Lisbon: Belém District

Today, we spent most of the day in the Belém district of Lisbon. It’s well outside of Lisbon’s downtown, but the district offers a couple of terrific attractions and a couple of good, but not great attractions. The Belém District also has other sites and attractions, but we didn’t visit them. So, I have no comment.

Monastery of Jerónimos

Monastery of Jerónios (and park in front) as seen from the Monument to the Discoveries
Monastery of Jerónios (and park in front) as seen from the Monument to the Discoveries

The Belém district’s most famous and probably most impressive sight by far, the Monastery of Jerónimos—actually a monastery and church—is huge. It is about 275 metres (300 yards) wide. The structure is so big that the best picture I took of it that managed to capture the entire building was taken from the observation deck of the Monument to the Discoveries a couple of blocks away. (Picture to the right; description of the Monument to the Discoveries below.)

Note: When I say “monastery,” I mean “former monastery.” The monks decamped. I don’t know when or why. And God knows if the church is still used as a functioning church, but He, She or It, as the case may be, didn’t tell me. So I don’t know.)

The monastery has some interesting rooms, with sculpted, arched stone ceilings, but its highlight is its cloisters. The cloisters are two-tiered, with sculpted stone pillars and arches. Words cannot possibly adequately describe its beauty. That is to say, my words cannot possibly describe it adequately. Someone moderately literate could do a much better job.

The cloisters of the Monastery of Jerónimos
The cloisters of the Monastery of Jerónimos

The church is middling size and nicely decorated. It contains the tomb of Vasco Da Gama, the noted explorer and part-time vicious rapscallion. The monastery wasn’t Da Gama’s first “final resting place.” The corporeal powers that be at the time moved his earthly remains to the Monastery of Jerónimo to celebrate the 300th anniversary of his death.

I don’t expect anyone to celebrate the 300th anniversary of my death, but if someone wants to have cake and ice cream to commemorate it, feel free.

One wing of the monastery currently contains the Maritime Museum, but we didn’t go in there.

The cloisters of the Monastery of Jerónimos
The cloisters of the Monastery of Jerónimos
A room in the Monastery of Jerónimos
The church at the Monastery of Jerónimos
The church at the Monastery of Jerónimos
The tomb of Vasco Da Gama
The tomb of Vasco Da Gama

National Coach Museum

The old building of the National Coach Museum
The old building of the National Coach Museum

I know what you’re thinking, “National Coach Museum? Ho, hum.”

Nope. It was great.

The coach museum comprises two buildings on either side of a street. One is an older building. That building itself is very handsome. The newer building is large and boxy. Its walls are white and mostly unadorned.

Both buildings contain a large collection of old coaches. When I say “coaches,” I don’t mean modern motor coaches. These are old, mostly horse-drawn coaches and carriages from days of yore. (Well, they weren’t horse-drawn in the museum. They just sat there, horseless. But, because you’re clever, you probably figured that out all on your own.)

Many of the coaches are exceptionally grand. A few had ornate sculptures front and back.

Ornate carvings on one of the many coaches in the new building
Ornate carvings on one of the many coaches in the new building

Some of the coaches on display carried noble people back in the day. (“Noble” as in belonging to a high hereditary class; not necessarily noble as in being a good person.) Although, riding in the grand coaches didn’t always work out well for the noble people. For example, the collection includes the coach that King Carlos I rode in when someone assassinated him. You can still see the bullet holes.

In addition to passenger coaches, the collection includes fire-fighting equipment. And it has some single-passenger vehicles that had no wheels and weren’t drawn by horses, but, rather, were carried by four men. Had I lived during those times, I hope I would have been embarrassed to be carried around by other human beings. Then again, I likely would have been a serf, not a noble person, so I doubt I could have convinced anyone to carry me around. So, there’s that.

The Monument to the Discoveries

The Monument to the Discoveries
The Monument to the Discoveries

A giant concrete structure looms over the Tagus River as it passes by the Belhém district. It is the Monument to the Discoveries. The monument takes the general shape of a ship. Figures sculpted on it celebrate the people who financed and undertook the great discovery adventures of old.

Atop the monument is a narrow observation deck that provides great views of Lisbon, the river, and the Monastery of Jerónimos (see above). An elevator and a small flight of stairs took us up to the observation deck.

Alright. All you sticklers, settle down. Yes, I know. Only the elevator took us. We had to walk up the flight of stairs on our own.

After visiting the observation deck, the stairs (subject to the clarification above) and the elevator took us to one level below ground, where there was a small exhibit space. It contained displays on the recent development of the area around the Monument to the Discoveries and back toward the Monastery of Jerónimos.

The Belém Tower

The Belém Tower
The Belém Tower

Built in the 16th century, Belém Tower protected the Tagus River estuary, the Lisbon harbour, and the nearby property. The ground level of the Belém Tower is a room containing cannons pointing out in three directions: Straight across the river, upstream, and downstream. Three more levels above that house rooms of roughly the same size. They are generally uninteresting. One of them is an unadorned chapel.

The top of the tower is a deck where the king and his people surveyed the comings and goings on the river. The view from there is probably great. A narrow, spiral staircase provided access to the floors. Unfortunately, a chain carrying a “no entry” sign barred entry to the top set of stairs. So, I’m only guessing as to the quality of the view.


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