selenak

Yours truly has made it back from Portuguese sunshine to German rain, and thus can present the promised addendum to the travel pic spam, since the APs and I this time did manage to get inside the Monasterio dos Jeronimos en route to the airport.

Since we were there anyway and since the flight really did not leave until the evening, we also visited the two museums of the coaches. One is in the former Royal Riding School, the other is a new building. And since obviously the monastery is the climax, I'll start with the carriages in the former Royal Riding School, which used to be the coach museum until the space didn't suffice anymore, I expect.

You have to love the details.

Also, portraits of Portuguese royalty including a Queen of England - Catherine of Braganza, Charles II' s wife.

Now on to the big new building and the gigantic coaches with a gaudiness what makes the famous golden carriage they use for coronations in Britain look downright modest.

Though the first carriage is practically Spartan compared with the rest, and also the oldest one the museum has. It's from 1616 and was owned by Philipp II of Portugal and Philipp III of Spain. (That's not Elizabeth I's brother-in-law and arch nemesis, it's his son, who held the crowns of Spain and Portugal in personal union.)

Once Portugal ditched the austere Spanish rulers and the times went Baroque and then Rokoko, they went back to opulence beyond belief. Like this carriage of Joao V.

Also not bad: the "Carosse Moderne" brought along by Maria Francisca of Savoy-Nemours, who married Alfonso VII and was a cousin of Louis XIV.

And then we have this assembly of carriages built to demonstrate the Portuguese Empire rules them all. Alert for blatant colonialism celebration in the next but one photo.

The first one has a not dissimilar theme but not one using hierarchical depictions of ruled people. These two Neptune figures stand in for the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean respectively shaking hands while the figure of Apollo presides over them. All of which symbolilzes Portugal's ocean-encompassing might.

And then there's this.

Yeah. On to the monastery and cathedral which was supposed to be the first sight to greet the returning to Portugal ships after the Torre Belem, dedicated to St. Hieronymus and built by Manuel I., contempoary of Ferdiand of Aragorn and Isabella of Castile, who got a style named after him, Manuelism. Reminder, this is how the whole (big) building(s) look from the outside, which is how I saw it over a week earlier:

Now, having gotten wise, this time we booked tickets online ahead of time. They don't sell them with time slots for chosen hours, btw, just for the chosen day, which means you still have to queue, but less so on a Wednesday noon - we were inside within 15 to 20 minutes or thereabouts. And it was definitely worth it. Let's start with the hallways.

Then there's the Refectory with tiles dedicated to showing the story of Joseph (from the bible, the one ending up in Egypt).

Details:

But as neat as this is, the true reason everyone wants to get inside the Monasterio dos Jerenimos are these views:

The details everywhere are truly wonderful. Have a scholar:

While you have to pay for the monastery, the cathedral next door is free. Voila.

By now, this exercise in gold which is the St. Antony chapel just made me mutter "keep trying, I've seen even more gaudy".

And that's the actual, real, definitely has his bones in it tomb of Vasco da Gama:

Also, green men are everywhere:

But I won't finish off with these architectural splendors, no. En route from the Algarve to Lisbon, we encountered a lot more storks and their nests, and since we had spotted them on the way down there already, I had my camera ready on the weay back. Behold the most amazing travellers seen in Portugal: