Visit Portugal - A golden tour

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A golden tour /

Gold is the colour that provides the theme for a three-day tour in which you can appreciate the magnificent ostentatiousness of art and architecture in the Lisbon region.

Your first day is dedicated to touring the city of Lisbon and your journey begins in Belém, from where the first vessels set sail for distant lands to start the Portuguese expansion overseas. On their return, they brought with them untold riches that financed great works, such as the building of the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos. Now housed in this building is the Maritime Museum, where you can see the 18th-century “Bergantim real” (Royal Barge), a genuine jewel of naval construction. You can also appreciate other treasures used for land transport, such as King João V’s Coach at the National Coach Museum. This belonged to the king who commissioned the building of the Aqueduto das Águas Livres, with its 35 huge arches spanning the Vale de Alcântara, one of Lisbon’s great landmarks.

Continue on to the National Museum of Ancient Art. Amongst the museum’s many remarkable pieces are the Mogul Cabinet, bearing witness to the intermingling of Eastern and Western cultures, and the Chinese porcelain bottle coolers, forming part of a unique set in the whole world. Next comes the Basílica da Estrela, whose magnificent dome stands out on the city’s skyline, and after this the Igreja dos Paulistas, lined with valuable gilded wood carvings and stucco work.

The Igreja de São Roque will be your next stop. Inside is the admirable Chapel of St John the Baptist, made entirely of marble and semi-precious stones, and next to this is the Sacred Art Museum, where you can find the Reliquary of St. John de Britto decorated with silver low-relief carvings. From the top of the Elevador de Santa Justa, you can appreciate the view over the Baixa Pombalina, the city’s downtown area rebuilt after the 1755 earthquake, an example of urban planning based on a uniform grid system. Later, at the National Tile Museum housed in the Convento da Madre de Deus, you can form an idea of what the city was like before this earthquake by looking at the 23-metre-long tile panel known as the “Grande Panorama de Lisboa”, but first you should visit the churches of Menino Deus and Santa Engrácia, with their multi-coloured marble decorations. To round off your day, visit the Igreja da Madre de Deus, with its excellent carved and gilded woodwork and decorative tiles offering you a dazzling spectacle of gold and blue.

Next morning, visit the gardens and palace of the Marquises of Fronteira, bearing testimony to the splendour and sophistication in which the nobility lived in the 17th and 18th centuries. After this, head out of town to the Palácio Nacional de Queluz. Spend some time exploring its sumptuous interiors, such as the Throne Room, with its walls lined with carved and gilded woodwork and mirrors, and then enjoy a stroll through the gardens embellished with fountains and lakes. Continue on to Mafra and spend the rest of the day admiring the vast architectural complex formed from the Royal Palace, Basilica and Convent. Your visit will necessarily take some time, but make sure to see its six unique organs, the two carillon bells set among 112 others, and the magnificent library.

On the third day, head for Alcobaça and visit the Monastery, classified as World Heritage. Built in the 12th century in Gothic style, it was subjected to a series of alterations visible in the façade (altered in the 18th century) or in the Sacristy, which houses a special baroque artistic treasure – the Sanctuary and the Altarpiece of the Death of St. Bernard. Continue your journey on to Santarém, where you can appreciate the decorative splendour of the Cathedral’s ceilings and altars, and, at the Casa-Museu Anselmo Braamcamp, you’ll find a remarkable pair of still lifes painted by Josefa de Óbidos. By way of homage, you should end your tour at the Igreja da Graça, which houses the tomb of Pedro Álvares Cabral, the discoverer of Brazil, from where the vast quantities of gold came that resulted in the glorious period of Portuguese baroque.

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