We ended our day in the area of Belém, where the first we saw was the spectacular Monastery of the Hieronymite monks. It's truly amazing, rightly considered the maximum achievement of Manueline architecture. Just look at that façade!
Ya era tarde y estaban por cerrar, así que pudimos entrar sólo un segundito a la iglesia. Acá va una foto sin flash, no muy buena.
It was late and they were about to close, so we could just go in for a second to the church. Here's a photo taken without flash, not very good.
Estaba anocheciendo.
It was getting dark.
Apenas cruzando la calle y un pequeño parque en dirección al río, se llega al Padrón de los Descubrimientos, un monumento a los portugueses que fueron parte de la Edad de los Descubrimientos, en los siglos XV y XVI.
Just across the street and past a small park, towards the river, you get to the Monument to the Discoveries, dedicated to those Portuguese who were part of the Age of Discoveries, in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Un mosaico a los pies del monumento, marcando en un mapa los diferentes descubrimientos. Ahí se ve Uruguay.
A tiled map, at the foot of the monument, marking in a map the different discoveries. In this detail, the section where you can see Uruguay.
El Padrao desde el costado.
The Monument from the side
Y al lado, la Torre de Belém, tanto entrada ceremonial a la ciudad como defensa de la misma. Este era un edificio que me moría de ganas de ver, en parte porque uno de mis puzzles favoritos era de esta imagen. Lamentablemente ya era de noche y estaba oscuro, así que abajo hago trampa y pongo una foto tomada de día, robada de otro sitio.
And next to the monument, the Tower of Belém, ceremonial gateway to the city as well as part of the defenses. This was a building I was dying to see, as one of my favourite jigsaw puzzles was of this image. Unfortunately, it was already after sunset and it was quite dark, so below I cheat and include a photo taken in the daylight, stolen from elsewhere.
Y nuestro día terminó en una librería, donde conocí a otra Ana, también blogger portuguesa.
And our day ended in a bookstore, where I met another Ana, also a Portuguese blogger.
