LISBON, PORTUGAL – 27 September 2026
I didn’t think that there’d be any point going on the Collette Lisbon tour as we’d seen a lot back two weeks ago but, turned out that they were taking us to the Palace, which we hadn’t seen before. So, I was keen for the Palace, but had to go to a few other places first.
We’d seen this before, but I thought this was a great shot of the Fort.
We then visited the Monument of Discoveries, which we’d seen before, but found out more about it this time. I was surprised, I thought this was a relatively recent sculpture, but it was conceived in 1939 and opened in 1958 (the first sculpture opened in 1943 was demolished as there was no solid concrete base I believe). Depicted on this side are Henry the Navigator at the front followed by a king, then Vasco da Gama (discovered the sea route to India) other navigators plus Ferdinand Magellan, and various sea captains, and other explorers. Portugal was “out there” in their prime.
It’s worthwhile noting that Portugal did solid exploration and colonised countries as early as 1462 but pretty much all of them, over the years, have become independent
- Angola (Portuguese still their official language),
- Mozambique (Portuguese still official language),
- Guinea-Bissau (Portuguese still official language, and local Creole dialects also contain Portuguese roots),
- Cape Verde (uninhabited before Portuguese settlement in 1462, Cape Verde became an important Atlantic stopover for ships and trade routes),
- São Tomé and Príncipe (Portuguese remains official language, and colonial architecture is still prominent),
- Goa, India (Goa’s architecture, cuisine, and Catholic heritage bear strong Portuguese influence),
- Daman and Diu, India,
- Macau, China (today, Macau is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) known for its unique blend of Chinese and Portuguese culture),
- Malacca, Malaysia (Portuguese Eurasian communities, cuisine, and Catholic traditions persist in Malaysia),
- Timor-Leste (East Timor), and
- Hormuz, Iran – who would have thought – Portuguese forts and ruins remain visible on Hormuz Island.
On this side lots of writers, missionaries, painters, cartographers and the odd queen.
It’s an impressive monument, with the base a boat. You can climb to the top, and there’s a cool map on the tiles near that base that shows all the areas colonised.
Visited the Monastery too, couldn’t go inside but outside is interesting. This photo only shows 30% of the building, there’s another 60% to the left. Interestingly, the monastery was build using just 5% of the profit that Portugal made from the pepper trade.
The facade is really intricate.
We were then off to the Palace of Ajuda. The need to have a new palace was determined in 1755 after an earthquake and tsunami – it was decided that they couldn’t have the palace in a spot where it could be flooded by a tsunami. Building started in 1796 and it took quite a long time to build and building slowed down substantially when the royal family had to flee to Brazil in 1807 following the invasion of Portugal by France. The royal family eventually used the palace as a residence in 1826 – but I’m sure further building and changed continued after that.
What I like about this palace is that despite a revolution in 1910, deposing the monarchy and a military coup in 1926 installing a dictatorship that remained until another coup in 1974 the palace wasn’t trashed. The ceiling artwork looks like it has been there since the 1800s and much of the furniture appears to be also from the 1800s. I asked one of the staff if the furniture was the original furniture and he indicated that it was, some of it had been restored but all of it was from the 1800s. Pretty cool.
Pictures were sometimes tapestries, I loved the chandeliers, which now are electrically lit but originally would have been candles.
There are a lot of rooms for royalty to just sit around and meet visitors. These were tapestries on the walls. I love the beautifully inlaid wooden floors which look like the original (they do show a little wear and tear).
The music room with photos of royalty.
It’s obvious that the ceilings were calling to me.
Loved the blue walls in this room.
An alabaster rendition of one of the queen’s children.
These glass grapes appealed to me, this is in the room that also had bird cages in it.
Dining room with decorated with red silk on the walls.
Another sitting room with red silk covered walls.
The throne room.
Another stunning ceiling and chandeleir.
This is the dining room for big events. This room is still used by the government for special diplomatic events. I was concerned about the diplomats spilling red wine on the beautiful silk covered chairs – he assured me that they replace the chairs with different ones (hopefully not plastic chairs lol), to ensure these ones aren’t damaged.
They sure did like chandeleirs.
The outside of the palace.
I really loved seeing the inside of this palace – probably because I haven’t been to a palace before – I’m sure you all that have toured Europe have seen a gazillion palaces, but this is my first (sort of a palace virgin lol).
And that was the end of my visit to Portugal, I’m sure there’s heaps more to see, but for a first trip it was a good one. Big thanks to Christine for introducing me to Portugal. Still disappointed that I didn’t see lovely beaches with row boats on them, but “spoiler alert” I did find the beaches that I’d imagined in the Canary Islands!