Not By Accident: Live your life with purpose: Lisbon, Cascais, & Sintra

Former convent that houses Parliament

Our tour began with a drive just up the hill from our hotel to King Edward VII's Park where we enjoyed the view of the hills of Lisbon and out to the Tagus River (Rio Tejo). In 1903, King Edward VII of England came to Portugal to commemorate, and reaffirm, the political alliance between the two countries. Prior to that visit the 64 acre park was called Parque da Liberdade (Liberty Park). The huge statue (it's over 130ft tall) of Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquês de Pombal sits in the middle of the roundabout. He was a fascinating character and also the namesake of our hotel.

On All Saints Day (November ) in 1755, Lisbon experienced a devastating earthquake (Voltaire even wrote a poem about it). "The total number of persons killed included those who perished by drowning and in fires that burned throughout Lisbon for about six days following the shock." The Marquês de Pombal was a statesman, diplomat, and prime minister to King Joseph I, and following the disaster he took charge of the reconstruction. Amazingly, in less than a year the city was partially rebuilt and with the world's first earthquake-resistant buildings! He's also credited with creating the demarcated wine regions of Portugal (with the Douro Valley being the first in the world).

Calçada portuguesa pavement on Avenida da Liberdade

Our next stop was the lovely Belém Tower from the 16th century, a fortification that was used as the beginning point and end point of the voyages of the Portuguese explorers. It was also often used as a ceremonial gateway to Lisbon. The Knights Templar were very powerful and wealthy at that time, and they had a hand in the voyages and discoveries made. You can see some of their insignias on the fortress (Templars cross, nautical knot, rope motif, etc.).

On to the Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Monument to the Discoverers), a stunning work that commemorates the 500th anniversary of the death of Henry the Navigator (discoverer of the Azores, Madeira, and Cape Verde). It stands 170ft tall and "is made up of a group of sculptures that represent the prow of a caravel (a small sailing ship constructed by the Portuguese to explore the Atlantic Ocean). Leading the ship is Prince Henry the Navigator and behind him are many other great Portuguese discoverers", including Vasco de Gama, Magellan, and Henry's mother.

A short drive to the Jerónimos Monastery, where we had to wait in a very long queue before granted entry. Blessedly, our dear guide for the day, Maria, had plenty of information to pass along while we waited. Under King Manuel I, the Portuguese explorers discovered the ocean route to India. "The monastery was built on an existing church dedicated to Santa Maria de Belém. Its purpose was to assist seafarers who passed the area and...[T]he church was inaugurated by King Manuel, with plans to expand the grounds into a monastery." The architectural style used became known as Manueline, but, since it took about 100 years to build, you can notice aspects of several styles within the monastery.

The beautiful limestone façade includes a statue of Henry the Navigator above the twin front doors. The main chapel has the tombs of King Manuel I, and his wife, Queen Maria, (because of the India trade route the King had elephants brought back to Portugal and their tombs rest on elephant statues); the church also is the final resting place of Vasco de Gama.

Amazingly, this church survived the 1755 earthquake, even with the large dome having no support columns! The only items damaged were the statues inside the niche's on the wall; they fell out (breaking) and were never replaced.

From Belém we headed to the lovely Portuguese Riviera town of Cascais (pronounced kaash-kai-ss). We stopped for lunch, and I ended up spending most of our free time at "The Palm Tree Beach House" restaurant for lunch, so thankfully the food was good! It used to be a fishing village, and then the noble families started coming on the weekends. Even Salazar had a home here during his reign.

Our next, and last stop on the tour for today was the mountain town of Sintra. They're famous for their travesseriro and queijada de Sintra pastries. I tried them both and prefer the travesseiro pastry (made of puff pastry and an almond and egg yolk crème-filling), but perhaps that's because I tried it from the bakery (Piriquita) that invented the treat back in the 1940's. Queijada de Sintra have been around for centuries and are "prepared with a combination of queijo (cheese), eggs, milk, flour, and sugar".

Our main reason for visiting was not, despite my introduction, for tasting pastries. We had come to tour the spectacular National Palace of Sintra (technically it is now a series of royal palaces). It was full of azulejos patterns I had never seen before, so that alone made it worth a visit.

There were lots of interesting stories and legends about the different rooms in the palace, including the Swan Room, the Magpie room, and the Sala dos Brasões.

We didn't have much time left over for exploring Sintra, but what I saw of the town was lovely.

Back in Lisbon, and off on my own, I headed to the oldest bookstore in the world. I'll admit I had high hopes, but was rather disappointed with the Livraria Bertrand. Had I realized it's now a nationwide bookstore chain I might have lowered my expectations a bit. Either way, it was established in 1732 and is recognized with a Guinness World Record.

On my walk back to the hotel (I did detour and go to the bay before heading back towards the hotel) I found even more azulejos patterns (my obsession is full-blown at this point)! I also saw the famous yellow funicular and stumbled upon good lookout point too.