We don't normally eat red meat, though we are not doctrinaire about it, so a dinner of "black pork" was not of especial interest. Very hearty cuisine and abundant vegetables, though.

But oh, how I longed for a salad after a few days in Portugal. You can find one sometimes ....but you know their heart isn't in it.

Bookmarking

Ted, how did you find your wonderful accommodations? Can't wait to read more?

misha2: Just the usual website searches.

For hotels, I start with Tripadvisor, then cross check with a search using the name of the potential hotel.

The Pousadas have a website of their own.

I used Homeaway to find our very nice Lisbon apartment.

And I never, ever make an apartment booking anywhere with a US-based website. They are always overpriced, in my experience -- though some have lovely listings.

I want to get back to writing my Top Ten. But I suddenly got involved in planning a 10 day trip to the USA (back to Savannah, with a stop in DC on the return).

Departure is 48 hours from now so I'm kinda "otherwise occupied" at present....

Apologies to those waiting for more text.

As a down-payment on the text on ALCOBACA, BATALHA & TOMAR, here is an album of those three amazing sites:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...1&l=d759e4688c

Lots of wonderful info and photos! I'm bookmarking this for leisurely read.

Ted: The photos of Alcobaca, Balalha and Tomar are such "eye candy" that I will happily revel in them with happy memories of those marvelous Manueline monasteries, and wait til you have time for more.

No problem at all!

Down payment gladly accepted.

Those 3 spots were mesmerizing.

I am currently sitting in Winchester VA, far from my Canadian home.

I hope to post my final chapters from Savannah GA (when we get there) .....but I'm not sure that will happen easily

You are wise to escape the gloom,even though it interferes with excellent trip reporting ... staying tuned for the next installment.

Thanks, FB.

We have only a tablet. Not easy to compose long paragraphs of text.

I suspect further instalments will await our return.

Meanwhile, Savannah invites a whole narrative of its own. Never met a city I liked so well. And 33 C tomorrow. Wow!

After a 12 day break, during which we revelled in 30+ C temperatures in beautiful Savannah, I am now back and fully resolved to complete my Top 10 list. Here goes:

3, 4, 5. Alcobaca, Batalha and Tomar:
(The order given above is the order in which we viewed these sites and that fortuitous choice turned out to be fortunate as well, as Tomar was the highlight of the three.)

3. Alcobaca:
Alcobaca monastery stands at the centre of a small and otherwise rather unremarkable community, surrounded by hills. It was founded in the 1150s to fulfill the king’s vow after an important triumph over the Moors at Santarem. While the main construction works were finished by the 1220s, expansion and redecoration continued into the 18th century.

From a large square, you confront an impressive Baroque façade, which gives a misleading air of uniformity to what is actually a very heterogenous (and immense) complex. You enter through the church – the largest church in Portugal. As elsewhere, entry to the church is free and you pay only for admission to the areas not used for actual worship.

In accordance with Cistercian practice, the church is austere in design and décor: a simple three-nave plan with no ostentation and little colour to relieve the plain dressed stone. The one exception is two magnificent and ornate royal tombs – a king and his murdered mistress, united in death as they were not in life. It is the plainness, purity and uniformity of this huge and dignified building that impress. We were almost alone during our visit and the relative silence only increased the grandeur.

From here, we proceeded through the Sala dos Reis, whose 18th century azulejos depict the founding of the monastery, into the monastery itself. Everything is well labeled and explained. We were able to reconstruct monastery life as it was lived there: the cloister, where monks walked in silent meditation; the refectory, with a pulpit for the reading of lessons during meals taken in silence; the astonishing kitchen, with its mammoth, tile-clad internal chimney.

My favourite spot, though, was the upstairs dormitory, a huge arched room whose acoustics cause every sound to resonate and echo. I couldn’t resist singing, just to hear my voice billow and bounce back to me.

4. Batalha:
After about 90 minutes at Alcobaca, we headed off to nearby Batalha, a small town completely dominated by the abbey complex. We made the unfortunate mistake of taking small roads, an apparent shortcut. We snaked through areas of spotty residential and commercial development – slow travel through banal surroundings. I was reminded again always to stick to the big roads in Portugal, unless you have a solid reason for doing otherwise.

