Description

NAVEGADOR – THE NAVIGATOR

Lisbon’s branches gradually extended along the Tejo and from there towards the sea. Since the 15th century, when Henry the Navigator dreamt with his eyes set on the horizon, caravels departed from Belém on missions to explore the unknown African coast and the south Atlantic. As Fernando Pessoa wrote, “navigating is necessary, living is not”. Belém is a garden planted by the sea with several 16th-century monuments, such as the Belém Tower and the Jerónimos Monastery, from the Manueline period. Camões, who wrote the epic poem “The Lusiads”, is buried in Jerónimos.

Contemporary Lisbon is also present: in the newly-opened Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (MAAT), in the Belém Cultural Centre (CCB) or in the Monument of the Discoveries, built for the 1940 Portuguese World Fair. We will still make a stop at LX Factory, an industrial complex turned into a hub of restaurants, vintage shops and creative industries. At the end of the trip, treat yourself with a delicious pastel de Belém at Lisbon’s most famous factory. If there is time, we promise to cross the 25 April Bridge for a view of Lisbon from its south bank.