Sights in Portugal
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Belém
Portugal's caravels sailed off to conquer the great unknown from Belém, and today this leafy riverside precinct is a giant monument to the nation's Age of Discoveries.
First stop should be the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, a Manueline masterpiece whose intricate decoration and peaceful spaces will leave you inspired.
A short walk away is the Torre de Belém, the much-photographed symbol of Portugal's maritime glory. The imposing limestone Monument to the Discoveries, also facing the river nearby, is shaped like a caravel and features key players from the era.
If you have time, look around the Centro Cultural de Belém, one of Lisbon's main cultural venues, which houses the…
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Baixa
Rebuilt after the 1755 earthquake, the Baixa's wide avenues and pedestrianised Rua Augusta are a great place to shop and have coffee. The area's highlight is the Elevador de Santa Justa. This imposing wrought-iron lift offers an easy ride up to the Bairro Alto, plus a rooftop cafe with views to kill for.
Built in 1902 by Gustave Eiffel follower Raul Mésnier du Ponsard, the lift has more than a passing resemblance to the Eiffel Tower.
Avoid the touristy umbrella-topped cafes below and save your coffee break for this still touristy but far more elegant architectural gem. Time your visit to enjoy a drink at sunset.
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Castelo de São Jorge
Towering dramatically above Lisbon, the hilltop fortifications of Castelo de São Jorge sneak into almost every snapshot. These smooth cobbles have seen it all – Visigoths in the 5th century, Moors in the 9th century, Christians in the 12th century, royals from the 14th to 16th centuries, and convicts in every century. Roam its snaking ramparts and pine-shaded courtyards for superlative views over the city’s red rooftops to the river.
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Jardim da Estrela
Anyone seeking green respite should head for Jardim da Estrela. This garden is perfect for a stroll, with paths weaving past pine, monkey puzzle and palm trees, rose and cacti beds and the centrepiece – a giant banyan tree. Kids love the duck ponds and animal-themed playground.
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Praia do Guincho
The long, wild Praia do Guincho is a surfer's and windsurfer's paradise (the site of previous World Surfing Championships) with massive crashing rollers. The strong undertow can be dangerous for swimmers and novice surfers.
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Palácio Nacional da Pena
Rising up from a thickly wooded peak and often enshrouded in swirling mist, Palácio Nacional da Pena is pure fantasy stuff. The wacky confection is a riot of onion domes, Moorish keyhole gates, writhing stone snakes, and crenellated towers in sherbet-bonbon pinks and lemons. Ferdinand of Saxe Coburg-Gotha, the artist-husband of Queen Maria II, commissioned Prussian architect Ludwig von Eschwege in 1840 to build the Bavarian-Manueline epic (and as a final flourish added an armoured statue of himself, overlooking the palace from a nearby peak).
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Parque Eduardo VII
An urban oasis with British roots, Parque Eduardo VII is named after his highness Edward VII, who visited Lisbon in 1903. The sloping parterre affords sweeping views over the whizzing traffic of Praça Marquês de Pombal to the river. The estufas are a highlight, with lush foliage and tinkling fountains. Look out for tree ferns and camellias in the estufa fría (cool greenhouse), coffee and mango trees in the estufa quente (hot greenhouse) and cacti in the estufa doce (sweet greenhouse).
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Elevador de Santa Justa
If the lanky, wrought-iron Elevador de Santa Justa seems uncannily familiar, it’s probably because the neo-Gothic marvel is the handiwork of Raul Mésnier, Gustave Eiffel’s apprentice. It’s Lisbon’s only vertical street lift. Get there early to beat the crowds and zoom to the top for sweeping views over the city’s skyline.
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Oceanário
The closest you’ll get to scuba-diving without a wetsuit, Lisbon’s Oceanário is mind-blowing. No amount of hyperbole about it being Europe’s second-largest aquarium, where 8000 species splash in 7 million litres of seawater, does it justice.
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Jardim Zoológico
Two metro stops north of Parque Eduardo VII is the kid-pleasing but somewhat cooped-up Jardim Zoológico, in attractive gardens with more than 2000 animals. There's also a dolphin show and row boats.
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Parque Nacional da Peneda-Gerês
Established in 1971, Peneda-Gerês has helped preserve not just a unique set of ecosystems but also a highly endangered way of life. Spread across four impressive granite massifs in Portugal's northernmost reaches the park encompasses boulder-strewn peaks, precipitous valleys, gorse-clad moorlands and lush forests of oak and fragrant pine.
The horseshoe-shaped park is blessed (or cursed) with more rain than anywhere else in Portugal, swelling its rivers and five sizable reservoirs. Within the southern park in particular, you'll find exceptional hiking through forests and over high plateaus dotted with beehives and archaeological sites. The northwest is known for its…
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Alfama
Wander down (to save your legs) through Alfama's steep, narrow, cobblestoned streets and catch a glimpse of the more traditional side of Lisbon before it too is gentrified. Linger in a backstreet cafe along the way and experience some local bonhomie without the tourist gloss.
As far back as the 5th century, the Alfama was inhabited by the Visigoths, and remnants of a Visigothic town wall remain. But it was the Moors who gave the district its shape and atmosphere. In Moorish times this was an upper-class residential area. After earthquakes brought down many of its mansions (and post-Moorish churches) it reverted to a working-class, fisherfolk quarter. It was one of the few…
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Lagos
Lagos oozes life. A vibrant, sunny town, its pretty cobbled streets bristle with cafes, restaurants and bars. It's a magnet for backpackers and surf dudes, who swing between its clubs and nearby sweeping beaches and striking coastal coves. Lagos also has historical clout, having launched many naval excursions during Portugal's Age of Discoveries.
