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Lisbon: Portugal’s Golden Ages - monuments and masterpieces from Portugal’s Golden Ages
7
days
from
A$6,960
Book today with a deposit from
A$1,044
21st - 27th October 2027
Tour highlights
- Seven hills above the Tagus, and the art and architecture of two golden ages.
- From Vasco da Gama’s tomb at Belém to Baroque palaces lined with painted tiles.
- Palaces of Fronteira, Queluz and Ajuda – one still home to its builder’s family.
- The Gulbenkian, one of the world’s great private art collections.
- Six nights at the 5-star Pousada de Lisboa on the Praça do Comércio.
- Dr Steven Brindle: English Heritage historian for 34 years, long resident in Lisbon.
Lisbon rises in tiers above the mouth of the Tagus, its pastel façades and red roofs tumbling down seven hills to where one of Europe’s great rivers meets the Atlantic. Few capitals command such a stage. Phoenician traders are said to have settled here around 1200 bc, and the Moors held the city until 1147, when it was taken by Afonso Henriques, Portugal’s first king.
In the 15th and 16th centuries Portuguese navigators were the first Europeans to round the Cape of Good Hope and reach India by sea. The wealth of this Age of Discovery paid for the Manueline style. Named after Manuel I, this exuberant Portuguese take on late Gothic is carved with ropes, coral and armillary spheres in celebration of the voyages. Two centuries later, Brazilian gold funded a second golden age: a distinctively Portuguese Baroque of gilded woodwork and azulejos, the blue-and-white painted tiles that still clothe the city’s churches and palaces.
After the earthquake of 1755, the Marquess of Pombal rebuilt the centre on an elegant Enlightenment grid, while the hill districts kept their tangled medieval streets.
Understanding Lisbon means knowing what survived, what was rebuilt and what was invented here, and few are better placed to explain it than Steven Brindle. He spent 34 years at English Heritage interpreting how historic buildings were made, damaged and restored, including Windsor Castle after the fire of 1992. He has lived in Lisbon for many years and knows the city as a resident does: its neighbourhoods, its cafés and the gentlest way up its hills.
Lisbon wears its history lightly. Its neighbourhoods keep the intimate scale of an earlier age, and everywhere you are aware of the Tagus and the sea – a reminder that this most amiable of capitals owes its character to its place where Europe meets the Atlantic..
Itinerary
Fly at c. 11.15am from London Heathrow to Lisbon (TAP Air Portugal). A short introductory walk takes in the Baixa, the grid of streets laid out by Pombal after the earthquake, between Rossio Square and the Praça do Comércio. Its buildings were among the first in Europe designed to withstand earthquakes, built around a flexible timber frame known as the gaiola. Participants combining this tour with Music in Toledo take a transfer to Madrid airport and fly (Air Europa) to Lisbon, arriving in time for the walk.
Medieval Lisbon, the Bairro Alto. Start at the Castelo de São Jorge, the Moorish citadel taken by Afonso Henriques in 1147, with superb views over the city from its battlements. Walk downhill to the cathedral, begun soon after the conquest, which has a magnificent treasury and excavations in the cloister revealing the city’s Roman and Moorish past. In the afternoon, explore the Bairro Alto, the hilly district just west of the centre. The 16th-century Jesuit church of São Roque has some of the most lavish chapels in Lisbon. The Convento do Carmo, its nave left roofless after the earthquake, now houses an archaeological museum.
Begin at the National Tile Museum, an outstanding collection of azulejos set in a historic convent (currently closed for renovation and due to reopen before our tour, though delays are possible). Visit the church of São Vicente, then continue on foot through the Alfama. The Fundação Ricardo do Espírito Santo Silva is Portugal’s premier collection of decorative art, with an emphasis on the 17th and 18th centuries.
The morning is spent at the palace of the Marquesses of Fronteira, a beautiful villa in the suburb of Benfica, still lived in by the descendants of its builder, João de Mascarenhas, a hero of Portugal’s 17th-century War of Independence. Its interiors and gardens are decorated with extraordinary tile-work. In the afternoon, visit Queluz, the 18th-century summer residence of the Portuguese crown and one of the most beautiful palaces in Europe, with exquisite Rococo interiors and formal gardens.
Morning at the Palácio da Ajuda, a great Neoclassical palace begun in the 1790s, after fire destroyed the wooden royal palace that had replaced one lost in the earthquake, and decorated in the 19th century. The palace and its new Royal Treasures gallery, with jewels, silverware, medals and porcelain, give unmatched insights into the history of the Portuguese crown. Free afternoon.
On the waterfront at Belém, Manuel I ‘the Fortunate’ built two masterpieces of the Manueline style. The Torre de Belém is a miniature fortress and an emblem of the nation. The Jerónimos Monastery was built to celebrate Vasco da Gama’s voyage to India, and is where he is buried. A short walk away is the Coach Museum, the finest collection of gilded Baroque and Rococo coaches in the world.
The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is a great cultural complex. Its magnificent collections of antiquities, Old Master paintings and fine and decorative art, formed by Gulbenkian in his lifetime, are housed in a superb Modern Movement gallery. Afternoon flight to London Heathrow, arriving c. 6.45pm.
Expert speaker
Dr Steven Brindle
Dr Steven Brindle. An architectural historian, Steven read History at Oxford and wrote his doctorate on the architecture of late-medieval Spain. He worked for English Heritage for 34 years and was closely involved in the restoration of Windsor Castle after the 1992 fire. His publications include Brunel: The Man Who Built the World (2005), Windsor Castle: A Thousand Years of a Royal Palace (2018) and Architecture in Britain and Ireland, 1530–1830 (2023). He now lives in Portugal. X: @StevenPBrindle
Practicalities
Price, per person. Two sharing: A$7,480 or A$6,960 without flights. Single occupancy: A$9,210 or A$8,690 without flights.
Additional cost for combining with Music in Toledo, 21–27 October 2027: A$200
Travel by private coach; accommodation as described below; breakfasts, 1 lunch and 4 dinners with wine, water, coffee; all admissions; all tips for waiters, drivers and guides; all taxes; the services of the lecturer and tour manager.
Pousada de Lisboa: 5-star hotel on Lisbon’s grandest square, the Praça do Comércio. Single occupancy rooms are doubles for sole use.
This is a busy itinerary with a lot of walking and standing around. Lisbon is a hilly city and a large amount of uphill and downhill walking is inevitable. Moving around by coach in the city centre is often not practical, so we move on foot between some of the visits. Terrain is often uneven and steep, and cobbled tiles can be slippery when wet. A good level of fitness is essential.
Between 10 and 22 participants.
Before booking, please refer to Smartraveller to ensure you are happy with the travel advice for the destination(s) you are visiting. As a British company we follow the advice of the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office.
Dates & prices
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2027
Date
Speaker
Price
Date:
21st - 27th October 2027
Speaker:
Dr Steven Brindle
Price:
from A$6,960
(Based on two sharing)Combine with
We are happy to advise on combining this itinerary with another tour or event. Please contact us for information about linking accommodation and transport.
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