Arriving a day early to catch a cruise allows us to shake off some jetlag. After a short nap courtesy of free early check-in, we managed to get a taste of Portugal --- mostly its wine --- before settling in for a good nights sleep at Corinthia Lisbon.
While not in the countryside, Corinthia is not in the heart of the tourist zone either, providing a quiet place to bed down.
Almost everyone else went inside to be closer to the food, I suppose.
Julie and I took advantage of the pleasant morning temperatures to enjoy breakfast in the gardens of the terrace both mornings in Lisbon.
I was happy to find a small pecan Danish among the choices. I have never found these tasty treats anywhere except the Yellowstone Club in Montana.
The entire meal made up from the bountiful buffet spread with eggs-prepared-to-order station was excellent.
After returning to the room to brush our teeth, we headed to the lobby to join the other thirty or so folks in our sub-group 2C. We would do excursions with this group throughout our cruise-tour in Portugal.
Driving toward our first stop at Belem Tower, our guide Tiago --- think Diego, which is James in English --- provided interesting, knowledgeable overviews of architecture, history and local color. We were soon convinced we were in very good hands for this tour of Belem's highlights.
As I told Julie, Tiago seemed to share my interpretation of the history of Portugal, with a few extra details.
Tiago clarified something I had misunderstood from our first visit a few years ago. I believed Portugal had been the first country to abolish slavery, a repentance following the horrific fires and floods of 1755 that destroyed Lisbon. Not exactly so.
The Marquis de Pombol, who emerged as the hero of that chapter in Lisbon's history, banned importing slaves into Portugal in 1761.
Incidentally, the United States Congress passed similar legislation, signed into law by our third President Thomas Jefferson in 1807. You can see, our country wasn't too far behind the curve of societal evolution.
However, as it turned out, Portugal did not eliminate the transatlantic slave trade throughout the Portuguese Empire until 1836. Portugal did not ban slavery until 1869.
That is actually six years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.
As an Executive Order, that could have been reversed by the next President, if pro-slavery Democrats won.
The United States Constitution permanently abolished slavery at the conclusion of the Civil War, in 1865.
So, the US actually abolished slavery four years before Portugal. And Great Britain abolished slavery in 1833, 32 years before our nation.
However, that does not diminish the important first steps taken by Portugal. After millennia of human history, it was this Western Civilization leader in Portugal who set the wheels in motion to eliminate slavery.
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| Tiago timed our arrival at Palácio Nacional de Belém to catch the changing of the guard. |
For any historical revisionists who wish to re-imagine history with the USA and Western Civilization as the bad guys, I suggest you study the real history of the world
And it was the British Empire that imposed its will on the Arab nations to abolish slavery (for the most part) when the Brits took leadership of the former Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of World War I.
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| The Portuguese Air Force held the honored guard positions this day. |
Historically, conquering nations often enslaved the losing side as a more humane alternative to mass slaughter. Great Britain forced the end of slavery in the conquered former Ottoman Empire. Chattel slavery had been a constant and important part of the economy and societal structure of the Ottomans.
Yes, Islamic Arab states were prolific slavers well into the twentieth century, but somehow they get a pass from leftist Americans wearing masks who damn our country and Western Civilization using our cherished American free speech. Obviously, they don't know history.
Tiago pointed out the Manueline architectural style of the Tower of Belem, including a detail we hadn't noticed previously.
The carved ropes around the balustrade signify the maritime heritage from the Age of Discovery, during which rigging played an important role. This rope pattern symbolically secures the Tower to its mooring. The ropes also may be represent the ties that bound together the vast Portuguese empire.
That such a small country could come to rule so much of the world --- including Brazil, which is 92 times the size of Portugal --- seems inconceivable.
It was the result of knowledge, technology and courage, of which Portugal remains justly proud.
Our tour of Belem continued at the Maritime Museum housed in the west wing of Jerónimos Monastery. It celebrates the navigational prowess and bravery that brought great wealth to Portugal.
