Lisbon has statues

The largest statue overlooking Lisbon, Portugal is called “Christ the King”. It is a sanctuary of the Catholic church and is not located in Lisbon but across the Tagus river in Almada, Portugal. It is modelled after the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro.

There are a couple of equestrian statues in Lisbon. the most famous is in the Praça do Comércio riding away from the archway to the river. The one below is from the Praça da Figueira square, the transportation hub for the city. Like the other one, the rider in both statues is King John I.

In the centre of a round about in the center if the city where the main roads radiate out into the suburbs, is this impressive statue of the Marquis do Pombal. He is the diplomat and statesman who lead the rebuilding of Lisbon after the 1755 earth quake. The tour bus made several visits to this spot and circled so I could see all sides of the statue.

In the Restauradores Square, is an obelisk to remember the victory of the Restoration War between 1640 to 1668 where the rulers of Portugal changed from the House of Habsurg to the House of Braganza.

Another war memorial is the memorial of the Great War, WW I.

It seems like Portugal was always at war. In 1808 to 1814 there was the Peninsular War which took place from 1808 to 1814 between the Spanish, Portuguese and British on the one hand and the French under command of Napoleon on the other side. This was part of the Napoleonic wars, one of Napoleons first major losses, and contributed to his eventual downfall at the battle of Waterloo.

While most of the images above were taken from the top of an open air city tour bus, we did get a comfort stop and a chance to take some pictures at the waterfront park. Notice the Belém Tower in the background. This is a monument to the first aerial crossing of the South Atlantic. The plane is a replica of a Fairey III biplane.

As the sun sank into the west, our tour and cruise came to an end.

– Where do you want to go today? –