Batalha abbey, as the name suggests, was likewise built in celebration of a military victory – this one a 1385 victory over Castilian troops at Aljubarrota. The 200+ years since the building of Alcobaca had seen huge changes in taste. Where the earlier structure is chaste and plain, Batalha, begun in 1388, is deliriously, breath-takingly ornate, both outside and in. Every inch of roofline, every window, every niche has been given a sculptural treatment.

Much of the decoration is in the Manueline style, which drew heavily on the natural world for its inspiration: the pale limestone is carved in imitation of leaves, branches, tree roots and even knotted ropes. Unlike the larger complex at Alcobaca, there is just one cloister here, the Royal Cloister, but it is splendidly and riotously decorated. With the combination of attention-grabbing carving and the distraction of the lush formal gardens, one wonders how much contemplation the monks ever achieved.

You need to exit the complex to view one of the most striking parts of the abbey, the unfinished chapels. Begun under an earlier king, the construction of the octagonal mausoleum was arbitrarily halted by Manuel I in the early 1500s, in favour of similar works at the Jeronimos monastery in Belem. The lower sections of the chapels are fully finished but the construction never got more than halfway to the roof.

At a certain height, all work stopped and the chapels were left open to the sky. The fact that it’s unfinished makes the elaborate carving all the more arresting to the eye. It looks sometimes Moorish, sometimes Art Nouveau, sometimes Art Deco and even sometimes Mayan or Indian.

Thanks so much Ted, I really appreciate your insight into the driving situation as that is the part of our upcoming trip I am most nervous about. So I am gathering that for you it was safer and more straightforward to stay on the major motorways. Here in the States I often try to take back roads, but maybe not such a good idea in Portugal. Thanks for the tip about the transponder and the instructions to the airport - also for the restaurant list -

We enjoyed some smaller roads in less developed areas such as the Alentejo region. Sometimes we found ourselves almost alone, even on a large N road.

The worst driving is on hilly, twisty roads, where some locals drive like maniacs. Truckers are also notoriously bullying on small roads.

On motorways, the drivers are far more consistent and disciplined than those we've seen in the eastern US. People stay in the right hand lane unless they have some reason to pull out. We saw none of the lane hogging and distracted driving that seems to be the current norm in N America.

that is really helpful and reassuring to know. any other driving/sightseeing tips most appreciated: we will be in Lisbon, Evora, stopping off in Bussaco, then Porto and Obidos region. will let you know how it goes in a month or so

If you are near Obidos, you can certainly see Alcobaca and Batalha, perhaps Tomar as well. Here is my write-up on Tomar:

5. Tomar:
Alcobaca – Batalha - Tomar is the order in which we viewed the three sites. That fortuitous choice turned out to be most opportune, as Tomar was the highlight of the three. In retrospect, it seems almost comical that we thought of omitting the Convento do Cristo in Tomar from our itinerary, judging it to be too remote (we were staying in Batalha) and likely too similar to the other ecclesiastical buildings we had just seen. Fortunately, curiosity prevailed and we headed off to Tomar on a moist and foggy morning, via a speedy highway.

The Convento sits on a craggy outcrop high above Tomar, a pleasant and historic town with the usual unlovely suburbs full of lowrise apartment blocks. From the centre, you climb up and up to a car park, where you leave your vehicle at the foot of the high castle walls and start the ascent, through well-tended gardens, to the entry gate. You walk down a long avenue, its yew hedges trimmed in geometric design, to reach the main entrance.

Tomar, built by the Knights Templar, was both a monastery and a fortress. Other than the castle walls and the keep, much of the fortified part (dating to the mid 12th century) including the former royal quarters, lies in ruins.

The extensive, steeply terraced gardens must have been sumptuous once upon a time. Nowadays they are a bit unkempt and neglected – understandable, since they are so extensive that proper maintenance is almost unaffordable. The well-kept monastic buildings are a sharp contrast.

The surviving jewel of the earliest period is the 16-sided drum or Charola, the Templar oratory, whose dramatic interior is almost entirely covered in paintings and frescoes.
From the 1160s until the 17th century, the rest of the site was progressively extended and embellished, with the greatest additions being made in the early 16th century in Manueline style. Running water arrived in the 1600s, with construction of an aqueduct.

