| Belem Information | Belem Photographs | ||||||||||||||||||
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Just three miles from down town Lisbon is the historic Belem district. This area was literally the gateway to the new world. One of the first things that ships coming into Lisbon, as well as leaving, saw was this district. During that time a lot of money was put into this area, increasing its grandeur. As a result there are several spectacular sites in this historic center of Lisbon.
The two most impressive sites are the Monastery of Jeronimos and the Belem tower. The monastery was built in thanks for all the riches coming into Lisbon. It is a combination of Manueline and gothic. This makes for a slight change from the Gothic of the rest of Europe that I found enjoyable. No expenses were spared in the building of his monastery. The cloisters are particularly impressive. The tower of Belem was built to defend the narrow strait from invaders. In reality a quite impressive tower was built that has survived to this day. Please be sure to see parts two and three, for the pictures are in no real order and I feel the ones on pages two and three are better than this page. Belem is still considered the entry way to the straw sea and Lisbon. What I find interesting, is that in Brazil, the entry way (well exit) for the amazon, and I assume the former Portugese main port is called Belem.
I hope you enjoy the photos. Any comments, please E-mail me, .
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Click on the title or thumbnail to view the larger picture.
All photos by John L. Polos Copyright September 23, 1999 | ||||||||||||||||||
