We left Lisbon early in the morning for an easy passage to Lagos. Passing Cape St. Vincent on the way.

Here is the lighthouse.

Lisbon is one of the oldest cities in Europe. The explorations undertaken by the Portugese beginning in the 13th Century were epic in their distance and global reach, Brazil to Japan from Portugal.

Lisbon reflects this as both a, once, rich imperial power and a Capital city.

This is a railway station:

Between the marina and Belem is an area round the old palace that is full of beautiful derelict buildings like this:

Interred in the Monastery is Vasco da Gama. A celebrated explorer who opened the sea passage to India and well worth reading about.

He returned to India and died there of Malaria.  He was subsequently brought home and laid to rest in the Monastery.

Not far from the marina is this monastery. Commenced in 1501 and completed a century later, they must have used the same builders as us.

For a full history:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeronimos_Monastery

The detail is incredible:

There was a wedding on and I felt a bit sorry for the celebrants as there was a lot of visitors taking photos, due to this we took only one looking down the chapel.

We had a pleasant over night trip down the coast to Lisbon arriving early the next morning.

Passing the Tower of Belem and the Monument to the Explorers on the way.

The Tower was built in the early 1500’s to defend Lisbon.

The monument below celebrates the Portugese explorers who opened up the coast of Africa, the passage to India and Brazil.