The complex is vast, comprising the Charola, the church, the Washing and Cemetery cloisters, the never-finished Chapter House, which stands open to the elements, plus four other cloisters laid out in the four quadrants of a square. The most magnificent of the four is the Great Cloister, built in the 1550s in a pure Italian renaissance style. Its elegant and severe style is a sharp contrast to the adjacent Manueline church. That church, awkwardly grafted onto the much earlier Charola, is another decorative high point – a riot of naturalistic carving, inside and out.

Throughout the complex, the overwhelming impression is of encrustation and of layer upon layer of decoration. Where a new building was added in a new style or at a different level, the builders did not obliterate what came before. Consequently, you have new staircases running parallel to old; sudden changes of level; tempting, can’t-get-there-from-here glimpses of inaccessible rooms; and marooned bits of decorative carving from older buildings revealed in much later interiors.

We spent about 3 hours; delighted and impressed though we were with everything we saw, we left feeling we had merely scratched the surface.

6. Douro Valley:
According to all the guide books, the Douro below Peso da Regua cannot compare to the upriver stretches. Regua is a mostly modern town, well sited on a hillside overlooking the river but otherwise unremarkable. By staying near Peso da Regua, we felt we were perfectly located for visiting the upper Douro Valley.

We are not terribly keen on wine tasting as an activity and are not wine connoisseurs in any event. Why come to the Douro, then?

It is one of the most sensuous landscapes I’ve seen – a series of dramatic forms that the hand of man has softened and civilized in a way that heightens the natural grandeur, instead of diminishing it. We were advised against taking a river cruise – too slow, too many old people and too little opportunity to wander, we thought. Instead, we used a combination of car and train. These gave us two entirely distinct but complementary perspectives on the region.

On a Saturday morning, we drove by pleasant byways from Regua to Pinhao, a trip of about 20 minutes. All along the road we saw the evidence of the prosperity that tourism has brought to this region, in the chic riverside restaurants and the grand vineyards offering tastings and sales.

In sleepy Pinhao, the pretty station is decorated with azulejo tiles depicting all the villages of the region.
Many trains run each day from Porto to the upper reaches of the Douro. The ticket booth in the station was closed – I was serious when I said the town was sleepy – but we were told we would buy our tickets on the train.

Our midday train had only 3 cars. The train from tiny Pinhao to even tinier Pinhao has the immense advantage that its single track runs right alongside the Douro, where no road could now be squeezed in. At first you run rather high above the river, which is murky and brown. What begins as a broad sheet of water quickly becomes narrower and more sinuous. At every turn there is a new panorama of greenish-brown hills, swift-flowing water and vines. The best views of all come when you exit from the only tunnel on this part of the route: you are rather high when you enter the tunnel but when you finally emerge, you are right at river-level and literally at the water’s edge. Another five feet and we would have been in the drink.

All along the route you see signs for the great names in port production: Taylor, Warre, Ferreira, Cockburn. The hillsides of these estates are stepped in terraces, a series of green ribbons that unspool themselves vertically, undulating into the distance.

We stopped frequently at the little villages and whistle-stops that depend on the railway. After about an hour of travel, snapping pictures at every turn, we arrived at unlovely Pocinho, a small industrial centre for (it appeared) the logging industry. There is nothing to see or do in Pocinho but the 45 minutes or so we were obliged to spend there passed quickly enough. On our return, the train was fuller. At several stations, rough-looking local men climbed aboard, each encumbered with several huge flagons – port or perhaps oil, to be carried down to the city, we thought.

When we alighted at Pinhao, we still wanted more of the same, so we got back into the car and drove inland from the river. Just south of Pinhao, on the left bank of the river, we turned in for the N.222 road. The road climbed and twisted around the hillsides, opening up new panoramas of terraced hillsides, deep valleys and the rare glimpse of the distant river curving beneath us. Apart from the occasional (maddeningly reckless) oncoming driver, we were alone on these roads. Every so often, we’d pull over to admire a new vista laid out beneath us, in brilliant sun, heat and utter silence.

We drove as far as São João da Pesqueira, then retraced our steps. Perhaps there are roads as pretty on the northern/ right bank near Pinhao; we did not explore them. The next day we drove briefly westward from Regua, then cut inland for Amirante and Guimaraes. The Douro portions of that road were equally spectacular.

