Christo Rei

Something we had been hoping to do but had become somewhat lazy about was atrip to the Outra Banda (other bank of the Tagus). It had taken a bit of detective work to discover our Via Viagem cards would work on the ferries that departed regularly from Cais de Sodre. In typically Portuguese fashion there are symbols and mentions of Trams, Trains, Funiculars, buses but its only when you actually turn up at the ferry terminal that the machine turnstiles hint that the cards will work, they do!

There is a rather convoluted entry gate system that separates returning passengers from boarding ones but we are now getting good at crystal balling and we understood it fairly quickly, even smiling at several Portugese tourists who were quite upset at being effectively herded into a holding pen from which there was no escape! eventually the steel doors opened and we were allowed on board, disappointingly it isn't possible to sit outside. It became apparent that something was occurring on the waters of the Tagus as seemingly the entire Portuguese navy was at anchor in the wide river above the 25th April bridge. There was also at least one Spanish warship in attendance.

All made the first trip over the water very interesting, although even now we have no idea what was the occasion. On arriving at Cacilhas we were pleasantly surprised to find a bustling little harbour front and town. The obvious big tourist attraction was the giant statue of Christ above the town the Christo Rei and we had been given to understand there was very little else of interest. This is categorically not so, the first interesting thing was a small maritime museum.

The star exibit being the Indiaman, the frigate Fernado il Gloria, in the process of being restored after a fire in 1963. it used to ply the route to Goa in the 19th century and for naval nerds (like myself ) she is a good example of a " Nau ". Next door is a submarine in dock number 1 of the old H. Parry & sons shipyard, of whom we would learn more later.

We didn't go aboard as we now had to consult our crystal balls again to determine where the bus stopped we needed to catch for the long climb up the hill to Christo Rei. We resorted to asking and as usual found locals to be unfailingly helpful and were quickly pointed towards the correct bus stop. The number 101 took us through the upper town of Almeda and along the winding road to the summit, strangely the statue is not particularly visible until you are nearly upon it.

The grounds surrounding the statue are extensive and have recently been converted into an olive grove which is really very attractive along with its obvious biblical significance.

Ok, some facts. it is modelled on the more famous Christo Rendentor ( Christ the Redeemer ) in Rio de Janeiro. The statue itself is 28metres tall (92ft ) and stands on four pedestals which are themselves 82 metres (269ft ) tall. The hill it stands on is 123 metres above the river level of the Tagus. It was inaugurated on 17th May 1959 and was built by Francisco Franco at the instigation of Prime Minister Salazar. The original idea for the monument seems to date to a visit to Rio de Janeiro by the Cardinal patriarch of Lisbon in 1934. The idea became a monument to give thanks for Portugal avoiding becoming embroiled in world war II. This was to become a promise made by Portuguese bishops at the conference of Fatima in 1940 that if Portugal was spared the war then the monument would be constructed.

It is possible to ascend to the viewing platform below the statue by lift and steps in order to enjoy the unique view over Lisbon and the Tagus.

The view from the gardens is impressive enough and there are several sculptures to enjoy along with the stations of the cross at intervals. We spent some time admiring the 25th April bridge and watching the warships at anchor in the river.

I was keen to climb the huge statue but Lynne wasn't as enthusiastic having been made to climb up several unfeasibly tall structures lately and she cunningly offered to take my photo from the bottom. I don't often figure in photos on this blog so I agreed

It really is a most imposing monument.........

While I made my way to join the queue for the lift, Lynne was studying the rather modernistic stations of the cross.

The structure is oriented to the cardinal points of the compass and there is a chapel in the base, The Chapel of Nossa Senora da Paz.

In two of the four pillar bases is a small gallery space and the body of the chapel itself has some very modern impressionistic art decorating the main alter and side chapels.

This is the main alter.

The basic theme of Peace runs through the collection of art.

Meanwhile having negotiated the elevator I walked up the final set of steps towards the surprise of a chapel at the top, quite small and actually dwarfed by the extensive souvenir shop

The chapel is ( I believe ) The Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament which contains two paintings

relating to the revelations of Saint Margaret Mary Alocoque. There are also reliquaries, which goes some way towards the monuments position as the third most popular site of pilgrimage in Portugal.

The chapel was a genuine surprise, the souvenir shop to be honest a bit of a disappointment. In a typical Portuguese way it is far from obvious how to exit this shop. There are several silver doors one of which has a pressure pad that when stood on opens the door to allow access to the viewing platform below the statue. No signs obviously, but years of computer gaming had prepared me for this moment!

I waved to Lynne so she could take "the photo " and here it is.....that's me waving!

Here is my shot of Lynne, trust me shes down there

The views are truly superb, the Navy was still lying at anchor opposite the old town of Lisbon.

Surprisingly it was nowhere near as windy as I had been expecting, you feel very secure behind substantial railings and I was thinking that Lynne really should have joined me,

I managed to take a photo which hid the three lightening conductors on Christ's head and each arm.

The ever present painted tiles are everywhere and to be honest I found them confusing after a while, without Lynne to interpret the symbology I was a bit lost so I concentrated on enjoying the glorious views, you could see all the way down the coast and the 14 miles or so ba ck down the river to Cascais.

I rejoined Lynne below and she showed me the small gallery's she had been browsing.

The pictures are all very modernistic in style.

Meanwhile outside on the river a replica of a 16th century Caravel was sailing majestically up to the suspension bridge, A fantastic sight and one that seemed to call across the centuries.

It was a fantastic day out and is possibly the best way to see the city in its entirety.

We lingered a while to absorb the sights and sounds of the river and decided to go a little off the beaten track and walk back to Cacilhas by using the panoramic elevator to reach the riverside path below the cliffs of Almada Vehla.