Among Portugal's technological innovations was the strategic use of triangular sails that allowed sailors to use tacking maneuvers to sail into the wind rather than relying on the wind at their backs like square-sails.
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To the bold captains, royal sponsors and financiers went the great riches of spice-trading with virtual monopolies.
They also carried other cargo, including chattel slaves.
It's hard for us in the 21st century to understand how slaves could have been considered just another product. As mentioned above, Portugal and Western Civilization repented in the wake of the destruction of Lisbon and the ascent of the Age of Enlightenment. Thank God!
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| Tiago beside a map of Portuguese exploration at the Maritime Museum. |
That's not to say Portugal and its Maritime Museum attempt to sweep slavery under the rug. Then again, they don't seem to be as revisionist as our country regarding the laws, morals and customs of historical eras out of context.
They also do not whitewash atrocities committed in Crusades of all sort, including this Age of Discovery, which again is not denied.
As Tiago said, captains of ships, as well as monarchs, the Catholic Church and capitalists, could understand potential rewards of bold sea journeys, but it would have been a harder sell to convince a young man to leave his home and family to sail off the edge of the earth for paltry wages.
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| If you look closely, you see bedding rolled up by the rail as additional protection. Better to have damaged bedding than to die on deck. |
Regardless of whether these involuntary sailors believed the earth was round and Portuguese navigational skills were trustworthy, they knew they would face perils at sea, including storms, attacks from pirates, drowning, corporal punishment from commanders, angry natives in lands being "discovered" and blood-thirsty pirates.
Impressment (basically kid-napping) of able-bodied men in ports by "press gangs" and forcing prisoners labor on ships helped the meet their "recruiting goals." Obviously, the assembled crew was not on par with our scrupulous military of today. As a result, those involuntary inductees sometimes did horrible deeds, unsanctioned by superior officers.
A closer look at the map in the Maritime Museum reveals that blue arcs of Portuguese exploration focus mostly on Africa and Asia. Portugal was less concerned with the Americas than its Iberian neighbor Spain, who fresh off the Reconquista had financed Christopher Columbus's voyages to the West Indies.
These bold Iberian countries were essentially not contested by other European powers, who were busy with their own royal concerns. To resolve territorial disputes. these two Catholic nations turned to the Pope.
This resulted in the Treaty of Tordesillas, with Spain receiving Papal blessing to the lands east of the line on the same map that cuts through the eastern side of Greenland and down through the C in "Atlantico."
You'll note the blue line foray by Portugal into Brazil. Portugal did not want to cede Brazil, so the line that cut through mostly the Atlantic Ocean was revised 7 1/2 degrees west to include that piece of South America. As you see, the line mostly cuts through the Atlantic Ocean.
In today's world, a big question would be Greenland, which as a pagan country at the time would have been included in the lands deigned by the Pope to be split between Portugal and Spain.
At the time it was apparently marginally insignificant. For Portugal, the addition of Brazil proved key. They gleaned great treasure for centuries from this "new world" outpost.
When Napoleon invaded Portugal in 1807, the royal family relocated to Brazil, naming Rio de Janeiro as the new capital of Portugal.
Royals are a peculiar breed of humans, aren't they?
It occurs to me that with the Catholic Church divvying up the world between Spain and Portugal, Henry VIII had far more incentive than I had previously considered in his schism to create the Church of England.
Meandering toward the exit, we learned about barges used by royalty over the decades for various purposes.
We were given free time, which we could have used to dive more deeply into Museum exhibits.
In answer to a question Julie asked before we went on the cruise, we could have left the tour group and found our own transportation to other parts of Lisbon or back to the hotel.
Julie and I wanted to see the Church of Santa Maria de Belém. It is housed within a different part of the enormous Jeronimos Monastery. Tiago advised us to look for the shorter line to the Church, which we would definitely save time rather than waiting in the long line for general admission. Great advice!