7. Bom Jesus do Monte church:
Early in our trip, we decided we did not want to negotiate our way through cities. Portuguese cities, however historic, are primarily modern and – from what we could see – rather dreary. As much as I wanted to see the ancient core of Braga, Portugal’s third-largest city, I was reluctant to deal with the negatives: navigating, traffic and parking. Our compromise was to confine our visit to the Bom Jesus church, which sits high above the city, about 4 km from the centre. We navigated by the sun and by instinct, having no decent map of the city. We got lucky. Soon we were on our way up – endlessly up – through the hazy green of a dense forest.

Hillside churches approached by a monumental Baroque staircase (“escardaria”) are something of a Portuguese specialty. We had already seen one example in Lamego, near Peso da Regua. We knew of another famous example in Nazare, on the coast. Bom Jesus, created in 1722, was designed by the Archbishop of Braga as the approach to a small shrine of the 15th century. The shrine was replaced and the entire hillside developed into a showplace for the devout. Completion of the project took almost 90 years.

Originally, visitors were meant to approach the complex from the bottom, where the Chapel of Christ’s Agony in the Garden stands. From this point, a stepped walkway lined with chapels slowly ascends toward the main church. Since 1882, a hydraulically powered funicular has carried the less fit and less motivated up (and down) this very lengthy incline. (At the top, the visitor sees the carriage take on a load of water to power its descent and draw the opposing carriage up the hill.)

Today, however, the car-enabled visitor normally arrives at the top of the complex and approaches the Baroque church obliquely, though beautifully groomed grounds. The Spring gardens, blazing with azaleas and other blooms, were at their zenith when we visited.

We spent only a little time inside the church – it is the least striking part of the ensemble. The theatrical exteriors are the whole point here. From the broad forecourt in front of the church, you descend by twin curving staircases to the first terrace. Here the monumental double staircases begin, descending through level after level, each decorated with fountains, statuary, small chapels and splendid gardens. Though the scale is indeed grand, all the elements have been cleverly scaled to appear even more monumental than they actually are. Symbolism is also heavy here: the staircase of the five senses, the staircase of the three virtues. Much of the symbolism of the decorative scheme is, in fact, secular.

None of the individual bits of carving and statuary is artistically very distinguished. This is a stage set, where the effect of the ensemble matters much more than the quality of the individual pieces.

For us, the charm of the site hinged on the gorgeous landscaping and plantings, the distant views of the modern city, the peacefulness of the surrounding countryside, the elegant and highly civilized pitch of the Archbishop’s Baroque vision and – most important of all – the brilliant theatricality of its execution.

We definitely want to see Tomar (thanks for the insights - and are planning some kind of Duoro river cruises, it's helpful to hear your thoughts , kind of doubt we will make it to Braga, thanks so much - sounds like your trip was lovely

If you are staying in or near Bussaco, you are quite close to Viseu. The centre of Viseu is quite attractive, with a central square dominated by the Se (cathedral) and another grand chapel building.

Parking and/or driving in the centre can be quite challenging, however.

tedgale, great info about Lisbon! What did you like about the Tile Museum? I keep looking at that in the guide books and wondering if we need to make time for it.

I haven't written that part of my report yet. But I'll say, briefly:

1. It offers an intelligent presentation of the history and development of the azulejo tiles.
2. Much more important, the building is a stunning -- simply stunning -- religious complex dating from 1515 with magnificent spaces, esp the chapel and its ante-chambers.

Jaw-dropping interiors of great beauty.

A very civilized place with kindly and knowledgeable staff.

I have to agree with tedgale on the Tile Museum. I definitely think it's worth the time and would not miss it.

And it was not hard to reach though it looked remote on a map. I did a route search on the Lisbon public transportation site. We walked over to the Chiado metro station and took a bus from a stop just in front. It was about a 10 minute ride. To return to the centre, we caught the bus a few steps from the museum entrance.

Love the TR Tedgale. It's funny how we go back and forth on airlines. We are in Paris now flying in on Sat. Air Canada to YVR and British Airways to Paris through London. We were able to check in to BA through the first flight which was Air Canada. BA lost our luggage and was delivered next day to Paris apt. The last three times we have used BA, luggage lost two of the times. Back to Air Canada for us. I realize it is different for you lucky people in eastern Canads.

Thanks Colleen. We are thinking of trying a new service: Air Canada Rouge. Their flights have a tiny "Premium" cabin -- half the price of Business Class and about halfway between Economy and Business in service and amenities. Armchair seats, 37 inch seat pitch (5 inches more than the Economy norm), white linen food service, etc.

