From here, Vasco da Gama departed to India in 1497.
After that, the trade of spices would never be the same.
[music]
Lisbon is mainland Europe's westernmost capital city,
and the only one along the Atlantic Coast.
Where the river meets the ocean.
We're going to see how the ocean made Portugal an empire.
The Monument to the Discoveries, straight ahead.
Filmed before the pandemic
We're about to catch a tram to Belém.
It's tram number 15, right over there.
It's the 'elétrico' as they call it here.
And the 'elétrico' can sometimes be a bus.
But let me tell you something you should know
before getting inside one of these:
you should get a prepaid card and add some credits there.
This way you're gonna spend basically half as compared
to buying a single ticket inside.
Viva Viagem
But the thing is you cannot buy this card at the stops,
at the elétrico stops or the bus stops.
You got to go to a metro station, so come prepared.
We came to the final stop, just to make sure we get a seat.
This is the stop everyone gets it.
Here at Praça do Comércio, Commerce Square.
We got it one stop earlier.
But it's still very early in the day, it's before nine in the morning.
I believe everyone will get a seat now.
If you buy the ticket here inside,
you basically pay twice the price.
You pay twice of what we're paying -Uh-hmm.
Look at how beautiful the monastery.
[laughs]
The monastery!
As all top attractions here in Belém
only open at 10 in the morning,
we arrived earlier to enjoy the famous Portuguese custard tart,
Pastel de Belém
which is as famous as the national monuments here.
That will be our breakfast.
Oh, here we are.
Pastéis de Belém.
See? Since 1837.
Line 1, line 2 [in Portuguese]
Nobody in the line -No people
-Nobody in the line -Don't have... don't have...
[crowd chattering]
This is the original recipe,
the one that started a whole tradition of custard tarts here in Portugal.
Mmm.
Oh, my God!
Could you hear the noise when I had a bite?
I've never tried the custard tart as crunchy as this.
It is really good, it is really good.
Mmm.
I'm creating a mess here.
That's why we got a table.
Now that the tummy is full and I'm happy,
let me explain a little bit about why this place is so famous.
Well, in the early 19th century, there was a revolution here in Portugal.
And one of the consequences of this revolution
was that monasteries were shut down,
monks expelled.
But they still needed to survive, right? So what could they do?
They knew how to prepare good custard tarts,
so they started selling them.
It turns out that it was a success.
So, in 1837, they sold the recipe to the owners of this shop here.
And still the same family owns the shop generation after generation,
and today, only a handful of people know the recipe.
That's why it's so secret.
And they are the only ones that can call it 'Pastéis de Belém',
the name of the shop, because this is a trademark today.
All the other Portuguese custard tarts are only called 'pastéis de nata'.
"Nata" is a word in Portuguese that means milk skin.
Now you know it.
Pastel de Belém, only here.
This is gigantic!
Do you want to catch this place with no line? Just arrive early.
And it's not even this early anymore, it's 10 in the morning.
So is it worth the hype?
-Everyone should try.
Try one. -Just one?
-One. If you like, try two.
-If you like, try two.
It is really good. It's worth it.
Wow, this monastery is amazing.
You've got beautiful images for me?
-Yeah. -Yes. Just yes?
-Sim [yes in Portuguese]
Belém is a place full of history.
And as we're right next to the Monastery of Jerónimos,
this is where we start.
Uh-oh.
Luckily, it actually goes fast, and there's a reason.
You get in line thinking you're going to buy the ticket,
and when you realize you're in a fantastic church.
[music]
Did you read who's in that first tomb?
-A poet? A writer?
-Camões! He's the top of all times.
He's our Shakespeare, the one that I told you about.
This is the tomb of Luís Vaz de Camões.
He is considered the father of Portuguese language.
Wow!
He wrote a famous book called "Os Lusíadas."
We all learn about it in school
in Portuguese-speaking countries.
This book is exactly about the Portuguese navigators,
especially Vasco de Gama.
And at the exit, Vasco de Gama's tomb.
Vasco established the commercial route between Portugal and India.
This was in 1497, 1498,
and that resulted in a new trade route.
This was Santa Maria de Belém's church
which is outside the monastery,
and entrance here is free.
That's great, thank you [in Portuguese]
[music]
You got two options to come here to visit the monastery:
you can buy the ticket for €10,
or you can buy this card here.
This is the Lisboa Card. It costs €20 for 24 hours.
And that also gives you access to other attractions here in Belém,
other attractions in Lisbon, and also public transport.
So if you want to visit other places in addition to the monastery,
it's better, it's worthwhile.
That's what we're doing, so we're saving some money.
[music]
Construction of this monastery here started in 1501.
But before that, there was already a church here,
and actually the explorers used to come here to pray
before departing on their missions.
And then, with the successful mission, the arrival in India,
Lisbon got rich, and they used the money they earned,
including what they earned in taxes, to build this place here.
[music]
This is the tomb of Fernando Pessoa.
He was one of the most important Portuguese poets of the 20th century.
Remember him in the first vlog?
The style here is so, so beautiful.
It's a mix of Gothic with early Renaissance.
[music]
Oh!
It's amazing how detailed, huh?
-Yes.
-Ah, here! In 1833, the state secularized the monastery,
meaning it ended up with the monastery.
It's not a monastery anymore.
-Ah!
Let's see how much taller you are,
compared to people in the 16th century
Go there, baby, go there.
[laughs]
Stand right there.
No, you could fit. You could almost fit.
That's very impressive, isn't it?
-Yes. -Especially with this blue sky.
