Lisbon

I really like Lisbon a lot, and this post will photographically prove it.
Dad and I got into Lisbon the morning of June 22. We got our car and drove until we finally figured out how to get to the Belém Tower. This tower was built almost 500 years ago and seems to epitomize Manueline architecture: the inclusion of maritime symbols in the sculpting of buildings, along with winding ropes for decoration. The tower was built for military purposes, so here are some cannons. You can go into the various levels of the tower and get some interesting views.
Going east along the Tagus River you'll come to the Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Monument to the Discoveries). It was constructed about 45 years ago and commemorates all of the people involved in the great Portuguese discoveries of the 15th and 16th centuries. Here's a picture of Camões, the great Portuguese bard who wrote the Lusíadas, an epic poem describing Vasco de Gama's maritime path to India. There are plenty of famous people on the Padrão, like the Wikipedia link notes. There are others that I have no idea who they are. The monument has people on both sides. You can take an elevator to the top of the monument and look over Lisbon, the Monastery of the Jerónimos, the Cristo Rei and the Torre de Belém.
The Mosteiro dos Jerónimos is the epitome of Manueline architecture. Here's a photo of an entrance to the monastery, with a close-up of the sculpture. Portugal became very wealthy in all of world discovery, as you can see from this photo of gold leafing taken inside the chapel of the monastery. The monastery is where the crew of Vasco de Gama spent the night in 1498 before shipping off for India. De Gama's tomb is just inside the entrance, as is Camões'. A stained glass window. In the latter half of the 16th century the Portuguese crown was left with a great problem: there were only 2 Portuguese heirs left, an old Cardinal and a young man named Sebastião. The younger assumed the thrown and wanted to reclaim the glories of the previous royals. So he went on a foolhardy military campaign to Alcácer Quibir in North Africa. No one saw him die, although he was no where to be seen. This has led to Sebastianismo and the great myth that someday he would return, appearing in the middle of a great fog to help Portugal reclaim its grand past. What probably really happened was that the king died and no one would admit to having seen it because you weren't supposed to let the king die and instead sacrifice your life in his protection. So here's his empty tomb.
The monastery is also where I saw Cristiano Ronaldo walking in with a video camera leading his and his entourage's way. It was unexpected as was how silly his hair looked. It was a lot funnier than that photo, I promise. Sorta like this, only goofier on the sides. He's named after Ronald Reagan, you know.
The next morning my dad and I got up and starting a walking tour of Lisbon, starting with the Marquês de Pombal monument. He was essentially Europe's first dictator, ruling with an iron fist after the great Lisbon earthquake of 1755. Continuing our walk toward the Tagus River we came across the monument to the soldiers of WWI. Then we came to the Praça dos Restauradores. After Sebastião died he left no rightful Portuguese heir, and the Cardinal ruled for a while, but was old. So Spain took over. The Portuguese lived as a vassal state of Spain for 60 or 80 years depending on which country you ask. There's a monument to the Restauradores (Restorers) who liberated Portugal.
Walking still, we came to the Praça do Rossio that has some nice fountains, a monument to Pedro IV and a nice view of the elevator next to the roofless Carmelite church. We walked from there down a nice Lisbon street on our way to the elevator. The elevator offers a beautiful view of the city and its orange roofs and the Castle to St. George.
The Carmelite church was destroyed in the earthquake and was never rebuilt, now standing as a reminder of the destruction.
We stumbled onto another square that I think is in the heart of the city's government section. Notice the maritime globe on top of the monument.
We walked to the Praça do Comércio, built by the Marquês de Pombal after the earthquake. There's an archway on the northern end of the plaza. There's also a very green statue in the middle of the plaza, which doesn't have much commerce on a Saturday.
We walked to the Sé, the main cathedral of Lisbon that was built to commemorate the defeat of the Moorish infidels that had occupied the area for over 400 years. It's a pretty straightforward cathedral, with statues of martyrs and stained glass windows and a big organ. In between the cathedral and the cloisters built by Dom Dinis, there are some cool excavations going on showing the various level of the city of Lisbon from the earliest buildings of the Celts to the Roman road and sewer, the Visigoth construction, the Moorish home, garbage dump and business and the Portuguese construction after the reconquest.
After the Sé, we wandered around the Alfama, during a festival, looking for a goofy building. This is when we went into a shop and met a nice woman who owned an Azulejo (Portuguese tile) shop. We asked her if she knew of a Fado restaurant. She happened to be a singer at one that she and her brother had started. So later that night we went to the Coração d'Alfama and heard her sing the traditional Fado music of Lisbon.

It's in the Alfama where I ran into my cousin, Chance.
We walked back and saw the archway lit up very nicely, and continued our walk home, where we ran into Chance again.

The day before we left Iberia, we drove from Madrid to Lisbon and arrived in the early afternoon, so we did some more exploring and stumbled onto another plaza that had a nice view of the St. George Castle. There was another statue to a king, this time dedicated to João I.
Lisbon is famous for its tiled buildings, especially the blue tile.
We walked down to the Praça do Comércio one last time, and I snapped this shot.

I really liked Lisbon a lot, possibly my favorite city of the trip, although Barcelona's a close second. You should all go to Lisbon sometime.