The biggest advantage is direct flights (Toronto or Montreal -- no flights from Ottawa) to attractive European destinations: Lisbon, Rome, Athens, Barcelona, Venice, Nice.... We'd fly Ottawa to Toronto to Barcelona (that leg would cost $795 in mid October), and fly home in Economy from Marseille to Frankfurt to Ottawa ($450, I think).

The Premium service seems to get pretty good reviews from those who booked knowing what they were getting.

The negative reviews come from those who booked Business class seats (and paid Business class fares) before Rouge was set up, then found themselves re-booked on Rouge with no reduction in the fare.

BTW, the standard Economy cabins on Rouge are apparently absolutely awful -- unbearably cramped unless you're under 5 feet tall. Hundreds of complaints on frequent-flyer websites: crowding, inexperienced staff, additional charges for every extra (in Economy) and lack of in-flight entertainment (IFE).

A black eye for Air Canada, I'm afraid.

Wow, tedgale, just wow. What a great TR. Get this one done before your next adventure.

Great info Tedgale on Rouge. Our BA flight was in world traveler plus their mid-range seats and it was very good so Rouge sounds great. Will check it out for next year. I saw Rouge being advertised
and I really didn't read any further dismissing it as awful without realizing that the Premium would be worth a try.

I finally finished my Top Ten!

8. Sintra:
Trains to Sintra leave from the Rossio station every half hour or so.

Buying a ticket from the machines on the station’s upper level (from which the trains depart) was a fraught experience. We could not use our current Via Viagem cards for some reason, so had to buy new ones for 0,50 Euros and charge them with the amount of the return fare. However, we could not charge them with that exact fare: we needed to pay a slightly larger sum and were left with a puny balance on the card after our trip. I have forgotten the mysterious complexities of the fare structure and on-board “swiping” system that triggered all this confusion. All I can say is Be prepared to be baffled. Thank goodness there was an employee standing by to help us and all the other dumbstruck travelers to Sintra.

The journey, through miles of harmless suburban sprawl, takes about 40 minutes. We found ourselves in a landscape of steep green hills, dotted with picturesque hotels and villas. It’s about a 10 minute walk, climbing slowly through prettily landscaped terrain, to reach the central square of bustling, tourist-choked Sintra, where the Palacio Nacional stands. Alternatively, you can take the 5 Euro hop on/ hop off bus, which takes you on a circuit of the National Palace, the Moorish castle, the Pena Palace and the train station.

At the National Palace we bought combination tickets to see that site and the Moorish castle (Castelo dos Mouros). The Pena Palace is the big draw in Sintra, of course, but extravagant late-Victorian whimsy doesn’t interest me. The two sites we chose were exactly the right “load” for the four or five hours we spent in Sintra – certainly anything more would have been overload. Even with the hop-on/ hop-off bus, we did a lot of walking and a lot of climbing, especially at the Moorish castle.

The National Palace, built by Joao II on a former Moorish site in the late 14th century and much enlarged by Manuel I in the early 16th century, remained a royal residence right up to the end of the 19th century. Though the rooms are magnificently decorated, they are not oppressively so. This is not Versailles. There are pleasing expanses of plain white walls and bare floors. Ceilings are generally painted wood; nothing is smothered in gold leaf.

Like Topsy, this summer palace “just growed”. The feeling is of casual accretion rather than a grand design. Overall, it’s a sober, masculine environment that nonetheless seems very human and livable – an impression heightened by photo enlargements of late 19th century royals playing or posing in the very same spot where we stood.

With a proper sense of the dramatic, the routing of the self-guided tour keeps two of the most impressive sights to the very end. Inside the Torre da Meca is the Sala dos Brasoes, a huge space rising to an octagonal cupola and majestically decorated with the coats of arms of 72 noble families. At ground level are enormous murals in blue and white azulejo tile. We walked around for at least 15 minutes with our heads flung back and our jaws hanging open.

The other jaw-dropper is a visit to the royal kitchens. This vast space has no ceiling. Instead, the walls taper gradually into two funnel-like chimneys of impossible height. Each chimney has the shape of a milk bottle of the 1950s. I cannot imagine that the smoke of the various ovens and spits simply escaped up the chimney; there must be some flues inside the tapering walls. In any event, it is immensely impressive, as impressive in its way as the grand rooms that the royal themselves occupied.

