A symbol of Portugal's great era of expansion: Torre de Belem or Belem Tower sits at the mouth of the Tagus and guards the entrance to the city. It's another of Lisbon's iconic attractions on the Lisbon waterfront. Belem Tower was built as a fortress in the middle of the Tagus in 1515-21 and it was from here that the caravels set out to discover the trade routes. When Manuel I came to power in 1495, he prospered from the expansionary period and commissioned grandiose monuments to reflect the … [Read more...]