Lisbon, the Heart of Portugal

Jerónimos Monastery in Lisbon is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Barbara Angelakis

In the many years since I first visited Lisbon, the city has grown to become one of Europe’s major tourist cities. Returning during the festive season to see the city dressed in its holiday finery and the streets crowded with merrymakers of all ages was indeed a delightful redux.

Portugal’s location on the western edge of the Iberian Peninsula, with the Atlantic Ocean literally at its door, has bred a seafaring tradition that eventually led the Portuguese on voyages of discovery around the world and made them the financial envy of Europe.

Age of Discovery

It all began hundreds of years earlier in the 7th century, when the Moors invaded the Algarve, the southernmost region of Portugal. By 1249 the Portuguese had reconquered the Algarve and confidently set their sights on exploration and expansion. Prior to that, fearing the Earth was flat and afraid they would fall off, or even worse, be eaten by sea monsters, little sea travel had been attempted. But it was reasoned that the Moors had come from somewhere else, so maybe there were other “somewhere elses” to discover.