We drove to Lisbon’s Belém neighborhood from where the Portuguese navigators set sail on their expedition and “discover of India”. We learned about Portugal’s seafaring history and some of Portuguese great navigators. We saw a fortress that was used to protect the harbor. We then went to the memorial for the navigators which was a fascinating structure. In front of the memorial was a tiled globe showing all the different discoveries made by the Portuguese.

We then went on a walking field trip through Lisbon’s historic old quarters and downtown area. I am fascinated by the architecture. It is quite ornate.There is a lot of iron work especially on balconies. There is quite a bit of tile work. After the walking tour, Reggie and I had lunch in a seafood restaurant that had a wonderful decor. We had a delightful platter of grilled cod and octopus.

After lunch we enjoyed an expert-led exploration of the centuries-old decorative art of ceramic tiles at the Portuguese National Tile Museum, housed at the former “Madre de Deus” Convent. In the museum, you can also see the influence of Chinese art and the other countries that the Portuguese explored. Our guide was incredibly knowledgeable about the history of tile work and how it progressed during the centuries. We learned how they were able to keep the colors separated on the tile and later how they learned to paint the tiles.

Some pictures of the flowers on the outside of the museum.

After visiting the tile museum, we traveled to our next stop on our tour, Condeixa. Here are some pictures taken at the hotel.