With a long layover in Santiago, Chili, (established by Spanish Conquistadors in 1541), my traveling mate had booked a private walking city tour with Larisa who is listed with Tours by Locals. Larisa was such a pleasure, making sure we were comfortable on a bit of a warm day and answered all our questions! She is very knowledgeable on the history of this city of 7 million which spreads as far as the eye can see from the top of Cerro San Cristobal. Our 5 hour bespoke and private tour just right.
– Plaza de Armas
– Metropolitan Cathedral*
– Mercado Central(fish market)
– Supreme Court*
– Paseo Bandera
– La Moneda (the seat of the President)*
– Old banking district
– National Library*
– Santa Lucia Hill
– Lastarria neighborhood
– Cerro San Cristobal
*exterior visit
Ironworks inside and gates though designed in Chili, were built, and sourced from Glasgow, Scotland and shipped to Santiago. This beautiful Central Marketbuilding, opened in 1872 has undergone modernization, but has not lost its character.The fresh fish market is well known though a smaller portion of the offerings inside the Market which is now mostly cafes with an array of dishes prepared with the many ocean sourced meats.Be sure to refresh with a traditional and local drink made with rehydrated peaches, homemade syrup poured atop steamed wheat. Yummy!Plaza de Armas (1541) is the main central square of Santiago, anchored by the Metropolitan Cathedral of Santiago. Few older buildings have survived the multiple earthquakes shaking Santiago thought the centuries. Four services per day in the Santiago Cathedral keep this place of worship an important part of the community.A green respite in the midst of the city – the old living with the modern. Santa Lucia Hill.Santa Lucia HillWe finished our tour with a drive to the Cerro San Cristobal – the second highest point in Santiago, offering stunning views of a vast city. We took the funicular to the second level (the first platform exits into the city zoo), then climbed the steps to the top.
Driven back to our Holiday Inn right at the airport by expert driver, Christopher, i ended up sleeping right through supper after a shower. Trying to get onto the new time. Chili is 3 hours earlier than central time. So while it is only 8p at home, it’s now 11p here. Early morning flight is aided by simply walking across the street to the airport.
After June’s 100th birthday party, we realized that ragweed allergies were just going to get worse (hot weather and lots of rain just kept the plant flowering and pollinating). Monday afternoon, i booked flights for Dallas and me to leave Tuesday afternoon for Iceland. We had actually wanted to visit Greenland, but it was too late in the season, snow and ice already moving in and tourist boats being pulled out of the water, so we spent 2 weeks in Iceland instead.
Iceland population: 339,661 Reykjavik population: 120,000 (200,000 in the Capital region) Iceland has a surface area of 39,770 square miles and it is the 108th largest in this respect. However, that harsh geographical landscape is one of the reasons why its population remains so low. Iceland has the lowest population density of all European countries at just 8 people per square mile.
We flew United Airlines, and as usual had stellar service. They have implemented a new strategy wherein they can know if passengers are arriving late for a connection and hold the next flight if it is reasonable to do so. We sat on the plane in Newark nearly an hour waiting for 15 passengers who would have missed the flight to Reykjavik since their flight was delayed by thunderstorms out of Houston. So, while the record for on time departure may look wonky, the record for getting passengers where they need to be will soar!
The first week was spent entirely in the capital city, Reykjavik. I was concerned that we’d be twiddling our thumbs for want of activities, but i was unduly so. To our surprise, there are oodles of things to do and see at a leisurely rate – even without booking day tours (which are numerous!) outside the city.
Next morning after arrival was a trip to the pharmacy for cold meds. (our first ‘souvenirs’) Armed with drugs, we were ready to hit the streets within a few hours. Hooray!Hallgrimskirkja
Lutheran mass services start at 10:30a on Sunday mornings and are in Icelandic.Organ in the Lutheran Cathedral, Hallgrimskirkja The sculpture garden behind the Einar Jónsson Art Museum.
Listening to the warm up for this evening’s season opener in the magnificent Harpa. https://en.sinfonia.is/concerts-tickets/ravel-and-sibeliusDallas in line for a world famous hotdog from street vendor downtown Reykjavik.The green and white label indicates having been grown in Iceland. Icelandic regulations on ingredients, additives and labeling generally follow EU directives. Since 2012, a regulation on Genetically Modified Organisms requires any product containing more than 0.9 percent materials produced from GMOs to be labeled and for manufacturers to maintain traceability records for five years.Grocery stores, conveniently located around the city are the way to go to save considerable money on food. Eating out is REALLY expensive. This is a produce display at SUPER1, (Hallveigarstígur 1, 101 Reykjavík S. 419-7600) just 5 minute walk from our Centric Guesthouse.So, our grocery bill was a bit higher than necessary! But gotta have my Mars bars when in European countries. Why are they not sold in the US?!The National Museum of IcelandAllow at least two hours to explore this treasure trove of Icelandic culture and history. Highly recommend. National Museum of IcelandWent for a short walk to the National Museum (in the 47 F with random wind gusts and downpours) to discover it would close in only 1 1/2 hours so we’ll go in the morning. However, our return yielded a beautiful full double rainbow-too wide to fit in my camera. Arching over Reykjavik with ducks, geese, and swans splashing about on Tjörnin, the pond. (What’s the national bird of Iceland? why ‘crane’ of course! HA< HA>HA)Sun Voyager sculpture at the edge of the ocean. It is located on the Sculpture and Shore Walk. Much to see, read, and enjoy on this lovely paved walkway.