After a bit of wandering through the centre of Sintra – a place of no intrinsic interest but full of resources for the hungry, thirsty or bored – we caught the bus to the Moorish castle. Though traffic was not heavy, the trip up to the castle was painfully slow, largely because the bus could not take the hairpin corners if there was traffic coming in the other direction. Much halting and backing up ensued. We saw people hiking up these roads on foot but the climb was enough to deter anyone but a mountain goat.

At the access point to the Moorish castle, another climb begins – a pleasant, gradual ascent through manicured woodland gardens, offering splendid vistas over the neighbouring hills. But a damned long climb, nonetheless.

The origins of the Moorish castle go back to the 8th century; Afonso Henriques captured the castle from the Moors in 1147. As it lost its defensive value, the site was gradually abandoned. In the 19th century, however, Fernando II began restoration of the castle as a romantic folly. Excavations and replanting of the grounds have continued since.

On the day of our visit, Sintra itself was in full sunshine but the heights of the “Serra”, over which the castle sprawls, were wreathed in fog or cloud – a familiar condition, I gather. A clear sky would have been ideal for panoramas but the floating grey wisps of cloud and the muting of the landscape’s colours gave a greater atmosphere to a place that must, in the past, have been deeply forbidding and probably uncomfortable as well.

Today the surviving elements of the castle are mostly ramparts surmounted by walkways, with a few ruined buildings left open to the sky. There is a small covered-over area of recent excavations, where you can see the remnants of the Moorish epoch.

At first I simply did not grasp the extent – and the grandeur – of the site. In the grey mist, I started tramping up one set of steps, with a vertiginous drop on the other side of the rampart. I climbed and climbed. It took perhaps 10 minutes of steady exertion to reach the highest and furthest point of the castle’s defensive walls. On a clear day, there must be an unparalleled view of the Serra and of Sintra far below. Even with the obscuring clouds, it felt romantic, like a bit of rugged Scottish crag and moorland transposed to a Mediterranean setting.

The descent was along a more gradual path – you can reach the base in about five minutes. Then you climb the other half. Around mid-afternoon, fairly bushed, we walked slowly back to the access point and the bus stop, then made our way by bus to the train station. There – providentially – a train to Rossio station was just preparing to depart.

9. Belem:
The dictator Salazar decided in the 1930s that Belem, the launching point for many voyages of discovery to new worlds, should be a monument to the maritime greatness of Portugal. Under his patronage, existing historic sites were linked together by monumental public spaces and new public structures such as the bombastic Monument to the Discoveries and the Museu de Arte Popular (as dreary inside as out).

Salazar’s grandiose vision has faded but the fine old buildings of Belem retain their original dignity and interest. The Mosteiro dos Jeronimos – the monastery of the St Jerome order – is far and away the most celebrated. But this little suburb houses a 500 year old fort, the Torre de Belem, as well as the former royal residence, now the presidential palace (Palacio de Belem), the national Coach Museum and the Maritime Museum. The former gardens of the royal, now presidential, palace host a botanical garden filled with exotic plants from Portugal’s colonies (Jardim Agricola Tropical).
More recent structures include the Belem Cultural Centre (in a lavish building erected for Portugal’s presidency of the EU), the folk art museum and the Gulbenkian Planetarium.

We traveled to Belem on the number 15 tram. This is a spiffy modern vehicle quite unlike the tiny, wheezing number 28 tram that creaks its way through the old city, stuffed to the roof with grim-faced and indignant tourists. We sat opposite a charming young boy of ten and his eight-year old sister. Their mother was a conductor or perhaps the tram driver. In any case, they were riding the tram at mid-morning on a weekday. The young boy wanted to practice his English. It was rudimentary, my Portuguese even more so, yet he was very helpful in directing us on when to get off and where the main sights were.

At his suggestion, we walked first to the Torre de Belem, where the lines were about one-quarter as long as at the monastery. Here we bought a combination ticket that would allow us to go right to the head of the monastery’s admission line.

Manuel I ordered the building of the Torre de Belem early in the 16th century as a protection to Lisbon’s harbour. Its construction spanned the years 1515-21. Before the Tagus silted up, the Torre stood out in the harbour; today it stands at the river’s edge. Familiar from many, many tourist posters, the tower is decidedly picturesque, with a rich encrustation of stone ornament intended to display the power and grandeur of this newly-rich imperium: armillary spheres, religious emblems, the royal coat of arms and familiar Manueline motifs, such as stone carved like twists of rope.

