The Hieronymites Monastery (in Belém) was built in the 16th century to commemorate the finding of a sea route to India by Vasco da Gama. The galleons that sailed from Lisbon to the riches of the Far East sailed by the Monastery just before passing the Belém Tower. Both were classified in 1983 as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
	The lovely Jardim Tropical faces the side of the Monastery. Once called "Colonial Garden" its cool paths still retain remains of the Colonial section of the 1940 Exhibition of the Portuguese World.
	St.George's Castle towers over Lisbon. Its present crown-like shape was given by a successful reconstruction during the late 1930s that eliminated adjoining edifications and tried to regain a similitude of its aspect before the 1755 earthquake. The "shaping up" of the castle goes counter modern conservation theory but nonetheless no Lisbon citizen would now suffer its loss. The supreme walk in Lisbon is arguably the climbing of the hill from Baixa to the Castle, where the visitor is rewarded with unmatched views of the town and the river. On the ascending walk you may like to stop at the Romanesque Cathedral (also reconstructed in the late 1930s with a differently coloured stone) and you may enjoy returning by the typical Alfama section of the old town. Or, for an easier option, you may choose to take tramway nr 28 up from Baixa to the St.Luzia Mirador (viewpoint) and from there proceed to the castle.
	Going up the Santa Justa Lift (a treat in itself) you will get to the Carmo Convent for a romantic taste of ruins- most of the church was destroyed on the early hours of November 1, 1755 by the massive earthquake that laid most of Old Lisbon waste. Here, on the afternoon of April 25, 1974 the Prime Minister surrendered to the revolutionary troops that were posted in front of the façade with the cannon of their tanks ready to shoot at point blank range at the barracks where he sought refuge, thus ending the authoritarian regime that ruled Portugal for 48 years..

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