Perfect day.
Next, the Monument to the Discoveries, straight ahead.
[laughs]
Just a beautiful walk in between.
In the previous videos, I talked about the early history of Lisbon,
the renaissance after the disaster,
and also a little bit of recent history,
but I skipped the Golden Age, the 16th century,
the age of the discoveries.
That's when Portugal became an empire,
and Lisbon was the European hub of commerce,
between Africa, India, the far east, and South America.
Lisbon got rich with the trade of spices, sugar, goods in general,
and even slaves.
You want to sweet up your day?
-No, I could do Italiano.
Pizzeria.
-Not lunchtime yet!
Not many options to eat here.
There's a world map here, but the best view is from up there.
This monument here is much more recent.
It was built in 1960
to celebrate 500 years of the death of Henry the Navigator.
That one right at the front.
Thanks to him, the Portuguese sailed out to explore the world.
He was the main sponsor.
And this monument here resembles the caravel ship,
which was the type of ship used at the time,
with all the famous explorers on board.
"Are you a tourist?" Yeah.
€6.
Ah, here we are.
Oh, it is so thin!
You see the whole Belém from up here.
This is the Tejo River.
The city center of Lisbon is that way,
and here is where the river meets the ocean.
That's why the Belém Tower was so important.
It's a fortress to protect the city.
-Over here, you fall off the end of the Earth.
-That's exactly what they used to think, you know?
-No, you do. Trust me.
-Yep.
-Where you go, I don't know
-This is a 15th-century thought.
Wow, look at this view of the monastery.
And that's Estádio do Restelo.
And that's the map
with the routes used by the Portuguese.
[music]
When you look at that bridge, what do you think?
-São Francisco.
-Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Golden Gate. - No, no, no.
-But a lot of people say that it was the same company that built it,
but it was not.
- No? - No.
It was the same company actually that built the Oakland Bridge,
not the Golden Gate.
- Oh. - But it looks very similar, right?
Even the color, right? - Somewhat.
- Yeah, plus Christ the Redeemer back there.
That actually they copied from Rio.
Rio's Christ the Redeemer came first.
- No, everyone copied Lisbon. Lisbon is number one
-Except for the Christ. -Number 1 [in Portuguese]
Inspiration goes both ways here.
That's a sign of Brazil inspiring the homeland.
Cristo Rei
Would you rent one of these to go to the tower?
There is the tower.
-No, just walk...
-Yeah? But this would be fun.
-No... It's fun walking with you, baby.
-Oh, you're so lovely.
-Yeah, it looks like this is what everybody does.
Nice walk here from one monument to the next.
One thing I forgot to mention about that bridge.
That bridge was named after Salazar,
and he was a dictator here.
As soon as the dictatorship was over,
they renamed the bridge 25th of April,
because that was the day that the revolution occurred.
- Yeah.
After a 12-minute walk, here we are, the Belém Tower.
Of course, there's a line here, too.
There are two lines here, one for people to buy a regular ticket,
and the other one for those who have the Lisboa Card.
The idea with the card was actually to skip the line.
Not the case today, so let's see at least if it goes faster.
When they first built the tower, this was actually an island.
- Oh yeah? - Yeah.
But then there was a change in the course of the river,
so this is why it is like this today.
It worked, they first opened the line for those who have the card.
-It's full of fish. -Yeah, it's a natural pool here.
[music]
Here it explains the history well.
The tower was built as a fortress,
and then it lost importance.
It became a prison,
a customs post, telegraph station, and a lighthouse.
I found some shade here.
- It's cool over here, huh? - Yeah
- Come on, baby. Let's go upstairs.
[music]
This fortress kind of reminds me of a medieval castle, too.
Various levels here at the tower, and from the different floors,
you can have different views of the city,
the Tejo River over there, and the bridge as well,
and even where the river meets the ocean right here.
And from up here, you see it all, 360 view.
[music]
From here, Vasco da Gama departed to India in 1497
and discovered a new route surrounding Africa.
After that, the trade of spices would never be the same.
Smile!
[music]
It totally pays off to buy the card.
You skip all this line.
There are lines inside to buy the tickets,
lines over here, and we skipped the line.
We jumped ahead in front of everyone.
The cost ended up being the same: the attractions that we visited,
plus transport - because you can also use the card for public transport.
And we still have tomorrow morning to use somewhere else if we want.
[music]
Here. Obrigada! -Thank you, dear. God bless.
Another one for my collection.
Look at this, €5.
It's beautiful and it's different. Look at this!
What do you think?
The gentleman over there said that I look good like this.
- Yeah, you do. - Yeah!
Is that it? - Yeah, that's it.
- No, babe, a little bit more exciting.
- I got nothing left.
-No energy left?
I hope you're enjoying this series here in Lisbon.
If this is the first video that you see,
no, no, I already shot others.
There's a link to the whole playlist up here,
activate the notifications so that you know when there's a new one.
Next video will be in Sintra.
Just one more thing, you pay for the view in both monuments.
The view is fantastic, but that's about it.
There's not much information. There's no exhibition.
It's good to arrive already knowing a little bit of the history.
But let me tell you something you should know...
Uh-oh, just lost.
Inspiration goes both ways, baby.
No, be careful here.
Look at that.
- It's a very funny thing. - No.
- So funny, I don't even laugh.
[laughs]
- Brewery [in Portuguese] - Yeah
-It's calling -Is it?
- Yeah.
- Did you hear that - "Gordon"?
- "Gordon"? No...
- "Gordon"