Inside, however, it is comparatively plain. At the lower level are the storerooms, prison, emplacements for cannons and other defensive elements. Above this rises the tower, with a single large room on each floor. The tiny staircase is so tight that visitors must ascend and descend according to a system of red and green lights (which all too many defy). My favourite part was the roof-top walkway, where we could examine the carved battlements close-up and admire the full sweep of the harbour.

We wanted to reserve 90 minutes for the monastery (we found this quite adequate for a viewing – which is not to diminish in any way the importance of this primordial site). Hence, we allowed ourselves an hour to walk through the art gallery at the Centro Culturel de Belem. There are many public spaces in the vast complex; we visited only the art museum, which has an absolutely charming collection of 20th century European and American art, containing many small gems by Picasso, Matisse and other popular masters.

The absolute highpoint for me (apart from a riveting Warhol portrait of Judy Garland, based on a studio photo-portrait of c. 1945) was the museum’s collection of advertising art. Somehow the museum came into possession of the archives of an English advertising agency, which included a vast quantity of original commercial artwork spanning a period from 1910 to 1960. The displayed items number in the hundreds. Mesmerizing and – by itself – a sufficient reason to visit Belem, if the monastery and tower were ever to vanish.

Our final stop was the monastery, the great monument commissioned by Manuel I around 1501. Though we were able to move to the front of the line with our combination tickets, I noted that by 3 pm there was virtually no line-up at all – a sharp contrast to the morning crowds. You are directed first into the church; you view the refectory, chapterhouse and cloister later.

Here I pause in my description. I realize how fruitless it is to try to capture the grandeur and scale of this complex and the inventiveness, delicacy and rich playfulness of its decoration. The main cloister, from the 1540s, is especially impressive, for its florid decoration that never loses sacrifices coherence, proportion and grace.

Consecrated to the glory of God, the monastery is equally a hymn to worldly power and riches. Though its Manueline motifs are rooted in the naturalistic tradition of the Middle Ages, the monastery owes its very existence to a far more recent innovation, one in which Portugal led the western world: overseas exploration and imperial conquest. Only a burgeoning empire could afford to build on this scale. Indeed, much of the funding for the construction came from a tax on spices, precious stones and gold – the very goods that Portugal’s overseas territories and trading partners supplied to the world.

Not all of the original monastery buildings are included in the admission price. The Marine Museum takes up the west wing of the complex and includes a mid-15th century chapel built by Henry the Navigator. The Archaeological Museum occupies an uninspired addition to the original building. But we had no appetite for visiting the second-string sites. We had seen the best – the rest could keep for another time.

10. Museu Nacional do Azulejo:
The idea of covering walls with tiles came from the Moors and the Portuguese word for these tiles, “azulejo”, actually comes from the Arabic word for a small, polished stone. From the 16th century onward, Portugal was Europe’s leading producer of decorative wall tiles and azulejos are an essential decorative element of many of Portugal’s greatest buildings, both religious and secular.

Due east of the Alfama quarter in Lisbon, a short way beyond the Santa Apolonia station, is the national museum dedicated to this art form, the Museu Nacional do Azulejo. It is housed in the Convento da Madre de Deus, established in 1509 by the widow of Joao II and restored in the later Renaissance style by Joao III. The church of Madre de Deus and the attached convent are both magnificent examples of azulejo decoration, with works from a number of periods, including large azulejo murals created by Flemish artisans.

You must take a bus or taxi to reach the museum. (In principle, it can be reached on foot but the route is long and not picturesque.) This can be the only reason the museum is not better known or more visited. We caught a bus from outside the Chiado metro stop. In a mere ten minutes, it delivered us to a stop one minute’s walk from the museum. We had expected crowds, especially since it was the Good Friday holiday. Entry to national museums is free before noon on national holidays. In fact, crowds were thin.

The display spaces are on two floors and are grouped around two cloisters: the large and elegant Renaissance cloister and the smaller and older Manueline cloister of rather Moorish design. The first rooms of the museum explain the origin and the fabrication of the tiles, with examples of the main styles and motifs. Thereafter, the displays are chronological, with exhibits dedicated to every century from the 16th to the 20th. Some of the most intriguing and visually appealing were commercially produced Art Nouveau tiles and the “modern” tiles of the 1950s.

