Go West Young Man

There we stood, on the westernmost bit of land on Continental Europe.  Cabo da Roca is 9deg 30min west of the prime meridian.  I have looked at countless maps in my life and I never quite gained the perspective of how far west Portugal is compared to England, until now.  How did I not know that Portugal had a dictator for more years than Spain?  And that their Vietnam occurred in the early 1960’s in Angola and Mozambique as the last Europeans to hold onto their colonies? John and I experienced some extremes- steep hills made our steps logged on smart watches under-report our exertion, but we also sat fat and happy at Pastéis de Belém.  We had some of our best meals so far as well as a couple of duds.  One interesting meal we had was on a free day.  We executed our PMM plan.  Pastries, Museu de combatante and Mercado.  Mercado is the city market down by the waterfront that has food stands like we have seen in many cities, but also some interesting places cooking food for lunch and you can eat in a common area in the middle.  John saw a sign for “mocktails” at a bar in the middle, so he suggested we buy food then sit there and enjoy a “drink.”  I started a discussion with the bartender in earnest about the various red wine choices and what mocktails were available using my best Brazilian Portuguese.  Halfway in, he answers his cell phone in perfect Londoner-English.  When he was done we agreed that English would be more efficient for both of us!  He fixed John an awesome Cuba Libre without the liberation.  John and I decided that we liked Lisbon. 

Here is an amazing fact- Portugal is really the oldest western European country when you consider that its borders have remained largely unchanged since the completion of their “Reconquista” of the Muslims in 1249.  That was set in motion when Afonso defeated his mother Countess Teresa and her boyfriend in 1139, kind of an unfortunate step that was required to turn him from the Count into the King.  He convinced many Knights Templar to join in the cause and bring resources to bear against the Muslims.  They had quite a role in the Reconquista, so when they were abolished by the Pope in 1312, King Denis I of Portugal welcomed all to join a new order founded to get around the Papal decree.  The cross can be seen on everything from the sails of the explorers’ ships to modern Portuguese military buildings and vehicles. We visited one of the oldest universities in Europe, in Coimbra, founded in 1290.  The library is an amazing spectacle of 18th century splendor, and the books are guarded by bats that eat the would-be book-destroying insects and the cats take care of the mice.  Low cost labor.  Numerous aspects of this university and features of neighboring Porto found their way into JK Rowling’s Harry Potter.  When we saw a student that had just defended his doctoral dissertation, he looked like a Harry Potter-wanna be, black cape and all. 

We stopped here at Cabo da Roca on our way back to Lisbon from Sintra, where the Royal summer palace was built in the mountains.  

The Belém Tower, built in 16th century in Manueline style (Late Gothic plus other mixed in).  It has features such as the cross of the Order of Christ, Armillary spheres and nautical themes such as ropes.  It was farther from shore until the earthquake of 1755 rerouted the river a bit!

Carlos and João prepare to say good bye to Portugal.  These white and black blocks are the norm for sidewalks.  We walked a lot of steps on them, uphill, downhill and flat!