The interior of the Church is beautiful.
The carved ropes of Belem Tower are continued on the Church's vaulted ceilings.
The Monks at Jeronimos Monastery wanted to keep their robes crisp and neat. To accomplish that in days before dry-cleaning or canned spray starch, egg whites worked nicely. That meant, under their waste nothing philosophy, that the chefs received a lot of extra egg yolks.
What could they do with them?
They made sweet custard tarts! They're delicious and soon became a source of revenue.
In 1834, a government decree abolished all monasteries and took over their property. To me this sounds very much like Henry VIII three centuries earlier. A good deal of wealth transferred from church to state, but not this secret tart recipe.
Jeronimos Monastery ownership was transferred to a secular charity, Real Casa Pia de Lisboa.
The Monks sold their original recipe to Pastéis de Belém, which remains in operation.
A long line coming out the door turned out to move quickly, as the dedicated takeaway counter served tarts with rapid-fire efficiency. Tiago said the little shop now sells 30,000 tarts a day. As Tiago quipped, selling that many tarts makes it is no longer just a bakery. It is a gold mine.
Similar custard tarts are sold all over Lisbon, but this shop uses the original recipe from the Monastery, sold by Monks when the Portuguese government took control Jeronimos Monastery in 1833. They're purportedly the best.
I can say that sprinkled with the included packets of cinnamon and confectioner's sugar, they're the best I've ever had.
Did I get powdered sugar all over my shorts? Off course, but it was worth it.
We ate our pastry on a park bench at Vasco de Gama Garden.
Speaking of that remarkable world explorer, Vasco de Gama and his crew prayed on the site of the Church we had just walked through before embarking on his successful voyage to find a sea route to India in 1498.
In 1501, King Manuel I commissioned Jeronimos Monastery to be built on that site, in celebration for the great riches the voyage had brought Portugal.
We enjoyed a pleasant stroll through the park back to our Viking tour bus.
On the drive, we passed the towering Águas Livres Aqueduct.
First proposed in 1571, construction began in 1731.
It entered operation in 1748, bringing much needed water into Lisbon.
Considered an engineering marvel, the aqueduct spans 8.8 miles.
As testament to its exceptional engineering and workmanship, the aqueduct survived the 1755 devastation of Lisbon by earthquakes, tidal waves and fires.
We could see the other side of the aqueduct from our hotel room.
We made photo stops at scenic overviews. You will note that in Portugal, they call their capital city Lisboa rather than Lisbon.
At one viewing point, I thought the sculpture in a fountain represented the destruction of Lisbon, but Tiago said it was a tribute to the Carnation Revolution. "Monumento de Evocação ao 25 de Abril" in Lisbon's Parque Eduardo VII is a tribute to what is known as the April 25 Revolution, which overthrew Portugal's fascist government.
Wait. A fascist country in Western Europe decades after World War II?
In 1926, a military coup overthrew Portugal's First Republic. An economics professor, António de Oliveira Salazar, became the Finance Minister, charged with fixing the economy. Salazar rose to become Prime Minister in 1932. In 1933, a new Constitution established the single-party New State (Estado Novo).
Apparently Salazar was considered to be a dictator, although he served in different government leadership positions until retiring in 1968, less than two years before he died at age 81. Public opinion on Salazar was deeply divided, just as for Spain's Francisco Franco from the same era.
Incidentally, the First Republic had been established in 1910 with a military coup to overthrown King Manuel II. Their sixteen year experiment with being a democratic republic brings to mind Ben Franklin's quote about the United States being "A Republic, if you can keep it," on the final day of the US Constitutional Convention in 1787.
It is quite challenging to have rule of the people, by the people and for the people.
After the Carnation Revolution in 1974, Portugal transitioned to become a Constitutional Republic again.
Dropped back at the hotel, we took a short rest before heading out on the free Corinthia shuttle to downtown to explore more of Lisbon on our own.