Lagos' little Igreja de Santo António (Rua General Alberto da Silveira; admission €2; 09:30-12:30 & 14:00-17:00 Tue-Sun), bursting with 18th- and 19th-century gilded, carved wood, is a stupendous baroque extravaganza. Beaming cherubs and ripening grapes are much in evidence.
Enter from the adjacent Museu Municipal (tel: 282…
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Torre de Belém
Jutting out onto the Rio Tejo, the World Heritage–listed fortress of Torre de Belém epitomises the Age of Discovery. Francisco de Arruda designed the pearly-grey chesspiece in 1515 to defend Lisbon’s harbour and nowhere else is the lure of the Atlantic more powerful. The Manueline show-off flaunts filigree stonework, meringue-like cupolas and – just below the western tower – a stone rhinoceros. The ungulate depicts the one Manuel I sent Pope Leo X in 1515, which inspired Dürer’s famous woodcut. Breathe in to explore the poky former dungeons and climb a narrow spiral staircase to the tower, affording breathtaking views over Belém and the river.
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Cathedral
Braga’s extraordinary cathedral is the oldest in Portugal, begun when the archdiocese was restored in 1070 (probably on the ruins of a mosque) and completed in the following century. It’s a rambling complex made up of differing styles, and architectural buffs could spend half a day happily distinguishing the Romanesque bones from Manueline musculature and baroque frippery. The original Romanesque style is the most interesting and survives in the cathedral’s overall shape, the southern entrance and the marvellous west portal, which is carved with scenes from the medieval legend of Reynard the Fox (now sheltered inside a Gothic porch).
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Museu Condes de Castro Guimarães
The grounds of Parque Marechal Carmona harbour the Museu Condes de Castro Guimarães, the whimsical early-19th-century mansion of Irish aristocrat Jorge O’Neill, complete with castle turrets and Arabic cloister. But the clover leaves inside didn’t bring him luck – he went bankrupt and had to sell up. His successor, Count of Castro Guimarães, lavishly decorated the abode with 17th-century Indo-Portuguese cabinets, Oriental silk tapestries and 17th-century azulejos. Don’t miss the rare 16th-century manuscript depicting pre-earthquake Lisbon. Admission is with half-hourly guided tours.
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Igreja de São Roque
The plain facade of 16th-century Jesuit Igreja de São Roque belies its dazzling interior of gold, marble and Florentine azulejos – bankrolled by Brazilian riches. Its star attraction is Capela de São João Baptista, to the left of the altar, a lavish confection of amethyst, alabaster, lapis lazuli and Carrara marble. Its four mosaics depicting scenes from the saint’s life are as elaborate as oil paintings. Portugal’s extravagant king, Dom João V, had the chapel built in Rome in 1742, then shipped it over to Lisbon for a cool UK£225,000.
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Castelo dos Mouros
Soaring 412m above sea level, this mist-enshrouded ruined castle is a Great Wall of China in miniature. Like a dragon’s backbone, this 9th-century Moorish castle’s dizzying ramparts wriggle across the mountain ridges and past moss-clad boulders the size of small buses. When the clouds peel away, the vistas over Sintra’s palace-dotted hill and dale to the glittering Atlantic are – like the climb – breathtaking.
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Museu Acadêmico
The Museu Acadêmico, just uphill from Largo Dom Dinis, has some interesting displays on Coimbra student life, including vintage Queima das Fitas posters from decades past (especially noteworthy is the 27 May 1926 poster showing hordes of student revellers one day before the coup d’état that ushered in the Salazar era). The museum is also adorned with some grand azulejos (hand-painted tiles).
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Pavilhão do Conhecimento
Kids won’t grumble about science at the interactive Pavilhão do Conhecimento, where they can launch hydrogen rockets, don spacesuits for a walking-on-the-moon experience and get dizzy on a high-wire bicycle. Budding physicists have fun whipping up tornadoes and blowing massive soap bubbles, while tots run riot in the adult-free unfinished house.
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Convento dos Capuchos
Hidden in the woods is the bewitchingly hobbit-hole-like Convento dos Capuchos, built in 1560 to house 12 monks who lived in incredibly cramped conditions, their tiny cells having low, narrow doors. Byron mocked the monastery in his poem Childe Harold, referring to recluse Honorius who spent a staggering 36 years here (dying at age 95 in 1596).
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Casa Museu Bissaya Barreto
Bissaya Barreto was a local surgeon, scholar and obsessive hoarder of fine arts, and his handsome, late-19th-century mansion has been turned into an art museum. A guide (not necessarily English-speaking) accompanies guests through rooms jam-packed with Portuguese sculpture and painting, Chinese porcelain, old azulejos and period furniture.
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Mosteiro dos Jerónimos
Belém’s undisputed heart-stealer is the Unesco-listed Mosteiro dos Jerónimos. The monastery is pure fantasy stuff; a fusion of Diogo de Boitaca’s creative vision and the spice and pepper dosh of Manuel I, who commissioned it to trumpet Vasco da Gama’s discovery of a sea route to India in 1498.
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Praça do Comércio
Marquês de Pombal’s grandest design, this is a square to out-pomp them all: a whirl of 18th-century lemon-meringue edifices and arcades with vistas across the Tejo. The biggest crowd-puller is Verissimo da Costa’s Arco da Vitória, a mighty triumphal arch crowned with bigwigs including explorer Vasco da Gama, which leads onto Rua Augusta.
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Igreja de São Lourenço de Matos
It’s worth making a detour here, 13km northwest of Faro and about 6km south of Loulé, to visit the marvellous Igreja de São Lourenço de Matos. The church was built on the site of a ruined chapel after local people, while digging a well, had implored the saint for help and then struck water.
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