hour long (Rich compared it to the lines for Splash Mountain at Disneyland on an extremely hot afternoon). So...we decided to visit the Monument to the Discoveries first and wait until a little later in the day to see the Monastery.
This monument is shaped like a caravel, an easily maneuverable ship the Portuguese explorers used during the 1400s and 1500s . It depicts the famous explorers Vasco da Gama and Magellan, along with Prince Henry the Navigator, King Manuel I, soldiers and religious (who traveled to the new world to convert the 'heathens').
Monument to the Discoveries
From there we walked along the water to the Belém Tower, which protected Lisbon's harbor and was the last thing sailors saw when leaving their homeland and the first thing they saw upon their return.
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Belém Tower
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We then walked back toward the center of town, intending to stop for lunch, buy tickets for the monastery and wait in line. Much to our surprise, the line was now significantly shorter so we decided to postpone lunch until after seeing the monastery and cloisters. They were so worth the wait!
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| Monastery Exterior |
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| Courtyard of Cloister |
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| Interior Courtyard Frieze Work |
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| Theresa, Becky and Me
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| Me and Rich |
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