Lisbon: Bairro Alto + Downtown Walking Tour

National poet, author of the epic poem OS LUSIADAS which describes Vasco da Gama’s discovery of the sea route to India. It is said the he lost one eye in a battle in Ceuta. The influence of his masterpiece is so profound that Portuguese language is sometimes called ‘language of Camões.

In the late 15th century, Lisbon was packed with people from all over the world, d PSp ue to the discovery time. There was a need of enlarging the centre and the place we know as Camões square today, used to be one of the entrances to the city. Earlier, we had the fernandine wall and the door of Santa Catarina at the place where today, after the earthquake, we have 2 churches (Encarnação and Loreto). On the other side of the wall there were areas that belonged to rich noble families and also, on the top of the hill a cemetery of the victims of black plague. In 1506 King Manuel I. requested a relic of Saint Roque from Venice and placed it in a hermitage near the cemetery. Due to the demographic increase and the arrival of the black plague in the city, the less fortunate and the sick ended up moving to this area to be closer to the church. Meanwhile, an urban plan was developed to receive these people.

The church and convent were built in 1389 after Nuno Álvares Pereira - a general who was helping king John repel the Castilian troops - vowed to build the world's most beautiful church if he would defeat the Castilians in 1385 at the battle of Aljubarrota. The Portuguese came out victorious and the general kept his word: he funded the construction of a Carmelite church and convent. After its completion in 1423 he joined the Carmelite order and spent the rest of his life in the convent.