The Great Age of Exploration, Portugal

Portugal, followed by Spain, was the great pioneer of the Age of Exploration in the 15th and 16th centuries. With this in mind, I arrived in Lisbon on a clear morning at the end of October, guided by the vivid recollections of a long-time friend, the Ambassador of Greece to Portugal.

A sweeping panoramic view of Lisbon from Bairro Alto

Step by step, the city revealed itself as it once was — the wealthiest in Europe — when caravels entered its harbour laden with spices and other treasures from the East, their riches transforming churches, palaces and monasteries across the land.

My exploration took me to Belém, poised along the banks of the Tagus, just before the start of a coastal cruise. I was accompanied by the Counsellor at the Greek Embassy, whose insight and quiet enthusiasm brought to light details that might otherwise have passed unnoticed.

The Tower of Belém, Lisbon, standing sentinel on the Tagus

Rising from the river’s edge, the Tower of Belém — built in the 16th century — stands as both symbol and sentinel of that maritime age. Its architecture is a graceful fusion: Gothic in structure, with a Renaissance loggia opening onto an inner courtyard, and Moorish watchtowers extending above the water. Throughout, the Manueline style asserts itself in intricate maritime motifs — twisted ropes, delicate caravels and the armillary sphere.

Once a defensive stronghold guarding the entrance to the Tagus, the Tower now invites the eye outward. From its vantage point, the river widens towards the Atlantic, drawing the gaze to the horizon. One imagines the early explorers standing here, contemplating that vast and uncertain expanse — its promise matched only by its mystery.

The 16th-century cloister of the Jerónimos Monastery, Belém, Lisbon

News of Christopher Columbus’s discovery of the Americas travelled swiftly across Europe, unsettling the balance of maritime ambition. In Portugal, the response was immediate. Determined not to yield advantage, the king dispatched the young Vasco da Gama to the coast of West Africa in search of a sea route to the Indian Ocean — an undertaking as bold as it was uncertain.

With a storyteller’s ease, my companion carried me forward to the Monastery of Jerónimos, where Vasco da Gama lies entombed. The monument, richly adorned in Manueline ornament, echoes the same symbolic language found throughout Belém — the rope, the caravel, the armillary sphere — each a quiet tribute to Portugal’s seafaring vision.

The Monument to the Discoveries, on the northern bank of the Tagus estuary, Lisbon

From there, we continued to the Monument to the Discoveries, the Padrão dos Descobrimentos. Its striking white form presents thirty-three figures of the Age of Discovery, gathered along the prow of a stylised caravel, all facing the open sea with resolute purpose.

It was here that past and present seemed to converge. The voyage I was soon to undertake — “The Glories of Portugal and Spain” — promised more than a passage along the coast; it offered, in its own way, an echo of those first journeys: a reminder that travel, in its truest sense, is less about how far one goes than how deeply one learns to see.

Marquês de Pombal Square, Lisbon, in all its stately grandeur

My book PORTUGAL, The Pearl of the Atlantic, is published in Greek

Embark on a journey with my Books in English