Portugal, 2nd Visit

Well, I just had to return to Lisbon and I can't help but to repeatedly say how wonderful the city is. No disrespect to Spain but Portugal once was part of Spain until they became their own entity and culturally they are now more advanced than Spain; attitude, professionalism, it is something I respect when I visit countries and apart from waiting for a salesperson in a store for 20 minutes, the people there make you feel welcome.

On my second visit I spent time visiting some wonderful villages with breathtaking architectural monuments that left you breathless. The monastery of Santa Maria Da Vitoria (left) is an amazing structure in Batalha. The building of the monastery started in 1386 and finished in 1517 and the end result, well the photo does not do it justice. The building has to be seen to take in its beauty and glory. The unfinished chapels at the rear of the monastery was commissioned by King Duart in 1437 where he and Leonor, his queen are buried there. Again the design and architecture is amazing.

There is so much history in this world and unfortunately one life time is not enough to piece everything that existed before our time. These glorious buildings, hand carved, sweat and blood pouring into every stone, years of carting rock by rock to build wonders where in the 20th century, no such building could ever be compared. Think of it this way, here you have a marvel over 500 years old and is still in great shape. There are other twice, three times older and still standing. Remarkable.