The museum’s first rooms provide a useful grounding in the azulejo tradition but no prior study is required to appreciate the tiles themselves. The non-figurative tiles, some of which attempt three-dimensional effects, are attractive enough. But I especially like the 17th and 18th century figurative panels and murals composed of entire walls of tile. These are often painted in a loose, flowing style in blue-on-white. The effect is much fresher and more casual than oil paintings of the same (Baroque) period.

The absolute high-point of the museum is the Madre de Deus church itself. Though the church was completed in the mid-1500s, the ornate Baroque and Rococo decoration dates from two centuries later. The Rococo altarpiece was added after the 1755 earthquake.

Every available surface has been covered. At ground level, there are large azulejo murals in blue and white. In contrast to this comparatively spare and simple treatment, the upper walls of the church and the barrel-vaulted ceiling are entirely covered with a richly sculptural framework of gilded carving, within which are set huge canvas panels depicting religious subjects. The best view of the upper walls and the ceiling may be from the grand rooms one floor above, which look out over the rear of the nave. These upper rooms – which include the Chapterhouse and other administrative offices, as I recall – are likewise covered from top to bottom with Baroque paintings, gilded cornices and frames, precious woods and eight-foot high azulejo murals.

The overall effect might have been garish but it is not; it is sublime.

The museum’s temporary exhibition space had a display on the theme of “Chinoiserie” – azulejos inspired by the mid-18th century vogue for Chinese decoration. We also popped into the museum café, which predictably is decorated with modern azulejos depicting food and wine. Beyond the glass-walled café stands a pleasant courtyard garden shaded by mature trees. The garden is open to everyone but the part nearest the café is given over to an outdoor terrace for patrons of the café.

When we left in the early afternoon, we turned right after exiting the museum and found there was a westbound bus stop right outside the walls of the Madre de Deus church.

This pretty much wraps up the trip report.

I may come back with some specific pointers about Portugal and Lisbon in particular -- assuming anyone is still reading after all this time!

Thanks - just found the report. We are thinking of Portugal for next year.

It is a remarkably easy and pleasant place to travel in.

I don't believe I posted my album of photos of Alcobaca, Batalha and Tomar. Here it is:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...1&l=d759e4688c

Great report…eager for those pointers on Lisbon, too! Thank you for taking all that time to write this!

Thanks! Your TR has been so helpful as we made final plans and as we now travel around Portugal. We enjoyed several of your restaurant choices in Lisbon. I fell in love with the Duoro Valley and your description is spot on.

Thanks for the kind words.

HI Ted: Just read this entire report again, since I was searching for it to send to a friend about to go to Portugal!

It is such a marvelous report, with so much really good advice, and superb hotel/inn recommendations. I must thank you again for it, and for all your other reports. You really do us a great service, whether we are traveling a lot, or getting to the age where your reports make great reminders of travel in the past.

Portugal is one of our favorite places, and I guess we've been there 5 times. Thanks again for the reminders and informtaion.

Where next, Ted. I've been off Fodor's for a while!!

Thanks TaconicT.

We just came home from 3 weeks in S Italy and Provence -- a quite successful trip to which the fine autumn weather contributed greatly.

I'm too busy just at present to write a trip report. I hope I will still recall enough in early December to prepare a credible account. Otherwise I'll just post the basic info on our accommodation (we found great places to stay!) and itinerary.

We'll head off to Savannah GA at the end of the month and will stay there for 3.5 months.

I'm musing over where to go and what to do in 2015. I'd like to visit South Africa but the two consecutive long flights in each direction are a disincentive. We might fly to London and spend some time in the UK, then fly from there. (My brother has left NYU and is creating a new research centre at Imperial College, London, so I now have a family reason to visit the UK -- neglected by me for many years because of the outlandish prices and the lousy weather.)

You always find THE best places to stay!! Will wait patiently for the Italy and Provence stats.

When I went to So. Africa, I flew to London, and stayed with a friend for three nights, then flew down to Harare. Then did a very very long drive down thru Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa.
Flew back through London also, but only stopped to change planes. Now, THAT was a killer!!

Savannah will be nice for the winter. Enjoy it. We're flying down to FL this February, so no chance for a stop in Savannah. But I do hope we can meet some day.