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Up and ready to enjoy our first full day in Lisbon. We boarded tram 28 just outside our apartment and headed for Commercial Square to catch another tram to the Belem area of Lisbon. We had a quick breakfast at an outdoor cafe before heading to the long line ups outside the Monastery of Jerónimo. The Monastery is one of the most decorative churches of Portugal. The southern entrance is bounded by a 32 meter high stone portal that incorporates carvings of the saints, complex shaped pinnacles and other decorative features. Inside the spindly columns support massive vaulted ceilings and lead to an ornamental altar. The fine stone detail extends into the monastery, which is to the rear of the church and is centered around a unique two level cloister.
After the initial construction of the monastery King Manuel I selected the Hieronymites order of monks to reside in the complex. King Manuel I choose this relatively small order as they guaranteed to provide spiritual protection to the king once he died and later on they formed a close spiritual connection with the sailors of the era. We were overwhelmed at how truly beautiful the monastery and church were. It
was lovely to stroll through and enjoy all its splendour.
After the monastery we walked over to view the Monument to the Discoveries. The monument was put up in 1960 as a memorial to commemorate 500 years of Portuguese discoverie. It is 52 meters high and shaped like a ship with historical Portuguese navigators standing at the prow.
We continued along our walk to see Belem Tower. It was built in 1515 as a fortress to guard Lisbon's harbour and was the starting point to many of the voyages the Portuguese made to places in the New World, India and Japan. We had advance tickets for this attracation, so we bypassed the huge long line up here, only to find there was another line up inside. Once inside the base of the tower we had to wait in line to go up in the tower as they only allowed so many people up at one time.
From the Tower we made our way back to catch a bus back towards Lisbon. Allison and Patrick headed off on their own to see additional sights and we continued into Lisbon. We stopped along our walk home and enjoyed a
delicious prawn pasta for dinner.
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