For our first full day in Portugal, we headed straight to Belém, the historic waterfront district at the mouth of the Tagus River. This wasn’t just a scenic riverfront walk—it was the global launching pad of the Age of Discovery during the 15th and 16th centuries.
We wanted to dive far deeper into the history, architectural secrets, and fascinating transatlantic connections that made this day so special.
Pastéis de Belém: A Monastic Survival Story
We started our morning at the iconic Pastéis de Belém, which has been churning out legendary warm custard tarts since 1837.
The iconic Pastéis de Belém, baked using a secret 19th-century monastic recipe.
The History & Monastic Secrets
Why custard tarts? In 18th-century convents and monasteries, Catholic nuns and monks used vast quantities of egg whites for two main tasks: starching religious habits and clarifying local Portuguese white wines (a fining process).
Left with thousands of unused egg yolks, monks from the neighboring Jerónimos Monastery began baking rich, sweet pastries.
When the Liberal Revolution of 1834 forced the closure of all religious orders across Portugal, the monks suddenly faced eviction. To generate income and survive, they began selling their secret pastry recipe to a nearby sugar refinery owner. In 1837, the refinery opened Pastéis de Belém, and to this day, only a secret master baker team knows the exact proportions inside the bakery’s hidden Oficina do Segredo (Secret Workshop).
🇺🇸 USA Connection: Long before pastéis de nata became a global viral food trend in American cities, the recipe traveled to North America in the late 19th century with Portuguese maritime immigrants settling in New England whaling communities in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Towns like Fall River and New Bedford were enjoying authentic Portuguese bakeries decades before the rest of the US caught on!
Jerónimos Monastery & Alexandre Herculano
After our pastry breakfast, we explored the surrounding UNESCO World Heritage complex, stopping inside the grand stone halls to view the ornate tomb of Alexandre Herculano (1810–1877).
Who Was Alexandre Herculano?
Herculano was a towering figure in 19th-century European politics, serving as Portugal’s premier historian, novelist, and liberal politician. He fought directly against absolute monarchy during the Portuguese Liberal Wars, established modern historical research in the country, and introduced the historical novel to Portuguese literature.
🇺🇸 USA Connection: Herculano was a passionate student of Thomas Jefferson and early American Constitutional democracy. During his exile in the 1830s, he closely studied the United States Declaration of Independence and federalist structure. When he returned to Portugal, his political essays used American democratic governance as a model for shaping Portugal’s constitutional monarchy reforms.
The Monument to the Discoveries (Padrão dos Descobrimentos)
Walking along the Tagus River promenade brought us to the imposing Monument to the Discoveries, standing over 170 feet tall and shaped like the prow of a medieval caravel ship jutting into the water.
Deep Historical Context
Originally erected as a temporary structure for the 1940 Portuguese World Exhibition under the Estado Novo regime, it was permanently rebuilt in 1960 out of limestone from Sintra to mark the 500th anniversary of Prince Henry the Navigator’s death.
Lining the sides are 33 sculpted figures who reshaped world geography:
- Prince Henry the Navigator leading at the front holding a caravel.
- Vasco da Gama (who opened the sea route to India in 1497).
- Ferdinand Magellan (who initiated the first circumnavigation of the globe in 1519).
- LuÃs de Camões (Portugal’s greatest epic poet, holding a copy of The Lusiads).
At the foot of the monument lies a massive 160-foot pavement mosaic (Calçada Portuguesa) gifted by South Africa in 1960, featuring a world map that charts every single Portuguese maritime route.
🇺🇸 USA Connection: The mosaic map highlights early Atlantic expeditions, including those of João Vaz Corte-Real, who navigated the North Atlantic around 1473. Many Portuguese historians argue Corte-Real reached Newfoundland and Nova Scotia—naming it Terra Nova do Bacalhau (New Land of Cod)—nearly two decades before Columbus arrived in the Caribbean!
Furthermore, it was Portuguese navigators who mastered the Volta do Mar—a complex technique utilizing Atlantic wind gyres. Understanding these wind patterns was the essential breakthrough that enabled later trans-Atlantic travel, European trade routes with the American colonies, and early transatlantic shipping.
Belém Tower (Torre de Belém): Fortress of Stone
Our next stop was the majestic Belém Tower, sitting right at the water’s edge where the Tagus River meets the Atlantic Ocean.
Built in 1515, Belém Tower served as both a fortress and ceremonial gateway to Lisbon.
Architectural Marvels & Quirky Details
Commissioned by King John II and constructed between 1514 and 1519 under King Manuel I, the tower was designed by architect Francisco de Arruda. Arruda had previously worked on Portuguese fortresses in Morocco, which explains why the tower uniquely blends Gothic Manueline stone ropes and royal crests with Moorish (Mudéjar) ribbed watchtowers.
- The Famous Rhinoceros Gargoyle: Look closely at the base of the western watchtower and you’ll find a stone carving of a Rhinoceros! It commemorates “Ganda,” an Indian rhino gifted to King Manuel I in 1515—the first living rhinoceros seen in Europe since Roman times.
🇺🇸 USA Connection: During the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, Belém Tower was the primary naval signaling station for American merchant vessels and privateers entering Lisbon. When diplomat John Quincy Adams and early US ambassador teams arrived in Portugal to negotiate trade agreements in the late 1700s, Belém Tower was their official maritime greeting point into continental Europe.
Closing the Night with Iberian Flamenco
We wrapped up our evening with an energetic Flamenco performance!
While Fado is Portugal’s native soul music, Flamenco developed across the border in Andalusia, Spain. However, Lisbon and Andalusia share deep cultural ties forged along the Guadiana and Tagus river trade routes. Experiencing the raw acoustic guitar rhythms, dramatic footwork (zapateado), and hand-clapping (palmas) was a fantastic reminder of the rich, shared Iberian heritage across the peninsula.
