A Walk in Belem

Pictures from Belem that are not Jeronimos or the Torre de Belem. 

The monument to the discoveries.  Statues of some of the guys responsible for discovering the world for Europe. 

Monument to the discoveries.  

Missing a bull horn.  These are sitting behind a museum along the river front.  

Hotel spa on the waterfront.  Rather pretty, and in terms of buildings, quite isolated.  

WWI or WWII monument. 

Cultural Center of Belem.  

I can imagine MI6 putting cameras in the eyes to spy on passers-by.  This is probably one of the four winds and is over a doorway into the Coaches museum.  

Towering Over Lisbon

Towers around Lisbon.  And not a shot of Christo Rei in site! 

Shot from the Frigate at Cacilhas on the south side of the Tagus.  A lighthouse tower. 

Another lighthouse tower along the waterfront near Belem.  

Not really towers, but I don't know what these mystery beasts are.  Perhaps keeping the cars off the sidewalk? 

There's an oil refinery along the Expo parque.  Rather than relocate it, they made a virtue of necessity and made it vertical and statuesque.

I don't know why this makes me think of burning man.  

Pilons for the overhead cars in expo parque.  These sit in the water to the side of the non-board boardwalk. 

Lisbon Street Scenes II

Street scenes and a few patterns too.  .

Shadows cast by the setting sun and a possibly vagrant man. 

On the road from Jeronimos.  

Expo Parque.  Another shot of this same promenade is the fifth photo of the patterns post.  

Outside the aquarium.  

Its a Sign, Lisboa

Signs of the season.

Attention, mind your head and the ceiling will take care of itself.  Torre de Belem sign. 

My favorite pothole.  Warning car drivers that bicyclists will indeed try to run into or possibly under them.  Poor, poor car drivers. 

Not the world's greatest sign, but it does come with a story.  Last time I was here taking a picture of this self-same McDonald's, the manager runs out and tells me that I must not take pictures! No no no!  Presumably attempting to keep the world's at the time largest fast food chain safe from industrial espionage.  

No bathing.  Could be dangerous to your health.  They probably use recycled water.  Of course, what did I see a block or too on, but some woman encouraging her kids to jump in the water.  

They call me "Mr. Fish".   We did have an enjoyable fish here, though the price easily outstripped every other meal we ate in Portugal, almost by a factor of two.  The sides were ok, nothing great, but the fish was indeed something from heaven. 

Excellent science museum CaFe sign.  My personal award for best sign!

Seashore Objects

Or river shore if you prefer.  The Tagus estuary. 

Don't be crabby. 

An egg-yolk yellow shell, reminds me of Pasteis de Belem.  

First impressions are important.  This shell shows that last impressions can be lasting.  

Whirly shell and friends.  

Clams glued together.  

Boat pulled up on the sand, and an oyster/clam/mussel digger in the distance

Spiral shell resting on grains of sand.  

Lisbon Reflections II

I took many pictures, and some of my typical posts will repeat, with new pictures.

A spa along the Belem waterfront, near the Torre.  The boat dock and photographer are visible in the window. 

Expo Parque. An overhead walkway reflecting something obscure, with the two boat buildings in the distance.  

It would be wise to turn left and not drive through the glass.  

The Lisbon Casino -- a solid black glass building.  

Another of the casino, with photographer.  

Reflecting across the street.  

Portuguese Patterns

I love seeing patterns and near patterns in construction.  And the Portuguese definitely leave many patterns visible in their buildings.  Here are some favorites. 

A long moderately tall residential/business building in Expo Parque. 

And across the street, the retaining wall below the street is a favored playground of graffiti artists.  

Glass-railed balconies reflecting the building across the street. 

Reminiscent of gargoyles, drainage pipes for roof water.  As a pedestrian, if its raining, I'd prefer they took the water down directly into the street without it first splashing all over me. 

This building was blocks long.  This is the pedestrian walkway along the street. 

Vasco de Gama mall superstructure.  

A closeup of the Vasco de Gama roof superstructure.  They have water continually pouring down the roof leaving the distinctive coloration and light pattern.  Presumably helps with cooling as well. 

A wall of mosaiced color tiles.  Actually a sculpture with steps that you can climb up and peer over the top wall at the neighborhood. 

I think this was part of the entrance to the aquarium.  

Another park structure in the exposition parque.  

I'm not entirely certain what this tower was.  But it made for a pretty set of patterns.  

Jeronimos Monastery

The Jeronimos Monastery is another fine example of Manueline style.  And the inside architecture absolutely rocks. 

Ornamentation above the door. 

Gargoyle.  I'm sure I've seen him somewhere previously, perhaps Saturday morning cartoons circa 1965.  

The baptismal font where my first wife was baptized.  

Stained glass window.  The vertical pattern may well be bars on the outside.  

And in a city where everything is named after Vasco de Gama, this is called "The tomb of Vasco de Gama".  You know the old joke, "Who is buried in Vasco de Gama's tomb?", right?  Hint: it's not General Grant.  

Ceiling.  I could post forty of this pictures.  What an amazing ceiling.  

The dome from a distance.  My guess is that round thing just below the top cross is an orb representing Marvin the Martian.  Or the orb representing King Manuel.