Lisbon leftovers: Carmo Convent

I've already blogged about Lisbon but here are some more pictures of the Convento da Ordem do Carmo.

Exterior:



Interior:

Belém, Lisbon

On Sunday, we had to fly back to Milan. However, we were lucky enough to have booked our flight for the evening and had an additional morning and afternoon left in Lisbon. Seeing as the sky was bright blue for the first time since our first day in Lisbon, we decided to head to the Belém district after being rained out two days prior.

When we arrived at the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, we couldn't go into the church because Mass was still in session. Since it was a Sunday morning, there was no admission charge to enter the monastery so we sailed straight through to the courtyard. Construction on the monastery began in 1502 and took 50 years. Miraculously, the structure survived the 1755 earthquake intact. Still an important government building, this is were the E.U. signed the Treaty of Lisbon and the courtyard below is where many diplomatic receptions are held.



The decorative pieces and architecture has visible Moorish influences but is primarily dominated by the Manueline style. Since it had rained earlier in the morning, the spitting gargoyles were kept busy, draining water from the roof to the courtyard.


Our friends were amazing hosts, keeping us well supplied with delicious home-cooked foods. However, we couldn't leave Lisbon without trying the famous pastel de Belém. These flakey tarts are filled with a yummy cream custard, topped with cinnamon and powdered sugar, and sold all over the city but most famously at a 160-year-old pastry shop on the Rua de Belém. This shop has the sales down to a science and moves ridiculously fast, despite the crowds. Bite inside and you'll see why.


You can see the sunshine in the photograph above but look below and you can see how quickly the weather changed. In the time it took for us to get to the Padrão dos Descobrimentos monument, the sky evolved back to gray!


This monument celebrates the Portuguese the took part in the Age of Discovery of the 15th and 16th century. It's located on the banks of the Tagus river where ships would depart from when they left Portugal to find new lands. A mosaic of the globe in front of the monument that shows the territories and countries conquered by the Portuguese over the years. This version of the monument was built in the 1960s to commemorate the 500 year anniversary of the death of Henry the Navigator. Henry the Navigator was the prince and largest proponent of the age of discovery.

On our way to the Tower of Belém, we passed Portugal's version of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, guarded by Portugal's finest.


By the time we reached the Tower of Belém, the sun was shining once more. Like the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, the Tower of Belém was constructed in the Manueline style. Built in the early 16th century, the Tower of Belém was both the ceremonial gateway to Lisbon and also a protective fortress for the city.



In 1580, the Tower surrendered to the Duke of Alba when the Spanish invaded and for centuries after, was used as a prison. Afterwards, it was used as a customs house. Like most other Portuguese buildings, the Moorish influence is evident in the ribbed cupolas of the watchtowers.


We headed to the airport that evening a little bit tired, a little bit sad to be leaving our friends, but full of happy memories of a Portuguese Thanksgiving weekend.

Sintra

On Saturday, we headed out of Lisbon to explore the town of Sintra. Located only about a 45 minute drive from Lisbon, Sintra is where the rich and the royals used to "summer" to escape Lisbon's heat and humidity. The town of Sintra is on UNESCO's World Heritage List due to the 19th century Romantic architecture.


The Palácio Nacional de Sintra was our first stop. Inhabited by royals from the 15th through 19th centuries, Moorish rulers initially lived here and influenced the design of the building and interiors. Unfortunately, I didn't seem to get a good picture of my favorite architectural feature - the conical twin chimneys. The chimneys come from the monk's kitchen and looking up through them, you can see straight to the sky.

By far, the neatest thing we saw/did during our whole vacation in Portugal was here in Sintra. Our friends had previously "discovered" the Quinta da Regaleira, a manor and gardens that seemed to get nothing more than a passing phrase or two in most of the guidebooks we had on hand. A mixed blessing as we were grateful for the lack of crowds but sad that more people don't have this on their "must-see" list for Sintra.


So this estate passed through many rich people's hands over the years. However, it's most notable transformation ocurred when it was owned by eccentric Brazilian millionaire Antonio Carvalho Monteiro. He hired Italian architect Luigi Manini to help him design and hide hidden symbols and tunnels throughout the four hectare estate. Alchemist, Masonic, and Knights of Templar (yes, the DaVinci Code kind) symbols and mythology are scattered all over the estate.

