Saturday – 11 August 2018

When we woke, late, the wind had dropped as predicted and several boats had either left or were preparing to leave.  Part of our thinking in staying was the distance we have to cover to the next port and the forecast saying that the wind would pick up later in the afternoon.  We also expected the sea to be choppy, whipped up by several days of high winds, and by leaving it another day this would have had time to die down a bit more.

As we were not sailing, a bit more culture was called for and so we took the train to Belem.  We had passed through here on the way into Lisbon on Thursday, and had spotted further sites of interest to visit.  We went first to the monument to Vasco da Gama, who had set out from Lisbon on his voyages to discover a sea route to India  (1497–1499) . His voyage was at the time, the longest ever made, and opened up a safe route for the spice trade.  This resulted in considerable wealth, economic power and influence being gained by Portugal, who dominated the route for the next century. Da Gama was and still is a national hero in Portugal, and was given titles and high status during his lifetime. He was the founding father of the globalised trading network that we enjoy today.  The monument to him has been built on the banks of the Tagus, outside the monastery where he worshipped.  The monument is just downstream of the dramatic bridge, and roughly opposite the Sanctuary of Christ the King, a statue resembling the statue of Christ the Redeemer  in Rio.  Given the links between Brazil and Portugal, our first guess was that the statue in Rio is a copy of this one, but it turns out to be the other way round. The Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon had visited  Rio de Janeiro in 1934, soon after the inauguration of the statue of Christ the Redeemer in 1931 and thought it would be good to replicate it in Lisbon.

We then visited the Jerónimos Monastery, built by the Portuguese king starting in 1495. We had to queue for tickets, and as we approached the front of the line, we saw a notice saying that there were guided tours available, and one would start in about 5 minutes.  We waited and were taken on a tour of the church and the monastery for an hour.  Our guide, who was a student working as a summer intern, gave us considerable detail of the architecture and history of the buildings, and a great insight into the personalities involved.  We saw the tomb of Vasco da Gama, albeit that it was put there in the 19^th century along with other notable Portuguese plus members of the royal family. It was fascinating.

Once we returned to the marina, we were invited for drinks by some French friends, Didier and Anne Marie, on one of the other boats that we have formed an informal convoy with. We spent a pleasant hour exchanging stories and plans, plus having a tour of their boat.  We will reciprocate when we see them in the next port.

Distance covered today	0	nautical miles
Trip distance covered	1083	nautical miles
Distance covered 2018	1803	nautical miles
Steve (and Tricia)