PORTUGAL TOURS
This description of Lisbon and surroundings (Sintra, Estoril, Cascais, Sesimbra) was made to accompany the movie we made. Since the movie is accompanied by typical sounds like environmental sounds, Portuguese talking, birds, animals, music, etc, we didn’t want to spoil the sound and the explanation goes apart. Enjoy it.
Index:
OTHER MONUMENTS
1-Other monuments (aqueduct)
2-Other monuments (Monument to the Discoveries)
3-Other monuments (Belem Tower)
4-Other monuments (Statue to Christ the King)
5-Other monuments (Expo 98)
6-Other monuments (Expo 98: the Oceanarium)
PARKS
1-Parks
2-Parks (zoo)
OTHER MONUMENTS
1-Other monuments (aqueduct)
We have many other monuments. One is the aqueduct, dating from the 18 century, a work of genius, standing firm during the quake. It’s more than 20 kilometers long; it has 109 arches, being the biggest one, on the Guinness book of records, as one of the biggest ogival stone arches ever built in the world. It’s 65 meters high and 29 meters wide.
This aqueduct still brings water to the several ancient fountains of Lisbon.
2-Other monuments (Monument to the Discoveries)
There is prince Henry at the top of the prow in the monument to the discoveries, built on the north bank of the river, replica of another that existed for the Portuguese World Exhibition of 1940 that went on around here. This one was made in 1960, 500 years after prince Henry died, and represents the prow of a caravel, with 33 statues, corresponding to kings, princes, navigators, warriors, preachers, writers, mathematicians, cosmographers and painters. The only female is queen Felipa of Lancaster, mother of Henry the navigator, the brain of the discoveries.
Behind the monument, on the floor, there is a mosaic compass dial, which is all in marble and was offered by the South African government in 1960.
3-Other monuments (Belem Tower)
Bethlehem fortress, or Belem, was built to defend and control the trade arriving by boat. It’s another jewel of the 16 century in Manueline style, built from 1515 to 1520 to make crossfire with another one on the south bank of the river. The Portuguese artist, Francisco de Arruda, worked in Morocco, where Portugal had colonies, from where he brought influences, like the 12 domes, similar to north African ones.
It looks like the prow of a boat facing the river, and its function was a warlike one, but it’s undoubtedly a work of art, still the lacework in the white limestone of Lisbon.
The mouth of the river had plenty of forts like this, but most of them are gone with time and earthquakes. This is one of the resistant ones, and the most beautiful and historical one.
4-Other monuments (Statue to Christ the King)
One of the symbols of Lisbon is the statue of Christ on the south bank of the river. Actually, it is called Christ the king, the highest rank in Portugal in the past.
It was made from 1949 to 59 in homage to Portugal neutrality during World War II. It’s an initiative of the Portuguese church and is a replica of the one in Brazil.
It stands on a 130 meters high hill and the monument is 110 meters high. It means that its peak is 240 meters high and can be seen from most parts of the city.
It’s curious to mention that it was started 13 years before the bridge was completed and it is still the very only monument there is in the south bank of the river, in spite of the long history of Lisbon.
It’s one of the lit monuments by night, with its golden reflected light on the river.
5-Other monuments (Expo 98)
As promised, we continue our tour close to Tagus, the husband of Lisbon, which still fetches wealth and color to the capital city.
And we arrive to the east section of Lisbon that was completely renovated in 1998. We talk about the place where the world Exhibition of 1998 was held. Close by the river, near Vasco da Gama Bridge, which was, in fact, opened 1 month before the exhibition started.
Pavilions for 145 countries were made here and of the still existing ones is the pavilion of Portugal with a suspended roof, a work of genius by a Portuguese architect.
Several buildings were made, like a gigantic one with a round roof, which is still used nowadays for concerts and other shows. The area is on the riverside and is a nice place for some rides on Sundays both by cable car, bicycle or boat.
There are here marinas able to take 500 yachts but are only some of the many in Lisbon…
This spot still holds many other modern theatres that are used today for several shows.
It was a part of Lisbon, which was all restored with a modern architecture and works now as a residential area, and a place of leisure. Here, the cable cars are always running…
If we take one of them, we see a totally different face of Lisbon, than it was before 1998. Not only the all decadent old industries that were erased from this part of the map to give place to all this fresh and up-to-the-minute look this section took, but also this fantastic flight over the estuary. And all this was made to commemorate the arrival of Vasco da Gama to India.
6-Other monuments (Expo 98: the Oceanarium)
Our tour here is going to end in one of the pavilions which is very much worthwhile to be seen. It's this huge construction, housing a gigantic oceanarium. We have here more than 700 species of plants and fish in 5 reservoirs. The central one, has 5 million liters of seawater and represents the global ocean.
PARKS
1-Parks
There are a great variety of parks in Lisbon, most of them with plants from different continents. It’s a tradition from the past, when species from different places, arrived here on the Portuguese ships.
We have countless small and big parks scattered all over the town.
In most of them, among giant palm trees from different parts of the world, we have countless species of plants that were introduced here. Portugal has several microclimates and because it never freezes in Lisbon, plants grow here like in any tropical forest. We can see flowers in full blossom in the winter, here in the so-called city of the 4 springs, where flowers bloom in the 4 seasons of the year…
2-Parks (zoo)
We continue this flora and fauna tour, by visiting one of the best zoos in Europe…
The zoo of Lisbon was founded in the end of the 19-century by king Louis. There are more than 2000 different animals. It’s housed in the huge gardens of a palace that belonged to a Portuguese count and this jungle is inside the city. Among many other funny shows with the animals there are those of dauphins and sea lions…
Because Portugal still keeps relationships with many Portuguese speaking countries in Africa and Brazil, we have many species that are direct gifts and have a proper climate to live a happy life.