But the tunnels, oh yes, tunnels are SO COOL. The fact that the three of us were alone for the bulk of the day made it even better. The estate is so big, we rarely ran into other tourists (and there weren't that many to start with). All day, we never saw a single staff person and could basically wander at will. It made me wish I was 12 again and able to play a killer game of hide n seek. So there are a few tunnels and they are (mostly) marked on the map we got at the entrance. The biggest one is way underground and we had to descend a spiral staircase to get there. See:

And from the bottom:


Since our friend had been here before, we came prepared with two flashlights. Unlike this type of thing in the State, where you'd have lit tunnels, a handicapped elevator, and periodic staff members pre-positioned, we climbed through small tunnels and found out where different paths led. One fork in the road led to a fountain that we'd passed earlier, having no idea that a cave was hidden behind it.


Another cave led to a hidden grotto, with water covered by green moss. Conviently placed stepping stoned allowed us to cross over the water and climb up to a stone bridge. Here, we ran into some German tourists who had come from a different path. We shared information on our routes so that both of our groups could continue exploring.



Sintra is known for its micro-climate several degrees cooler than Lisbon and nowhere is the climate change more evident than in the gardens of the Quinta da Regaleira. With exotic flowers and trees imported from Brazil,the plant life is lush and colorful.


The on-grounds chapel's exterior is constructed to imitate the palace and decorated with frescos and stained glass windows.


When we came to the palace itself, it proved to be even more deserted than the grounds. It felt a little erie, like we were intruding in someone's home or in a museum after-hours, but very cool. There were some ornate details, like this door:


The palace itself is decorated in Gothic detail with pinnacles and gargoyles. There are five floors inside and an impressive octoganal tower.


After we had exhausted all secret gardens, tunnels, and caves, headed back into Sintra town proper, passing these pretty frescos along the way and stopping for a yummy cinnamon pastry.

With daylight fading quickly, we had to choose between visiting the Palácio Nacional da Pena and the Castelo dos Mouros (Castle of the Moors). Since the weather was a bit iffy and the Moorish Castle is mostly outdoors, we went for the Pena National Palace.


More hills! For two euros, there was a bus we could take from the entrance grounds to the castle itself. By this point, no hill was too steep for us though and we decided to tackle it head on. The castle stands on a hill so high that on a clear day, it can be seen from Lisbon. Construction of the castle began after an apparition of the Virgin Mary in the late 1400s. For centuries, it was a monastery that housed a maximum of 18 monks. However, between being struck by lightening in the 18th century and the Lisbon earthquake, this monastery was reduced to rubble. Rebuilt to the present-day palace in the mid-1800s, King Ferdinand and Queen Maria II made the architectural decisions that incorporated Medieval and Islamic elements, like minarets!


The original colors of the exterior were the yellow and red of present day. However, somewhere along the line they faded to grey. Apparently, when the Portuguese government repainted over the gray, a lot of locals were outraged, not remembering that the bright colors were actually the originals!


We toured through the interior (where no photographs were permitted). As the palace was a summer home for the royal Portuguese family, the interior was lush and as extravagently decorated as the outside. We then made our way to the exterior walls to catch a view of Sintra. A break in the gray and fog allowed us to see clear to the sea. We also have the benefit of overlooking the Moorish Castle, definitely the best view in town.


With perfect timing, it started to rain as we got in the car to head back to Lisbon. We returned to Thanksgiving leftovers and a quiet last evening with our friends.

Lisbon

We were fortunate enough to spend this Thanksgiving with good friends from our Lagos. We were even luckier that they happen to currently live in Lisbon, Portugal! Having never traveled to the Iberian peninsula before, I was really excited for this trip. We arrived late on Wednesday night on EasyJet, my least favorite low-cost European carrier. Why oh why, Easyjet, do you have to board in groups A and B? Why can't you just reward those of us who are at the gate early to line up? In any event, we got a whole row (3 seats) each way but were literally fighting sharp elbows during boarding. It's the fiery Mediterreans who don't know the meaning of "queue" that make me so miserable. It was so much easier flying from the U.K.

Ok, complaint over. So we had a nice evening hanging out with or friends and eating yummy homemade Indian food after our arrival. Thursday, Thanksgiving, we attempted to assist in the cooking preparations (our hosts were actually hosting 10 people) but were firmly turned away from the kitchen. Instead, we headed out the door to explore Lisbon. On foot. Please note the steep hill below, it was one of the MANY we climbed during our long weekend. We later noticed a pattern - we'd reach the top of a hill on foot and see a tram or elevator at the top. We didn't notice it at the bottom, only when it was too late.


