The Jeronimos Monastery was built by the Portuguese King Manuel I, who was the King of Portugal during the beginning of the Portuguese Renaissance. The King paid for the monastery by taxing 5 % of all trade from Africa and Asia, selecting the Hieronymites order of monks to run the monastery. The job of the Hieronymites was to literally pray for the immortal soul of the King, all day every day. The monks did this for four centuries until they religious orders were disbanded and their lands confiscated by the state. The Jeronimos Monastery, along with the nearby tower of Belem are recognized as UNESCO world heritage sites.
There are two main parts to the Jeronimos Monastery- the church which is free, and the Cloister, which costs 10 Euro per person. Still it's worth it because the Cloisters are amazing.
Basically you pay to enter the courtyard...
The architecture style of the Monastery became known as "Manueline," after King Manuel I.Follow me on Facebook to keep up with my posts!
Ropes, the ships wheel and globes decorate the structure.
Also many animals are present, like this Monkey fountain.
They are also used for the rain gutters.
A bird of some sort...
A grasshopper and a panther...
A baboon - I suppose they were animals found in the empire...
You can see they've seen a lot of rain...
Limestone isn't that solid, so they've had to refurbish the building a few times...
A goofy Baccus relief:
The pillars are capped by twirling shells...
With a large courtyard in the centre.
There were some cute Japanese kids playing when we were there:
There was a what I thought was a Ukulele exhibit going on when I was there... but actually (thanks to msixtwofive on Reddit) these are cavaquinhos, which were imported to Hawaii by Portuguese immigrants, adapted for the very large Hawaiian people to form the Ukelele.
Pretty though...
You can see the spires of the church next door:
After relaxing, it's good to take a trip down to the church, which is free.
The cathedral is quite impressive, also built with the same golden-white sandstone.
Outside is the portal, built by the Spanish King Felipe, who forbid anyone but the monks or royalty from entering.
Actually the portal is not the main enterance to the church, which is entered farther west.
There's an impressive organ.
At the other end you can see the balcony, which is accessible when you enter the cloister (for 10 Euro/person):
Afterwards, you can go up the road and have a nice Pasteis de Belem!
Have you considered following me on facebook? Keep up with great posts like for next week... Next week (Feb. 18th, 2015), we'll be going to the Tile museum in Lisbon! Join a cadre of loyal followers, including my Mom and Portuguese Minister of the Economy, António Pires de Lima, who says:
-"Greece must take bitter pill like Portugal [and follow Sauce Magnusson's silly posts on Facebook]."
How could you say no?
If you're interested, check out all of my Lisbon posts!
Thanks, Sauce
*Thanks to Fanboy_Killer from reddit, pointing out that is indeed not a recipe, but directions to the secret buried recipe, hidden within the sands of Nazareth. From Fanboy_killer's translation:
"Thus we set sail from the holy temple, secured in the sea's beaches, whose land's name was given after the one where god was given in flesh to the world."
The third sentence was pretty hard to translate but that's what he meant. He's talking about a village called Nazaré (Nazareth in English), same as the one Jesus was born in" [and the recipe is buried]. There are plans for a Nicolas Cage movie based on this, called Portuguese Treasure: The Hunt for Pasteis de Belem.
Check out my video tour guide of Lisbon if you like!
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