Portugal Is a Mosaic

---

Geo: 38.7167, -9.13333

Portugal Is a Mosaic

DAY THREE

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

We began the day with a breakfast buffet in the Ritz dining room. The food was QUITE good and the room was simply beautiful, with elaborate fresh flowers. The Portuguese answer to French toast was very tasty, as were some of the more exotic offerings.

Our band of four (Barcy, Anne, Patrick and I) decided on a morning visit to Lisbon's National Tile Museum, Museu Nacional do Azulejo, a 15-minute cab ride from the Ritz. Senior admission was a bargain -- just 2.5 Euros. Thanks to high school classmate Boo Blake Kula for suggesting it.

This delightful museum includes five centuries of decorative ceramic tiles or azulejos. Its collection is the only one of its kind in the world. It is located in the monastic buildings of the Madre de Deus Convent, which was renovated following the Great Earthquake (November 1, 1755).

The highlight of the museum is an enormous blue-and-white composition of 1300 tiles of Lisbon's cityscape made in 1738, prior to the Great Earthquake. But there are many other fascinating tiles in gorgeous hues on exhibit throughout the three-story museum. We spent two hours wandering about (I understand there is actually an app you can download to educate you as you tour), had a beverage from the cafe in the courtyard and visited the gift shop where I purchased a statement necklace that features a blue-and-white ceramic tile.

We knew dinner would be quite late, so we assessed our lunch opportunities, even though we weren't really ready. The bar food was way too kinky. The lunch buffet was 56 Euros which we thought was a bit much considering we weren't even hungry. So we returned to the room for room service.

At 1: 45, we met up with Tauck Tour Director Joe Pereira, and our 32 other travelers. We have the fun Iberian Tauck bus, with Portuguese and Spanish illustrations along the side. It will be our coach for the entire two weeks of our stay.

A local guide gave us a city tour of Lisboa, the nation's capital, made up of 11 hills. Lisbon's history dates back 300,000 years. It became a nation state in the early 12th century and ranks as one of the world's oldest cities. In 714, the Moors arrived on the peninsula and it was several centuries before the Christian-Moor conflict was resolved.

During the 15th century, Portugal enjoyed abundant prosperity through its newly discovered off-shore colonies in the Atlantic, Africa, the Americas and Asia -- Vasco da Gama's discovery of the sea route to India was the most significant, making Lisbon the world's most prosperous trading center.

Jeronimos Monastery and Torre de Belém, both classified by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites, were built during this "discovery" period. We visited both today.

The earthquake of 1755 destroyed nearly the entire city – either the quake, the fire or the tsunami that followed.

Our tour began with drive-by “shootings” of:

-Lisbon's prison, which looks more like a castle
-Eduardo VII City Park
-Marquess of Pombal Square (actually a roundabout) honoring the man who began the rebuilding of Lisbon after the great quake
-Funiculars -- national treasures connecting downtown to Lisbon's famous overlooks
-Train station and town hall
-Monument to the Restorers obelisk
-Two knockoffs: Christ the King statue, inspired by the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio, and 25 de Abril Bridge, a suspension bridge often compared to the Golden Gate Bridge

Our first of three stops was at – gimme a big yawn here – the National Coach Museum, created by Queen Amélia to house an extensive collection of carriages belonging to the Portuguese royal family. “Extensive” is an understatement. Some of the carriages were gorgeous and the history of some was informative. The coach information went on for an hour and my attention went on for just 15 minutes. As an added insult, there wasn't even a Coach purse in the gift shop!

Post script: Additional salt in wound is that when we got the Jerez de la Frontera, we were forced to view even more coaches and hear even more thinks about carriages.

My pals and I surmised that this stop was for one of two reasons: either the government requires it as a part of all group tours; or the bathroom break in modern facilities is convenient for Tauck. This should, in my humble opinion, be dropped from the itinerary.

Next up was the Jerónimos Monastery, the most prominent example of Manueline Gothic (i.e., richly ornate) architecture in Lisbon. It was classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with the nearby Tower of Belém, in 1983. The construction of the monastery began in 1501, and was completed 100 years later. The monastery is the burial place for many Portuguese monarchs and dignitaries, including Vasco da Gama.

Our third and final stop was Discoveries Monument, built on the north bank of the Tagus River to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the death of Prince Henry the Navigator. The monument seems beautiful but unfortunately it was undergoing extensive cleaning and was enveloped in scaffolding. I have included a photo from better days. The pavement in front is decorated with a mosaic map of the world charting routes taken by Portuguese explorers.

Our tour concluded with dessert – shouldn't they all? Joe stopped and bought us Pastel de Nata, a Portuguese egg tart pastry, considered a national treasure. Very yummy – a custard version of crème brulee.

We had an hour to relax and then it was time to party. The opening cocktail reception for the trip was held in a gorgeous room boasting a humongous orchid centerpiece. Joe asked us to introduce ourselves, telling the group where we were from, how many Tauck trips we had been on, etc. I of course mentioned I was a travel blogger and photographer, and solicited names and email addresses from those who would like to follow along.

Dinner, in a pretty private Ritz dining room, consisted of mushroom risotto, a choice of grouper or beef tenderloin, fresh vegetables and crème brulee topped with raspberry sorbet. Pretty to look at; pretty to taste. The group retired early, many still suffering from jet lag.

---

Photos

Tile Museum wanderers
Anne Leverone, Barcy Fox, Tommye Fleming, Patrick Arnall

National Coach Museum
Yawn.

Opening night cocktail reception
Anne Leverone, Barcy Fox, Garold & Katherine Nellis from Echo Lake, IL

Entrance to National Tile Museum
Patrick, Barcy, Anne

Comments

[Ressler, Dorene]

Looks like an interesting day. I would have loved the tile museum. Not to mention the necklace. (Which will disappear the next time I'm in your home)

[Robert Resendes]

Thank you for your blog
My uncle and your tour guide, Joe Pereira, passed away this week upon arrival at the airport in Lisbon to begin another tour. He loved his work and your blog provides an important insight to what he did on a day-to-day basis that we, his family, never got to experience. Thank you for taking the time for sharing your experiences with him.

[Spoonball]

So sad
Thanks for your comment and thanks for sharing your uncle with us. He was a joy to tour with. Glad you got To see a little piece of the joy he brought to others.