Hola! Although I’m afraid I haven’t been spelling it correctly. Technically, in Portuguese, it’s spelled “Ola!” So…that’s what it will be for the next week or so.
(And let me take a minute here to say that as far as I can see and hear, there are basically no similarities at all between Spanish and Portuguese. They are two very different languages!)
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| Our modern trolley approaching! |
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| Monastery |
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| Little pavilion in the park! |
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| Lovely fountain in the foreground |
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| Me and the monument; monument in back. |
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| I just love this monument! |
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| View of Vasco da Gama Bridge |
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| Harbor from top of the monument |
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| Looking down the coast to the ocean |
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| Belem tower at the end |
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| Like the old monastery with the sleek soccer pitch |
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| Map of the world below the monument |
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| Our wonderful sirloin steak in mustard sauce dish! |
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| Yummy! |
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| A little ironing after this morning's wash! |
I set the alarm this morning for 6 am, as I wanted to get to the LA Wash location near here as close as possible to 7 am when they open. So, up and about early, and packing up both our backpacks with dirty clothes. As it turns out, I was able to outfit Robert in the last of his clean t-shirts, shorts and socks, so this was definitely the time to wash. We Uber-ed to the location, which was on the direct route of our path from the Gulbenkian Museum and were there in a few minutes. Like many very large cities, because of one-way streets it is sometimes actually easier and quicker to walk than to drive.
LA Wash was small – a rectangular store front, with machines down one side, and a table and a few seats along the opposite wall. When we got there, there was already one person there, but it turns out, I think this was a traveler of some sort, as he was charging up his electric razor as well as utilizing the free WiFi provided, and for as long as we were there, he certainly never did any laundry! There were a couple larger capacity washers available, and the only complaint I have is that the detergent used really is fragrant! (It seems like most of the laundries we are coming across now include the detergent and fabric softener in with the wash, so you don’t have to have anything further, and you certainly wouldn’t want to put your own detergent in the machine, as that would mean a double dose.) It took 31 minutes to wash, which for Europe is good, and then into the dryer. We had to run the dryer through three cycles (15 minutes each) before R’s blue jeans and socks were really dry, but now we have clean clothes for another week, so no complaining from me! We Uber-ed back to the hotel and got here about 8:45 am, which gave us plenty of time to put things away and then head downstairs to breakfast.
We woke today to a cloudless sky, with the forecast of 0% chance of rain! I do have to admit that we talked about whether we should take our umbrellas with us, as we definitely did not want a re-do of yesterday in the rain. However, it has turned out to be a truly glorious Lisboa day!
After breakfast, I then had my shower (and I will never, ever, ever miss this particular one again!) and got ready to do the town. Our itinerary today was to head back down to the seafront, as I was particularly interested in the huge monument, Padrao dos Descobrimentos, built in 1960 to commemorate the 500thanniversary of the death of Henry the Navigator, whose statue stands at the front of the monument.
Henry, apparently, was the moving figure in encouraging Portuguese sea captains to explore farther and farther reaches. He was the fourth child of the Portuguese king John I and responsible for the early development of Portuguese exploration and maritime trade with other continents through the systematic exploration of Western Africa, the islands of the Atlantic Ocean, and the search for new routes.
I remember hearing about sea explorers as a child, and Vasco da Gama was the first captain to travel from Europe (Lisboa, actually!) all the way around the Cape of Good Hope in Africa, and then to Calcutta in India. He was the first European to reach India by sea.* His initial voyage to India (1497–1499) was the first to link Europeand Asia by an ocean route, connecting the Atlantic and the Indian oceans and therefore, the West and the Orient.
Da Gama's discovery of the sea route to India was significant and opened the way for an age of global imperialism and for the Portuguese to establish a long-lasting colonial empire in Asia. Traveling the ocean route allowed the Portuguese to avoid sailing across the highly disputed Mediterranean and traversing the dangerous Arabian Peninsula. The sum of the distances covered in the outward and return voyages made this expedition the longest ocean voyage ever made until then, far longer than a full voyage around the world by way of the Equator. (Thank you, Wikipedia!)
To get to the monument, we decided to go first by bus, and then transfer to a trolley, as we do enjoy exploring using public transportation. So, out to the street, then followed the same direction as we took to find our wonderful Italian restaurant last night, and finally across the street from the big Sheraton Hotel. Got the 728 bus there after just a few minutes, and took it down to the coast. There are lots of hills in Lisboa, that’s for sure and apparently the city is often likened to San Francisco in that regard.
We only had to wait a few minutes for the trolley, but when it came, it was truly packed to the gills! (I know that Portugal is famous for their sardines, but we were very much like that – only without the olive oil, thankfully, on the trolley!) The trolley took us along the coast as far as the Mosteiro dos Jeronimos. This is now a world heritage site, including the monastery and its adjacent church, which were built to fulfil a promise made by Portugal’s king, Dom Manuel, should Vasco da Gama return safely from his first trip to India. Well, he did, so the rest, as they say, is history! Appropriately, although Da Gama died in India, his tomb now lies just inside the entrance to the church.
There was a long line at the entrance to the Monastery, so after we got off the trolley, we headed across the street (and through the underground tunnel beneath the highway and Metro line) to reach the Monument to the Discoveries. Again, it was truly a stunning day, and while the wind really does come in charging across the ocean, I loved the monument! The sculptures on either side of the ship-like structure were wonderful, and very representative of the kinds of sea captains and voyagers that accompanied the captains as they set out to discover new worlds. (Remember all the religious priests who discovered the new world – especially the ones who felt it necessary to destroy by burning all the Indian books and papers they could find!)
We took the elevator to the top to see the view, which was great. Down in front of the monument was a map of the world done in colored stone with information on the different dates of discovery. There was also an excellent view of the Mosteiro across the street, and I loved the juxtaposition between that and the football pitch behind it! Talk about old worlds and new!
By the time we got down from the monument, we decided that it was just about lunch time, and there are several very nice restaurants located close by. We tried the first one – Portugalia – Belem, and ended up having a wonderful, huge lunch!
We decided to order something called Pica-Pau Dose, which was wonderfully cooked sirloin steak cut into pieces and incorporated into a mustard sauce that included cauliflower, carrots and olives. (I left the olives for Robert.) This came with three side dishes, so we picked French fries, sautéed vegetables (which were wonderful!) and green salad with tomatoes and onion. All this, washed down with a bottle of local Chamine wine, (and four small bottles of sparkling water) plus my chocolate mousse for dessert cost a total of 55.70€. Amazing, considering how much we had of everything, and how good it was! This was definitely our main meal for the day; I’m not sure if either of us will be hungry again today!
By the time we finished lunch, it was close on 2:30 pm, so we decided to head back to the hotel as we had been on the go since 6:45 this morning. This time, we took the 727 bus which went all the way back to our hotel and the Saldanha stopping point. But truly, as Robert said, some of the streets we went over were so narrow and curvy and bumpy that it’s surprising that the bus – let alone us! – made it up the hill in one piece! Finally back to the hotel around 3:30 pm.
So, while we do need to head out to get some Euros and some more water, that’s about all the news that’s fit to print today! Tomorrow, we’re back into the car and heading to Coimbra! More later!
m
xxx
*Some (but not all) believe that the Phoenicians circumnavigated Africa around 600 B.C., sailing from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. Obviously, though, that exploration did not have the impact of da Gama’s, which (among other things) significantly dropped the cost of spices in Europe.
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