The place are the 7 Wonders of Portugal? Discovering UNESCO World Heritage Websites ~ DownshiftingPRO
The 7 Wonders of Portugal
UPDATE: In 2007 the brand new Seven Wonders of the World have been introduced. They represented each pure and man-made wonders that one would think about being on this extraordinary listing.
Portugal took on the problem of creating its personal model of the Seven Wonders of Portugal. Starting with a listing of 749 potentialities, which ultimately narrowed all the way down to 21, the ultimate seven have been chosen.
It ought to be no shock that these monuments are UNESCO World Heritage Websites, assembly strict standards and providing historic and cultural worth. They’re essential to the Portuguese id, breathtakingly stunning, and nationwide treasures. In case you are questioning that are the Seven Wonders of Portugal, marvel not.
The 7 New Wonders of the World have been formally named in 2007. These are all man-made buildings or monuments and are situated all through the globe. They’re Chichen Itza in Mexico, Christ the Redeemer in Brazil, the Nice Wall of China, Machu Picchu in Peru, Petra in Jordan, the Taj Mahal in India, and the Colosseum in Italy.
On my journey to Spain and Portugal in 2019, I used to be fortunate sufficient to see six of the seven Wonders of Portugal. I completed the listing this 12 months by visiting the Fort of Guimarães simply north of Porto. Though I knew it will be spectacular, it was superb to see the city of Guimarães. It was a fantastic day journey from Porto, and I extremely advocate it.
The opposite six monuments are both within the Portuguese capital or inside a two-hour drive from Lisbon. Centrally situated, most are straightforward day journeys for any traveler visiting Portugal.
It’s laborious to select favorites, however the three monasteries stand out: The Convent of Christ in Tomar, the Monastery of Batalha, and the Monastery of Alcobaça. Particular person tickets are €10 and effectively well worth the worth. Put aside 90 minutes to 2 hours to tour and be prepared for some superb images.
Belém Tower, 1521 – Santa Maria de Belém, Lisbon
Situated in Lisbon, the Belém Tower, often known as St. Vincent Tower, is the gateway to Lisbon and served as a degree of departure from and arrival to Portugal. From right here, many Portuguese explorers left to overcome the world. It symbolizes Europe’s Age of Discoveries or Age of Exploration, when the outdated world found the brand new.
Beside the tower is the attractive and imposing Monument to the Discoveries – Padrão dos Descobrimentos – devoted to all these explorers. It represents a three-sail ship able to depart, with sculptures of essential historic figures.
There are 33 figures, together with Henry the Navigator, Vasco da Gama, Magellan, Saint Francis Xavier, Prince Ferdinand, King Alfonso, and several other different notable Portuguese explorers, crusaders, monks, and cartographers. You can even see a world map documenting the routes to all of the nations the Portuguese found and colonized through the years.
Jerónimos Monastery, 1502 – Santa Maria de Belém, Lisbon
Crossing the plaza and the road, one can find the attractive Jerónimos Monastery, constructed within the gorgeous Portuguese Manueline fashion. Additionally thought-about Portuguese late Gothic fashion, Manueline structure incorporates maritime parts (coral, barnacles, carved seaweed, and algae) and representations of the discoveries introduced from the voyages of Vasco da Gama and Pedro Álvares Cabral.
The Jerónimos Monastery changed the church devoted to Santa Maria de Belém, the place the monks of the military-religious Order of Christ assisted seafarers in transit.
Constructed from taxes imposed on the colonies for importing spices, the income financed St. Jerónimos and Batalha Monasteries.
Pena Nationwide Palace, 1838 – Sintra, Lisbon
Designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Web site in 1995, Pena Palace was initially constructed as a church—Our Girl of Pena—after an apparition of the Virgin Mary. King Manuel I commissioned a monastery. Following the devastating 1755 earthquake, King Ferdinand II rebuilt Pena Palace as a summer season palace for the royal household. Development began in 1840 and would take 45 years to finish—the remainder of the King’s life.
With the declaration of the Republic in 1910, the palace grew to become a museum, preserved because it was when the royal household lived there. The final Portuguese royal died in 1932 after his exile. Having no heirs, the royal line ended with King Manuel II.
Properly deserving to be on the listing of the 7 Wonders of Portugal, Pena Palace sits atop a mountain and is one among Portugal’s hottest vacationer points of interest. We drove as much as the Palace, however in my view, it’s seemingly higher to catch a bus in Sintra or go on an organized tour.
We have been very lucky to discover a parking spot, although the drive up was on a steep, slender, winding street. The drive will be difficult as you’ll encounter many vacationers climbing, biking, busing, driving, and even strolling as much as the summit on the street. Even maneuvering round buses on steep hills is well worth the effort, so I extremely advocate the go to.
Óbidos Fort, 1195 – Óbidos, Leiria
On our journey to Spain and Portugal, my mom, sister, and I all had the time to calm down and slow-travel. We took our time. We had the luxurious of deciding within the morning the place we wished to go that day. It was our journey of discovery.
