West of downtown Lisbon, near the mouth of the Tagus river, is a famous district of the city called Belem. Belem is known for it’s Monastery, which we didn’t visit, and Belem Tower, which we did. We’ll have to hit the Monastery next time.
Belem Tower was built as part of a defense system at the mouth of the river, as well as the gateway to Lisbon. It was the last thing they would see as they left port, and the first they would see upon their return. Built in the 16th century, the 4 story tower was built on a small island next to the shoreline.
The bottom story is set up with 17 cannon openings giving every angle of attack you could possibly need. I can’t imagine being in this small enclosed space when cannons are going off! They apparently were quite skilled at skipping cannon balls off the water to make it easier to hit their targets.
You have to walk a very tight spiral staircase to get up to the other floors, and it’s too tight for people to pass, so they have timers set up so that you can only go up for 8 minutes, then down for 8 minutes, with a warning sound letting people know it was about to shift so move your ass! The 2nd and 3rd floors are just open space, while the 4th was the chapel, where they are supposed to show a video, but we have no idea when, as we waited through several “changing of the guard” 8 minute periods and no video. Cool ceilings though!
The roof gives you a good view….of the people queued up waiting for their turn to fall down the stairs.
We also checked out a more recent addition to Belem, the Padrao dos Descobrimentos (that last word sounds suspiciously like a mint with a bad advertising campaign). This means Monument of Discoveries, and was completed in 1960 to honor all of the great Portugese explorers and those who assisted them.
The guy holding the ship at the front is Henry the Navigator. There are a couple of other guys I actually recognize, such as Vasco da Gama, and Magellan (which I think is a software company?).
Lastly, on our way back home, we passed the place that holds the original recipe for the Pastel de Nata, the Pasteis de Belem. The line was crazy! It’s not like this is Voodoo Donuts or something!
