LISBON: QUEEN
OF THE SEA
This month,
my blog is going to talk about the wonderful experience we had in Lisbon and, in
particular, about the Belém Tower and the monument honoring the first
hydroplane to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
Both the
Belém Tower and the hydroplane are situated in the Belém’s borough, near the
Tagus River.
Belém Tower
Its
construction began in 1514 and finished on 1519. The tower was designed by
architect Francisco de Arruda to become part of a defense system and a formal
gateway to Lisbon in order to satisfy King John II’s wishes. It was
declared a World Heritage Site in 1983 because of its architectural beauty and
the important role it played in Portuguese’s Age of Discoveries.
Curious fact: The Tower’s dungeons were used as a
prison till 1830.
Hydroplane
A few meters
away from the Belém Tower an exact replica of the ‘Lusitania’, the
first hydroplane to fly over the Atlantic Ocean, is placed . In March 1922, Gago Coutinho and Sacadura
Cabral started their voyage from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro to commemorate the
100th anniversary of Brazil’s independence. They achieved this huge
prowess in a Fairey-17 with only one engine.
Altogether,
they travelled 8383 kilometers in 79 days.
As you can
see, we had an amazing time and learned many interesting things during our time
in Lisbon. There are so many other things I loved about this city, but these
two, especially impressed me.
To sum up,
the prom trip was an unforgettable experience where we had the chance to really
get to know each other while we discovered amazing new places.
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