Lisbon en famille
With Saul, we then took another visit into the centre of Lisbon.
On the recommendation of Saul’s friend from work, Samantha, we headed straight for the Santini ice cream shop and wow, the raspberry ice cream was out of this world!
Note the shoes for sale also! A shoeshop ice cream parlour, what’s not to love 😍
Elevador de Santa Justa, to catch the lift up to see the ruins of the cathedral and convent on high that we had seen on the previous trip. This lift has been in operation since 1902.
At the top, we found the ruins of Igreja do Carmo, the Gothic Cathedral, and the adjacent Convento do Carmo in the Chiado district. Construction of this enormous building began in 1393 and was completed in 1423, Carmelite friars living in it from that time on. The founder of the church and convent, Nuno Álvares Pereira, was earlier in his life a hugely successful Portuguese general who played an important role in the 1383-85 Portuguese civil war which ensured Portugal’s independence from Castile. This event is regarded as the first Portuguese national resistance movement. Following the war and subsequently the death of his wife, Nuno Álvares Pereira became a Carmelite friar and founded this convent in Lisbon. He was canonised in 2009.
His tomb, along with much of the convent, was destroyed in the earthquake of 1755. This earthquake affected much of Portugal and caused the deaths of tens of thousands of people. It occurred on 1st November 1755 at 9.40am and the church was packed at the time as it was All Saints’ Day. Many people inside were killed and fires broke out across the city, causing mass destruction.
The cathedral would have originally looked like this.
As a result of the earthquake, most of the roof collapsed and also many internal walls. Nonetheless, the remaining side walls, buttresses and façade are still hugely impressive.
The ruins now house a small but impressive museum, Museu Arqueológico do Carmo. When it was established in 1864, it was the first museum of art and archeology in the country. Contents were gathered from a wide range of collections from prehistory to more recent times, including a boy and a girl mummy (which Olwen found rather disturbing) and artefacts from Mexico and Peru.
It includes the Gothic tombs of Fernão Sanches, an illegitimate son of King Dinis I (early 14th century), decorated with scenes of boar hunting, as well as the tomb of King Ferdinand I who reigned from 1367 to 1383.
This is the tomb of King Ferdinand I
This is one of the tombs which was taken from the ruins and then used for many years by a farmer for storing wine!
Egyptian mummy
Not including the pics of the mummified children!!
Ceramic tiles dating from the 16th and 17th centuries
Next we took a tram over to see Castelo de São Jorge, the castle located in the Santa Maria Maior district:
Human occupation of this hill can be traced back to the 8th century BC and there appears to have been a fortification of one sort or another here from 100BC. This area, over the centuries and millennia, was occupied by Celts, Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Suebi, Visigoths and Moors – a popular spot!
The Castle of São Jorge and the city of Lisbon were taken from Moorish rule in 1147 during the Christian Reconquista. Lisbon became the capital of the Kingdom of Portugal in 1255 and the castle was then used as a fortified residence for the king. By 1375 it had been developed to include 77 towers and 34 gates! It began to decrease in significance in the 16th century with the construction of the Ribeira Palace by the river Tagus and it was also then damaged by an earthquake in 1531 and more severely by the quake of 1755.
Buses negotiating narrow streets outside the castle entrance:
The old trams were the best and the most fun way to travel through the network of Lisbon’s narrow streets and hills:
Morgan at the base of the statue of São Vicente de Fora / Saint Vincent of Saragossa, Lisbon’s patron saint, who died around 304 CE and was reputedly buried at Capo São Vicente, which we had just visited near Sagres. Igreja de São Vicente de Fora can be seen behind the statue; a monastery/church constructed in the 17th century in Mannerist/late Renaissance style.
