Iberia Day 1.7: Miscellany
Day: April 9, 2026
Iberia Day 1.6: Monument of the Discoveries
The Monument of the Discoveries is an astonishingly cool building/sculpture on the Tagus river near the Torre de Belem. It is a massive, 180-foot limestone construction, depicting a parade of navigators, scientists, and other Portuguese notables crowding toward what looks like the prow of a ship, gazing over the Tagus. …
Iberia Day 1.5: Torre de Belem
If you’ve played Civilization VI, you have probably tried to build the Torre de Belem. I am ashamed to say that I wanted to see the real deal as soon as I was in Lisbon because I am a Civ addict. But here I am, at the real Torre de …
Iberia Day 1.4: Pasteis de Belem
Pasteis de nata are a thing everyone tells you that you MUST eat while in Lisbon. Usually, there is no explanation of what pasteis de nata actually is. You just need to eat it. Our tuk tuk guide veered off the street en route to the Torre de Belem and …
Iberia Day 1.3: Layers of the Past
The city of Lisbon dates back to the Phoenicians, making it one of the oldest cities in Europe, with an age of about 3,200 years of continuous occupation. Its location upon an estuary, near the mouth of the Mediterranean, within a natural harbor made it perfect for shipping networks. The …
Iberia Day 1.2: Street Art
One of the things I noticed immediately getting out of the Lisbon airport is the prevalence of street art in addition to the expected public art of historical statuary, architecture, and the like. It seems that if you stand in any random spot in the old town / city center, …
Iberia Day 1.1: Good Morning, Lisboa!
After an entire day of airplanes, Newark, and knee pain from Newark airplanes, Fes and I finally made it to Lisbon, Portugal! We landed at the dark hour of 5:15am, which meant that we had a lot of time to kill before our (very helpful and charming) hotel would be …
