PORTUGAL AND THE COLORFUL CAPITAL OF LISBON ~ THE STARTING POINT OF MANY OF OUR WORLD'S EXPLORERS INCLUDING CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS
We absolutely love this Portuguese City stategically located on the Tagus River and the place where Christopher Columbus sailed to discover the New World. As we know, Columbus succeeded and then returned to Lisbon where a huge momument with his statue on the top marks the spot of his return. Once again, our morning was clear and we had a nice Spring day. 
Close by on the Tagus River, we have another monument dedicated to all of the explorers who sailed from Lisbon in search for the world's treasures.
In ports previously visited, we are always looking for something new to see and our ears perked up day before yesterday in our destination lecture by Ken Rees where he described this important museum - the Gulbenkian. According to Ken, Portugal's decision to allow the Armenian oil magnate Coalouste Sarkis Gulbenkian to enter the country in 1942 certainly paid off! 
When Gulbenkian died in 1955, he bequeathed his entire estate to the Portuguese people for an extensive cultural center including several theater, concert and conference halls, a library, and our destination for today, a museum which has since become world famous and houses his immense art collection. 
We were given a nice brochure and the main foldout page had a picture of a painting of beautiful seashell collection (see above on entrance gate) and we searched everywhere for this painting with the help of security guards who did not speak Engligh. Finally, we showed this painting in the brochure to a docent who, with a big smile, told us it was not a painting, but a photograph of a display!
We very much enjoyed this museum, but in all due respect to our friend, Ken Rees, we highly recommend the magnificent Museum of Tile we visited a few years ago on our first world cruise. The colorful tiles, of course, are so Portuguese and will leave a lasting impression of your visit to this wonderful cityl. 
On our way back to the ship, we spotted our Russian husband and wife team, Valentina and Dimetri, who are incredible dancers in the Crystal Ensemble Singers and Dancers group. They will have to hurry as we were scheduled to sail for Bilbao, Spain within the hour.
As we sailed from Lisbon passing the Monument to the Discoverers and the Tower of Belem on the point, we reflected on what it was like for those very brave explorers who sailed from here not knowing what they would encounter beyond the horizon. This is really something to think about as we live our daily lives in the lands they discovered many years ago.
OUR THOUGHT FOR THE DAY.....
"A life spent on centering only on itself will in the end occupy a very, very small universe." - John Glenn, Astronaut
What a fantastic blog¡¡¡¡
I've enjoyed reading your blog,it is so interesting.
how wonderful¡¡ I congratulate you, it's really nice to read and see pictures. thanks to you very much. thanks to your blog I've discovered places that I doubt I would ever visit some day, so thank you very much.
I've dreamt with my eyes opened while I travelled the world through your blog¡¡¡ :-)
BUT there's a picture in the Lisbon scale that is not Lisbon, but Barcelona.
The tall column with a statue of Columbus at the top, is in Barcelona and not in Lisbon.
I thought you would like to know so that you can correct it .
greetings¡¡¡
And againg, thanks for your fantastic Blog¡¡¡¡
Posted by: Albert | March 21, 2011 at 12:23 PM
In this link you can read about that columbus monument in Barcelona.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbus_Monument,_Barcelona
Posted by: Albert | March 21, 2011 at 12:29 PM