Lisbon, Portugal

Praça de Comércio

I have spent the last week in the beautiful capital of Portugal: Lisbon. I was invited by Dentsply France to join them for their annual Sales seminar. We stayed in a four star hotel Sana Lisboa, situated in Avenida Fontes Pereira de Melo, a few steps from Praça do Marquês de Pombal. We attended conferences and meetings, but they had planned one afternoon of activities. We started by driving around in Go Car or small karting, one person driving and another one being the passenger. We had to follow a guide and couldn’t “escape” from the line. We stopped at the picturesque Tagus River which flows through the capital city of Lisbon, where we took a Zodiac boat and enjoyed the magnificent monuments along the river which bear testimony to centuries of glorious history of the Portuguese. Such as the Bethelem Tower, a jewel of Manueline art, built in the middle of the river between 1515 and 1521. Its original function was to control the access of shipping to the city. Near the tower is the 52 meter high Monument of the Discoveries, by which the city of Lisbon renders homage to all the Portuguese who took part in the great sea voyage of the 15th and 16th centuries. It was completed in 1960 and its design recalls the prow of a boat. The figure holding a small caravel represents Prince Enrique the Navigator. The 25 de Abril bridge, built in 1966 by the same company which built the world-famous Golden Gate and Bay bridges in San Francisco, is 2.5 kilometers long and rises to a maximum height of 60 meters over the Tagus. Then we did a rally in the city, we started by taking a tramway which dropped us at the famous Praça de Comércio (Plaza of Commerce). It’s an enormous square whose spaciousness is enhanced by its harmonious architecture. It is also known as Terreiro do Paço as the Palàcio Nacional, or National Palace, stood here before it was destroyed by the 1755 earthquake. In the centre is the monument to King José I (1775), which reminds everyone that the reconstruction of the city began under his reign. To the north, entering the Rua Augusta, is the Arch of Triumph, in Louis XIV style. We strolled some of the streets and came across some other monuments. The Santa Justa lift, built by Portuguese engineer Raul Mesnier du Ponsard, a follower of the famed Eiffel, travels a vertical distance of 32 meters, though it reaches a total height of 45 meters. The O Rossio Station, a fine example of what has become known as the neo-Manueline style, popular in the dying years of the 19th century. The Teatro Nacional Dona Maria II, neo-classical in style, this was once the headquarters of the Inquisition, or Holy Office.