We discovered ourselves within the tiny city of Óbidos, situated an hour north of Lisbon. This walled city is on a hilltop, encircled by farmland and gorgeous surroundings.
Simply outdoors the wall is a medieval aqueduct, with different structural stays courting again to the Romans and Visigoths. Later, the Moors took over and continued the fortification of this city.
As you enter by way of a portal, you’re on cobblestone streets accessible solely on foot. With cute outlets, a church, and cafés, you’ll ultimately discover the huge Óbidos fort. The massive stone fortress is in contrast to different Portuguese monuments because it has been transformed right into a luxurious resort. Until you’re staying there, you’re unlikely to tour the fort. I’ve to confess, staying there could be a deal with!
Strolling in direction of {the marketplace} on the ramparts will provide you with a spectacular view of the terraced valley. The open-air theatre space hosts festivals, farmer’s markets, and theatre productions. You possibly can stroll on the ramparts, however you’ll want to present warning. Climbing onto the ramparts isn’t for the faint of coronary heart, as there are not any guardrails to maintain you from falling, however it’s nonetheless well worth the view.
Though Óbidos Fort isn’t a World Heritage Web site in Portugal, Óbidos – town is a UNESCO Metropolis of Literature. A part of the UNESCO Artistic Cities Community, the objective is to ascertain worldwide partnerships in artistic industries. Artistic Cities was created to advertise tradition and artwork by showcasing artistic communities.
Batalha Monastery, 1385 – Batalha, Leiria
The Monastery of Santa Maria da Vitória, often known as the Monastery of Batalha, is undoubtedly probably the most stunning examples of Portuguese and European structure.
This dazzling architectural ensemble was born out of a promise the King, João I, made due to his victory at Aljubarrota, a battle fought towards the Spanish on August 14, 1385. The victory assured him the throne and assured independence for Portugal.
The development of the monastery took over 150 years to finish in varied phases, which is why one can discover each Gothic fashion (for probably the most half), Manueline fashion, and a few Renaissance touches. It is a big monastery with a number of alterations leading to an enormous monastic complicated that as we speak features a church, two cloisters with annexed dependencies, two royal pantheons, the Founder’s Chapel, and the Unfinished Chapels.
The monument was within the possession of Dominican monks till the extinction of the non secular orders in 1384. Then, it was included inside the Public Exchequer, and as we speak, it’s a cultural, touristic, and devotional Monument below the jurisdiction of IGESPAR, a nationwide Monument additionally declared World Heritage in Portugal by UNESCO in 1983.
Alcobaça Monastery, 1153 – Alcobaça, Leiria
The complicated of Alcobaça Monastery is likely one of the most notable and best-conserved examples of Cistercian structure and spatial philosophy. It grew to become a UNESCO World Heritage Web site of Portugal in 1989.
Alcobaça was the final abbey based in St. Bernard’s lifetime and the primary wholly Gothic constructing in Portugal. The abbey was based in 1153 when King Afonso Henriques donated the land to Bernard of Clairvaux (St. Bernard). These monks have been reformers and broke away from the Benedictines as they sought to return to an agricultural and labour-focused life.
Development work on the constructing as we see it as we speak solely started in 1178 and lasted a number of many years. The church, 100 metres in size, is Portugal’s largest Gothic non secular construction.
Don’t miss the tombs of King Pedro I and his mistress (and Queen—a title granted to her posthumously) Ines de Castro. As soon as King Pedro’s first spouse died giving beginning, he lived brazenly along with his mistress, Ines de Castro.
After a few years and three youngsters, Pedro’s father, King Alfonso IV, had Ines murdered. As soon as Pedro succeeded his father to the throne, he had the murders killed and his beloved exhumed and topped Queen posthumously.
Fort of Guimarães, tenth century – Guimarães, Braga
Fort of Guimarães is the one website we didn’t see on our journey and I feel meaning we are going to simply must return. The most effective issues is that you could take a digital tour of the fort. If there’s constructive about this world pandemic is that there are numerous monuments, cities and UNESCO World Heritage websites which have developed digital excursions.
The Fort of Guimarães is the principal medieval fort within the municipality Guimarães, within the northern area of Portugal. It was constructed below the orders of Mumadona Dias within the tenth century to defend the monastery from assaults by Moors and Norsemen.
The fort is a navy fortification grounded primarily within the late Romanesque interval, and elaborated throughout the early Gothic epoch of Portuguese structure. Its space is delineated by partitions forming a pentagram, much like a defend, that features eight rectangular towers, navy sq. and central maintain.
Originating within the foundations of a Roman construction, from the writings of Alfredo Guimarães, it was later elaborated on the French mannequin, in its present type of a defend, with decreased central yard and troublesome accesses. It consists of a number of Gothic traits, owing to its remodelling ultimately of the thirteenth century when the maintain and residences have been constructed (probably over pre-existing buildings). (Notations from Wikipedia).
Armchair Journey & Digital Excursions
Margarita Ibbott is a journey and way of life blogger. She blogs about journey in Canada, the USA and Europe giving sensible recommendation by way of restaurant, resort and attraction critiques. She writes for DownshiftingPRO.com and different on-line media retailers.
