Age of Exploration Part II

Portugal's newest explorers are pictured here! Vasco de Gama and Prince Henry the Navigator have absolutely nothing on us! Ok, so they made Portugal famous way back in the 15th and 16th centuries with explorations to India and Africa and their discovery of the spices that made Portugal rich, but what about us? We made our own discoveries in our journey. I'm seriously thinking that a nice statue of us would go well here in the Jeronimos Monastery built with the so-called "pepper" tax.

I discovered a new very important word in Portuguese...the word "saldos" means "sale". It didn't take this blonde very long to learn what that word meant that was blanketed across every store front! My only disappointment was that Tony decided to control all the euros and doled them out very sparingly.



Maddie was very pleased to learn that Cinderella's coach resides in the Coach Museum in Lisbon which contains the largest collection of royal coaches in the world. It turns out that her coach did not change back into a pumpkin after all. Please notify all your little princesses of this important news. I definitely would have wanted to be royalty during this time period. Peasants travelled by foot, and in the city of Lisbon with all of its steep cobblestone sidewalks and streets, this can get very tiring and causes soreness in one's calves.



Another discovery! A Moorish castle built in the 8th and 9th centuries. How does one exactly build something of this magnitude this far up into the hills and with what tools? A chisel and hammer? Some of the cathedrals and castles we explored took over 100 years to build. Imagine working on a building you'd never see completed. I didn't realize that the Muslims had quite an influence in Portugal early in their history. Much of the architecture is Islamic. The Christians conquered and took over this castle in the 1100's.


This amazing castle, the Pena Palace, was built in the mid-1800's by King Ferdinand who was strongly influenced by his cousin, King Ludwig of Bavaria who built the Disneylike castle Neuschwanstein. Ferdinand hired an architect who combined several styles of architecture, Gothic towers, Renaissance domes, Moorish minarets and Manueline carving. Of course, it has the characteristic Arabic tiles as well. Tony came up with his own unmentionable name for this palace...hmmm, wonder what that could be?




The bidet happened to be my husband's favorite new toy! He's quite convinced we need to install one in our bathroom. Is it men that just use these objects? For some reason, I'm not quite figuring it out and don't see the necessity for such a fixture in our bathroom. Enlighten me if you view these objects differently.

Our final day in Lisbon, we meandered through the streets of the Alfama, the oldest section of the city. The Sao Jorge castle was built here by the Moors in the 9th century and was used for several hundred years as the King's palace after the Christians conquered the city. We counted 6 churches in this area of the city! The Alfama begins high above the city, as you see in this picture, and contains all the buildings below as well. We walked down via cobblestone stairs and narrow alleys in the midst of hanging laundry, Portuguese gossip across rod iron balconies and the occasional small restaurant or village market (with pig's feet displayed in the windows) to arrive at the bottom nearest the Tagus River. This is where the old-timers live while the younger folks are venturing out into areas of the city where more of the modern conveniences are. I think it's the public baths that are causing this phenomenon; I don't blame them. All in favor of indoor plumbing, say "aye".

This is just a snapshot of our Portugal adventures. We absolutely loved this country and its people. I fell in love with the language and seriously considered coming back to the states to learn it. Don't ask me why except it's very beautiful, very French-like in some ways. However, more than one person has told me that it's a very difficult language to learn. Perhaps I'll save it for another day. Someday, I hope to get the opportunity to explore more in the other villages of Portugal. However, for all the excitement that Portugal provided, it could not compare to the precious time together that Tony and I had. Many times during this trip, I fought back tears as I thought, "I am blessed beyond measure, Lord!" Yes, I am truly a sap. Still, I know how blessed I am in so many ways and I must express my gratefulness to God continually.