So we set out for the winding, narrow streets of the Barrio Alto, Lisbon's trendiest neighborhood. During the day, it's home to fashion-forward boutique shops while at night, the place comes alive with lots of bars, clubs, and restaurants. Of course, we were there during the day so we poked into a few stores and just explored in general. Portugal is known for their painted tile work and the exteriors of buildings all over Lisbon are covered in beautiful tile designs.


Parts of the neighborhood were a bit run-down looking but still very charming. We made our way through the Barrio Alto and into the Chiado district and stumbled onto the Carmo Convent. This medeveil convent was destroyed in the 1755 earthquake that devastated most of Lisbon, however, the remains of the Igreja (church) still stand. As the name suggests, the convent housed an order of Carmelite nuns and was founded in 1389. It is the only remaining example of Gothic architecture still standing in Lisbon.


As you can see, we had amazing weather. The above picture was taken from what used to be the nave of the church. A small museum is adjacent to the convent and housed a variety of historical objects - from pre-historic stone tools to a mummified Peruvian figure of a little girl, thousands of years old. An odd mix, all put into a former church building with the original tiled Stations of the Cross still ran along the walls.

After leaving the church, we were about to head down to the water when we stumbled across a bridge right behind the church. There were no signs to indicate what this was and my guidebook didn't cover it either. Feeling adventurous, we headed over and were so lucky we did. The bridge extended to a tower with three long sets of spiral staircases. There didn't seem to be anyone around but we headed up anyways to find a small cafe on top of the tower and an amazing view of Lisbon, spread beneath us.

It turns out that this was the Santa Justa lift, constructed in 1902. We missed the "lift" part since we entered the tower from nearly the top. Seems like this is an easy way for the people waaaay downhill to reach the top of the Chiado district. Cheaters - we took the hills on foot! Feeling as though we earned the view, we relaxed at the bar for a bit before taking note of the time and realizing that our Thanksgiving dinner was approaching. Our friends had invited six other friends that they knew from different capacities so everyone was strangers. We celebrated with Americans, Danes, English, Swedish, and Portuguese at the table. A mishmash of nationalities that helped to capture the true spirit of the American melting pot of tradition.

The next day, we didn't end up quite so lucky with the weather. The morning started off grey but we set out to see the Castello di Sao Jorge with a later stop in the Belem district. The castle is located on the highest hill in the city. A friend recommended that we take the tram 28 which would wind through the hilly streets of the Alfama district and let us off near the castle. We caught the tram after visiting the Jardim da Estrela and it's nearby church.

The Alfama is the oldest district of Lisbon and had its peak of historic significance during the Moorish (i.e. North African/Arab) domination of the city. Following the Lisbon earthquake, the district was undamaged, however, it became the "poor" district and home to the fishermen and lower income individuals. Fado music, the mournful Portugese songs, are plentiful in this area. The streets are a labryth, easy to get lost in if you're not paying attention...or even if you are!

We got off the tram a little late and were already fairly downhill of the castle. However, we braved more steps and hills to see this famous castle which, in various incarnations, has been occupied since the 6th century B.C. Ok, there was no actually "castle" back then, however, evidence suggests that this is when fortifications of the hill began by the Celts, Iberians, Romans, Visigoths, Moors, etc.


The castle is surrounded by a thick wall but the terraces that you can see above overlook Lisbon and served as both an observation post and home to the gardens.


Much of the castle was destroyed in the earthquake but plenty still stands. It was originally constructed in the 1100s and played a role in the Christian conquistador's takeover and subsequent defense from Moorish invaders. We spent some time exploring the castle and it's fortifications. We climbed up the towers and ran (ok, walked, it was high up with no rails) along the narrow observation paths. More than once we remarked "this is so unsafe! They would NEVER do this in the States"...but went ahead and walked on/across it anyways.

To our dismay, the weather turned while we were leaving the Castle. Hoping to sit out the storm, we took a leisurely lunch but instead of improving, the weather seemed to get worse. Taking it as a sign, we headed for the mall just like any other good American on the day after Thanksgiving. We were very excited to see that the Portuguese subtitle their Anglo-movies rather than dubbing them like the Italians. So we spent our rainy post-Thanksgiving watching 'Quantum of Solace' in a Portuguese shopping mall. Hope everyone else out there had a happy Thanksgiving!