Catch a bus or get a taxi and follow the river out to the suburb of Belém, another earthquake survivor. Here you will find the Monastery of the Jerónimos or Hieronymites, one of the crowning glories of the eccentric Manueline style of architecture.

As well, there are steps from the top of which you can sometimes watch identical wedding parties being dispatched one after the other. It is rather like a cubist painting which tries to capture three dimensions in two, or as if you took snapshots of the same group of people at ten-minute intervals and merged them into a single image. On a spring Saturday, there will be different groups waiting to be married, another at the altar, another having photos taken in front of the church, one crossing over the road to the Jardin do Ultramar, another one or two groups posing in the garden... 

	The Belém Tower is also an obligatory visit, as the sole example of an integrally Manueline building. This is because most Manueline architecture consisted of modifications to pre-existing structures. However, the morbid find its history as a dungeon as interesting as the ramparts.
The (modern) monument to the discoveries offers another climb, with attractive views along the shore and over the tremendous breadth of the Tagus.

Then back to the centre for the evening, to have dinner and perhaps take in some fado. For Lisbon by night is another story.

All photographs ©2001 Antonia Fernández. All rights reserved. Used by permission.