In the morning of All Saints Day of 1 September 1755 a seaside village in Portugal was suddenly destroyed. The Great Lisbon Earthquake hit at 9:40am and subsequent fires and a Tsumani brought Lisbon to its knees and was considered one of the deadliest earthquakes in history.
Fortune was to smile on them as the Royal family had left the city early in the morning after the sunrise mass, only for them to return to a city full of rubble. King Joseph I of Portugal quickly became afraid of being inside walls, and remained until his dying day in tents stationed on a hill above Lisbon. Following his death, Maria I of Portugal began the construction of the royal Ajuda Palace at the same site of the tent camp.
Within a year of the earthquake, the King and his team had the streets of Lisbon cleared and ready for reconstruction. The plan was to completely rebuild the Baxia quarter from the ground up.
The Prime Minster, Sebastiao de Melo (Marquis of Pombal) came from humble beginnings, but was highly competent in his response to the disaster. As Prime Minister, he wrote to all parishes in Portugal inquiring to details of the earthquake in efforts to understand the quakes effects. This is considered to be the first objective scientific study of an earthquake and paved the way for future Seismologists.
Lisbon is a city of contradiction, with the old standing next to the new. The remnants of the Carmo Convent are near old town with a standing guard complete with sword, boots and spurs.
Lisbon is a hilly city and towards the end of the 18th century an elevator was constructed to aid movement between the Carmo Square and the Baixa. The Santa Justa lift is still operational and is primarily a tourist destination.
Since 1873, along the Praca do Comercio, electric trams are still operational and has five lines which provide nostalgic transportation throughout the city for locals and tourists alike.
This was to be a short visit to the city, as the main reason we were in Portugal was to ride Lusitano Stallions at Morgado Lusitano. It was Friday afternoon and the streets were bustling with activity.
Along the way, beautiful architecture continued to catch my eye.
But of course, no visit to Lisbon is complete until a mandatory stop to enjoy the world-renowned Pasteis de Belem. Deliciously created since 1837 – yes for 175 years, these custard filled Portuguese pastries. Along with real hot chocolate, your taste buds better be ready to die and go to heaven.
Pastry Photo Source & Recipe:
http://www.ovaledoribeira.com.br/2012/02/receita-pastel-de-belem-ou-pastel-de.html#.UKwZqYfhpnQ
Categories: About, Equitrekking, Foot Prints, travel
Emily Carter ~ Nature as Art 
Interesting history and gorgeous pics, Emily. Those pastries look to die for. 🙂
They are totally unique. Never had anything like them anywhere. Lisbon was a bigger city than I would have ever imagined and quite modern.
Great series, interesting post about Lisbon. I must go there too, Emily…
LOL ! At this rate Bente, you and I will have to go on a world-wide tour!
Hello, I have just nominated your blog for the Tell Me About Yourself Award:
http://clanmother.com/2012/11/20/celebrating-our-blogging-community/
Please accept my kind regards without any obligation. This is my thanks for being an inspiration to me on my blogging journey.
Rebecca aka Clanmother
Thank you so much Rebecca, and I truly appreciate the honor of receiving this award. I’m a little behind due to the holidays, but look forward to sharing this with others. Happy Thanksgiving!
No rush – I have several that I need to follow up on!!! Just know that you are very special to me!!!
I adore Lisbon and Porto. The colors, more than anything, are so inspiring!
And you are so fortunate to be able to truly enjoy it so fully.
Your fabulous photos brought back fond memories. I can still taste those egg tarts 🙂 Had similar, perhaps even more tastier ones in Macau!
So happy to be able to bring back some warm memories for you Madhu. Hope all is well with you.
great photos and a very interesting story…I have mixed emotions about Portugal – I went there on a family holiday a few years ago at the end of May…we had torrential rain every day for the two weeks we were there…and to make matters worse my daughter ate something horrid and was sick for a week…but the people were very nice and I am sure the countryside would have been had we left the hotel room to see it…
I can see how you would have a love/hate relationship with Portugal. Let’s hope that all future holidays go much smoother.
Hi Emily
A nostalgic re-visit to Lisbon for me. I was there a couple of years ago, just a few hours ashore on a day excursion from a cruise ship bound for the Caribbean. You saw alot more than me, and you are right, Lisbon has some beautiful features. I didn’t know about the history though so that makes its rebirth even more amazing. We are going to Portugal in January for a short holiday but to the Algarve which is the holiday destination for most Brits looking for a bit of winter sun.
Portugal is going through a tough time at present with the austerity measures hitting particularly hard. There were demonstrations last week in Spain, Portugal and Greece, the southern Mediterannean countries most affected. Things are not good at the moment are they and Europe has a particularly dark history when bad times hit.
With love
Corinne
Hi Corinne ! How wonderful that you’ve been able to spend time in Lisbon. Funny you think I saw more than you as you probably spent more time than I did! The history really did surprise me also.
Algarve – I’ve heard wonderful things of there. You are so lucky!!
I hadn’t realized that Portugal is now having demonstrations, the world really is falling apart, and although many love Obama, this January will be a month of financial reckoning.
Have a great day/evening! Emily
Very interesting post about a lovely place, and some great shots… 😉
Not too bad for tourist shots with a small point & shoot right Drake? Thank you so much!
So interesting… What history. And that architecture!! WOW.
Lisbon is such a metropolis, and you should see the new ! Very futuristic.
Tremendous series! I enjoyed this greatly!
Thank you so much Phil ! You are truly too kind.
Very interesting photos! I am in love with the architecture!!
Thanks Judy, I also really liked the architecture there as well. Now I wished I had captured more of the modern part of Lisbon. There is such a contrast.
what wonderful photos of Lisbon – we are only three hours away and keep promising ourselves a long weekend so that we can really explore the area better – and glad you found our wonderful ‘pastel de nata’ as we call them down here – they are amazing with ‘uma bica’ espresso!