Saturday 26th January 2008

We had intended to leave today but decided that we would like another day to see some more of Lisbon and particularly Balem. This is an area on our bus journey into the centre and therefore easy to access. Like Alfama it also survived the 1755 earthquake and has two major buildings of merit – the Torre de Balem and the Mosteiro dos Jeronimos. The monastery was built by Dom Manuel “the Fortunate” as fulfilment of a vow by him after he had asked the Virgin for a successful voyage by Vasco da Gamma. And successful it was, with the discovery of a sea route to the Orient and the wealth that it generated for Portugal. The monastery is huge with a beautifully ornate exterior and a blend of the ornate and the simple in the exterior that blends very well. The tomb of Vasco da Gamma is also in the church.
Three museums are housed within the monastery and we chose to visit the archaeological museum. Although not a huge collection, it proved to be very interesting but we were just too early to see a special exhibition about the problem of the looting of archaeological sites. We got talking to someone involved with the exhibition and it was only when I talked about museum collections and the British Museum that we realised that he was Greek (“We Greeks feel quite strongly about that”). An interesting discussion followed! He was a Greek Cultural attaché to the Greek Embassy in Lisbon. It sounded like a fantastic job (he certainly thought so), moving to a different country every two to three years, getting to know the culture and living with the locals. Sounds just like my kind of job, although my lack of linguistic skills might be an issue!
We then walked to the 16th century Belem Tower, which is certainly the prettiest defensive tower that I have seen, having been built by Dom Manuel to defend the entrance to the port.
Back then to the campsite for a very late lunch and writing the blog whilst Jane uses the washing machine.
We meant to have our award-winning Dingwall Haggis for dinner yesterday (Burns Night) but eat out in Lisbon instead. So, tonight it will be Burns Night + 1.
Photos: The exterior of the Mosteiro dos Jeronimos; Interior of the church of the Mosteiro dos Jeronimos; Torre de Balem.