Lisbon: unleash your own Age of Discovery

Portugal’s heyday was the so-called Age of Discovery from 1400 to 1600, when the country produced some of the world’s greatest explorers: Vasco da Gama (who found a sea route to India), Ferdinand Magellan (the first to circumnavigate the globe) and Pedro Cabral (who “discovered” Brazil).

As we stood craning our necks at the Monument to the Discoveries in the Belem neighbourhood of Lisbon, I was bold enough to consider the similarities with our more humble travels: voyages lasting many years, and discovering people, places and foods previously unknown to us. Bill and I certainly won’t “discover” any new countries, and I doubt we’ll bring home scurvy, social diseases or golden treasures, but we will return with riches of another sort – memories. And lots of photos.

We spent a full week in Lisbon, thinking that was plenty of time to experience the sights at a relaxed pace. We were wrong. It’s a rich city full of intriguingly narrow winding streets, laundry hanging outside windows and across cobbled laneways, stores that have been in operation for hundreds of years, a glut of churches and cathedrals, and efficient public transportation that includes the subway, trains, buses, trams, streetcars, elevators, ferries and funiculars. Not to mention all the scrumptious new foods to sample. We didn’t have time for Sintra, the Mercado da Ribeira, or Cascais, but we plan to experience those when we return to Lisbon in November.

Here are some of the photo highlights of our week in Lisbon, as our own Age of Discovery began.

Monument to the Discoveries

Prince Henry the Navigator, holding a caravel ship model, leads the group since he was the organizer and funder of discovery voyages and set up a maritime school, even though he didn’t stray too far from home. Vasco (second after Henry), Pedro and Ferdinand follow behind Henry on the east side. The west side shows the only woman honoured by the monument, Henry’s mother, Queen Philippa of Lancaster. I’m sure she worried about him as much as my mother worries about me travelling and I worry about my own kids. Just up from Philippa is Fernão Mendes Pinto, a travel writer!

Pasteis de nata

The pastel de nata – custard in a flaky pastry, caramelized on top and sprinkled with cinnamon or icing sugar – is synonymous with Portugal. (Pasteis is the plural.) Even if you’ve tried them elsewhere, you must try them here. Not too sweet, creamy custard, and the freshest ones have delicate pastry. The Casa Pasteis de Belem shop is reputedly the best place to buy them. The lines are long but move quickly. You must be ready fast with your order and money – somewhat like the Soup Nazi in the Seinfeld TV sitcom. However, we thought the best tarts were from Confeitaria Nacional (facing Praça da Figueira), a shop that’s been serving them and other gorgeous pastries since 1829.

The oldest working bookstore in the world

Livraria Bertrand opened in 1732 and has a Guinness World Record as the oldest working bookstore in the world. Its seven rooms offer plenty of browsing time. Fortunately, its English section is good, so I was able to replenish.

Fado music

Fado is a musical style that’s been described as the Portuguese blues. Women typically sing while men play the guitar and the Portugese guitar. They’re songs of longing and sadness, very emotional and expressive. We enjoyed an evening listening. We later found a music shop that sold Portuguese guitars, with their very elegant heads with tuners out the top instead of the sides. Bill missed his guitars and basses, left at home.

Trams

Just like in San Francisco, old trams rattle up and down the steep hills. We avoided the touristy Tram #28 and instead rode Tram #24, used by locals in the Campolide neighbourhood where we stayed. We felt like we got a better view of daily life for Lisboners than staying in the touristy areas.

Seafood, wine, beer

Cod (bacalhau) is the national dish of Portugal, which comes dried and salted. We tried it grilled, in a salad, and in a fritter – all were delicious. We also sampled grilled sardines (nice taste, but bony), sardine paste, and octopus in a salad (pretty good – not too rubbery and dicing kept the tentacles to a minimum). One night we took a ferry across the Tejo River to Cacilhas, inspecting the many seafood restaurants until we found one we liked. My favourite new wine is vinho verde – a green (young) white wine that’s a bit bubbly – very light and fresh. Bill dedicated himself to sampling local beers.

Cathedrals

You can overdose on cathedrals, so you have to pick and choose which ones to visit. Some are quite plain while others are slathered in gold plating and cherubs. I found the cherubs creepy – like Chucky dolls.

Monastery of Jeronimos

This glorious monastery fairly drips with finely carved stonework trim that looks like icing on a wedding cake. It’s called the Manueline style, after King Manuel I during Portugal’s peak of power. The cloister and the church are both magnificent. You could spend hours gazing at all the stone detail – much of it ropes, knots, ships and other seafaring symbols. The monks heard the confessions of sailors before they set out on their discovery voyages. Vasco da Gama is entombed inside the church.

Calçadas

Most Lisbon streets and plazas are paved with calçadas – small cobbles of white limestone and black basalt laid in countless different patterns. They’re lovely, although they can be slippery in smooth-soled shoes. We came across a sculpture of a man cutting and setting calçadas, which Bill tried to emulate.

Convento do Carmo

In 1755, Lisbon was hit with a 9.0 earthquake that devastated the main downtown area now known as the Baixa. Since it happened on a Sunday morning, most people were in church and were crushed as the roofs fell in. Fires and a tsunami followed the quake. The Marquis de Pombal is credited with rebuilding the city quickly and cheaply, but he ordered that the Convento de Carmo be left as is, to remind people what had happened.

Cuddle time with Weston

There’s nothing like meeting up with friends and family when you’re away. My cousin Anna and her new husband, Mike, arrived in Lisbon for their honeymoon with baby Weston. We shared two dinners and babysat Weston for a few hours so they could explore Lisbon on their own. Good cuddle time!