Lisbon - Saturday

First I have to start with something that happened last night. Mike was mistaken for being Portugese by a restaurant owner AFTER he asked for a table. His language skills are just that good. 

Today - We headed to Belem the area next to Lisbon that survived the 1755 earthquake with most things intact and where most of the royalty and political figures hung out during the time Portugal was a world powerhouse - and especially after the quake.

A lot of Belem is dedicated to  the time when Portugal was discovering trade routes and conquering areas in Africa, India, China and Brazil.

Here's the tower marking the port where ships left and came in

A newer monument honoring the explorers - Good views from the top.

Then we visited this church/monastery where Vasco de Gama is buried

And then we went to a museum of coaches that was surprisingly interesting and cool. I'd never really thought about them before...

Caught the bus back to downtown and were dropped off near the beach so we sat on the pier for a break

And then discovered we were near the Portugal Wine Appreciation Center. We appreciated some wines

As we left the wine center - across the plaza was this...

But it was too much - even for us.