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.

Out and about and Art again....

We travelled back to the gardens of Estella as we had a thought to visit the English cemetery there.

unfortunately we had got up too late as it was closed (only open mornings )

so we had to postpone our visit yet again. However the gardens are lovely and we decided to lunch in the small cafe by the duckpond.

The staff are obviously quite trendy as when you give your order you are provided with a small box which vibrates alarmingly when your meal is ready.

 The park itself was glorious, the sun had shown his face for the first time in a couple of days.

After lunch, Which was very good by the way, only fresh ingredients are used, we walked over the road and I managed to persuade Lynne to climb to the roof of the Basilica, This cost a few euros and has a very long spiral staircase, Lynne is understandably not keen on these are they are somewhat claustrophobic. I tried to distract her by pointing out the fossils in the steps.

As I had also been careless enough to have given Lynne my man-flu she was forced to rest just before the exit onto the roof of the great Basilica.

This is a very airy spot with great views around the local streets and further afield. The great dome of the Basilica stands at one end of the wide stone roof and a small door enables you to enter it and walk around the balcony high up above the alter.

Again this is a somewhat exposed position, The interior stills seems a bit grey and gloomy to my way of thinking but it is undoubtedly impressive.

There is a great view down to the front of the Basilica looking towards the gardens of Estrella and the tram stop.

We spent some time admiring the splendid views over Lisbon and it was a rare privilege to examine the beautiful stonework of the building, we were taken unaware  (as usual ) by the bells tolling the quarter hours, they are proper bells not a recording and the sonic shock can certainly make you jump!

 The dying afternoon sun turned the stone a lovely honey colour as we made our way down the endless spiral staircase to ground level. We caught our favourite tram to Martim Moniz, the 28.

We enjoyed the Christmas lights in Martim Moniz square as the light turned into evening and were intrigued by a large papier mache Chicken. Its a famous symbol in Portugal but I hadn't realised it was also a Christmas decoration. Art is very often beyond me. Its fun though.

It was time to visit an exhibition and Lynne decide that we would spend a day in Belem.

In Belem is the rather splendid Centro Cultural de Belem, a huge building which houses theatre and exhibition spaces. One of which house the Berado Collection Museum. Home of contemporary art, we had the pleasure of having a coffee on the terraced lawns overlooking the river but had not actually ventured into the museum. As it was free on Saturdays (and not restricted just to Portuguese nationals ) we took the bus to Belem.

If you have any interest in Art at all, this is a must see. If you have no interest at all in modern art its worth a visit for the building itself. As a purpose built exhibition space it is spectacular. Its not on a par with the Guggenheim in Bilbao but has a more eclectic and warmer feel. There are some large sculptures including a Henry Moore that are outside and can be viewed anytime for free, there are also some inside the exhibition.

Including a Cesna light aircraft in the main stairwell, the argument whether that actually constitutes art I will avoid for now! its certainly decorated elaborately and the more practical minded can spend a minute or two contemplating just how they got the thing in there!

There are a fair sprinkling of famous artists represented in the permanent collection, there are pieces by Picasso, below.

A rather quirky piece by Salvador Dali couldn't really be by anyone else.

I must admit that I have a bit of a hard time sometimes with a lot of modern art, but sometimes a piece will make me smile, I enjoy visual tricks.

The permanent collection is sorted into a sometimes bewildering number of categories, sometimes by Artist, Jeff Wall, Gabriel Orozco for example, more confusingly (for me) by school or group. Hence the Dadaists are grouped closely to the cubists and surrealists. There are categories of Informalism Post War Figuration, Kinetic and Op art. It all gets a bit overwhelming. handily the abundant literature available for free and individual explanations adjacent to each piece are bilingual, Portiguese and English. However even in my native language some of the pretentious tosh that passes for explanation brings a wry smile!

I am more at home with pop art.

There are a good sprinkling of Andy Warhol's and Roy Lichtenstein's, whether you consider them to be great art it is a fact they have become very well known.

Warhol's Campbell's soup can being a case in point.

Hidden just above the Brillo boxes below, is another piece by Warhol, the silk screened Judy Garland. One of a number of notable pieces.

It is an excellently curated and presented collection, later I put a small review on their Facebook page and they were kind enough to acknowledge and thank me. I had a minor criticism regarding the lack of seating for elderly sailors, it will take a good 3-4 hours to walk around the many rooms and see all the exhibits. So in future I may have a personal seat opposite my favourite works! or maybe not.

Outside are further works this one is the bathers by a French artist and below is an unmistakable Henry Moore.

 we left the museum through the back door so to speak wanting to look at a strange piece of three dimensional graffiti which turned out to be a work by a local art collective.

There is art everywhere in Lisbon..........