The Portuguese Connection - Belem

 

Jeronimos Monastery, Belem

Waterfront, Belem

Belem lies on the banks of the Tagus Estuary to the west of Lisbon. From our central spot at the Saldanha metro stop, we boarded a bus that got us directly to the main area of Belem. There are several other ways to get there depending on where you start off from in Lisbon.

The first thing I noticed was the huge and imposing Monastery of Jeronimos that really needs an aerial shot to get the whole building in one frame. The monastery took over 100 years to complete. It comprises of Manueline style cloisters and the Saint Maria Church within its compound. Since the queue was really too long, we decided to not go in.

We headed towards the waterfront which is exactly opposite the monastery and on our way, we passed very beautiful gardens with a huge water fountain in the centre. We realized that the whole area was crowded even more because it was a Sunday and many locals were also out with their families.

At the waterfront, we arrived at the Padrao dos Descombrimentos, a huge concrete structure covered by several sculpted figures. I guess if we had opted for a walking tour of Belem, we would have understood better the symbolism captured in this intricately carved monument.

The next point of interest is just a 7-minute walk from the monument called the ‘Tower of Belem’. It’s a fort that is in the centre of the Tagus Estuary and a very strategic post built to protect Lisbon from the eventuality of an attack by sea. 

The Belem Tower

Belem is a nice day trip if you want to rest your sore legs after all the climbing in Lisbon. It’s also famous for the origin of the Pastel de Nata and there is a café on the main road that sells the original version of this famed tart.

For my Desi and Indian friends, there is a small Indian restaurant called Namaste India about a kilometer along the main street from the waterfront. The person I met there was originally from Bandra in Mumbai, the city where I grew up and I found it funny how he sounded so familiar to me. I guess it was the Mumbai accent and even though I had stopped living there from over two decades, I knew that I sounded, in many ways, just like him.

It was a very comfortable ride back to Saldanha and we were already looking forward to our visit to Sintra the next day.

Some photos of Belem under

The Jeronimos Monastery, Belem

The Jeronimos Monastery

Like this article? Read the one on Lisbon with plenty of beautiful photos here

https://lekhawrites.blogspot.com/2025/04/the-portuguese-connection-lisbon.html