Lisbon museums and Alfama ancient quarter
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Navy Museum Among the many museums of Lisbon, we are visiting the navy Museum now. It is lodged in the huge
former dormitories of the Hyeronimites Monastery and on the place where Vasco da Gama started his two years long
and dangerous trip to India. It's one of the most interesting in the world in its particularity. It has several big rooms,
some with full-scale boats and others with miniatures. Here we see a great number of boats from those used thousands
of years ago until the most modern ones and all in good shape and high quality. All kinds of boats are represented,
from the merchant ships to war vessels. Maps and paintings illustrate the effort made by the navigators. A special
mention should be made to the part dedicated to the Portuguese vessels, which discovered the world, helped by the
knowledge of the school of navigation founded by prince Henry. Prince Henry the navigator was also the person in
command of the Order of Christ, a conversion of the knight Templars, which also displayed the red cross of Christ on
a white background. This was the flag of the evangelizing mission of the Portuguese. We have here replicas of the
boats used by the Portuguese like caravels and galleons. Famous navigators like Vasco da Gama, Magellan and
Columbus, used them. The caravel, which is largely attributed to the Portuguese navigations, is a light and fast vessel,
which could sail close into the wind, because of the straight position of the sail and was often used in the discoveries.
But then, to carry the merchandise, heavier boats were needed, like the galleon, which is also a war vessel. Portugal had
one of the strongest, if not the most powerful navy in the world. That was crucial to defend the vast empire the
Portuguese had just conquered.
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Coach Museum The Museum we are visiting now, housed in the former royal riding school, adjoining the palace of the president, has the best coach
collection in the world. There are two rooms with coaches, from the most ancient one in the world, of the 16-century, till one of the most recent, from the
19-century. There are berlins, sedan chairs and other coaches from Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, England and Austria. It's here since 1902 and it was
made by queen Amelia, wife of king Charles of Portugal. Needless to say that we can see here some very good models made in Portugal, a country where
some of the best were made in the past.
National Ancient Art Museum Among other ancient art museums, some even private, we take a look at this one, for the reason that here we have some
important Portuguese paintings. The most important painting is Saint Vincent panel, painted in the 15 century, depicting the court in that period. Several
items of eastern art can be seen, and most traditional European schools are represented here. There are 4 floors with sculptures, jewelry, furniture, and
painting, special attention given to religious themes. Some of the items are temporarily exhibitions and this is always a nice surprise with different pieces
of famous artists.
Alfama the most ancient section of Lisbon, Alfama quarter, the place where Lisbon started thousands of years ago, with Romans, Visigoths, Arabs and
obviously our beloved Portuguese. It's on the south slope of Saint George's hill, facing the river, and the slide-way means lots of stone stairways to go up
and down. Crooked and narrow streets with roofs nearly touching each other, grant inhabitants familiarity with the neighbor. It defied time and
earthquakes, and it's here that we can step back in time, breath in the past and see the curious structure of the medieval town, of how Lisbon used to look
like before. It developed disobeying to any built-up plan. Just the additions of several generations, since the time of Romans and Arabs. It's like a maze.
This provides tourists the possibility to get lost and stay here a little longer, in the homeland of sailors, navigators and merchants, since a lot of them lived
here in the 13 and 14 centuries. Some streets are so narrow, that only one person can get through at a time. They don't need to leave their homes to talk to
the neighbors. This kind of structure keeps houses cool in the summer and traffic jams away all year round. Alfama comes from an Arab name. It means
source of water. In fact, this reminds us towns in many Arab countries. And the many fountains in this quarter still provide inhabitants with a pure water
to drink. We can feel the picturesque atmosphere with the laundry hanging at the windows, cages with birds singing, sardines grilling, children playing In
June, the quarter gets decorated with paper flowers, for the celebrations of saint Anthony, Saint John and saint Peter, with the processions you saw
before. It's when we feel the liveliness and cheerfulness of the Portuguese, watching dancing late in the evening until sunrise amid the strong smell of grilled
sardines, that go well with the nice Portuguese red wine. And listen to them singing and yelling in the streets.
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