“Domkirkjan is Reykjavik’s Lutheran Cathedral, or the Reykjavik Dome and the bishop’s place in Iceland. It is located downtown in the capital right next to the Alþingi, house of parliament and together they form a unity of law and order in the country. The altarpiece and artwork inside the church are definitely worth the visit!”
We were walking around town and saw the announcement of a performance offered free of charge at this lovely cathedral. Of course, we made special effort to attend. Just lovely.
Excellent meal at Icelandic Fish and Chips in the capital city. This one attached to The Volcano House museum about the island and its not-always-tame explosive geography.Random sculpture on streets of Reykjavik
Iceland is an island of fire and ice. Geothermal vents spew heat and steam all over. Just gotta build the infrastructure to capture and transport it.Perlan (The Pearl) – notable landmark in Reykjavik
Dallas always has a different perspective and interest, so enjoy his photos of Reykjavik.
To begin our escape from annual ragweed allergies, Dallas and I headed to Alaska on 20 August 2019, the day after i mustered in my bulls and hauled them away from the cows. All according to plan. We got away just in time, however, this was a short trip because we needed to be back in time to celebrate Allen’s Aunt June’s 100th birthday party on the 7th of September. Monday, we had appointments to adjust our backs, hips, heads, shoulders, ribs, etc and since allergies were extremely bad with no trend down, we came home from our afternoon appointments and i started booking Iceland. We left for Iceland on the 10th. Another blog entry for that later.
We flew Alaska Airlines from Kansas City to Barrow (Utqiaġvik), Alaska. It’s a long way from our house. Since we attended a wedding near Hamilton the afternoon before, we took separate vehicles with Allen returning home whilst Dallas and I drove on to Kansas City. We stayed at a hotel that allowed us to park there for the duration of our holiday. After 15 hours of flights and connections from Kansas City to Barrow, Dallas stood beneath the iconic baleen whale rib bones on the beach of the Arctic Ocean in the most northern city of the United States.Arctic Ocean, Barrow, AlaskaLooking towards Point Barrow. We could only drive within about a mile of the Point. Mud and degraded road conditions preclude going further – plus, you pretty much have to obtain permission from private landowners to go any further.Bowhead Whale Skull – these buggers are huge and are still hunted in traditional wooden boats with harpoons during the spring by local Iñupiat,
In an October 2016 referendum, city voters narrowly approved to change its name from Barrow to its traditional Iñupiaq name, Utqiaġvik. The governor had 45 days to rule on the name change and it was officially adopted on December 1, 2016.
Yup, proof – we was there!Main airport terminal at Utqiaqvik (formerly known as Barrow), Alaska. Name of the airport is the Wiley Post-Will Rogers Memorial Airport.All the dumpsters were decorated as part of a town beautification project.Rebuilding the ocean wall protecting the town from the constant waves needs regular attention.This is the old Top of the World hotel which burnt August 31, 2013. We stayed at the new one located on the north beach. Highly recommend.
Evidence that this area has been settled since at least 800 AD. Remains of horses and musk ox indicate that this area was much warmer in the past than it is now.Since there are no roads and rails from Barrow to Fairbanks, we flew, then hailed a cab for a trip to our hotel. Our hotel did provide a free shuttle, but i had no phone service in Alaska!! One of the spots that Chariton Valley Wireless doesn’t quite reach i guess. The iconic Moose Antler Arch – Gateway to Fairbanks. Antler Arch web camDowntown Fairbanks is an historical and tourist destination. The locals have created a wonderful place to learn about this city’s unique contribution to US history. If you have time, read the above Vignette of History about the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. Amazing structure.The horizontal support is topped with a Teflon type product which allows the pipeline to slide back and forth as needed to accommodate the 39,000 earthquakes (about every 15 minutes) Alaska experiences each year.Sure you can rent a car out of Fairbanks and drive to Denali, but the train provides a different view and experience. We chose the dome top full service guided car. Well, we did have to pay for our meal.Hiking in Denali National ParkPtarmigan – Alaska state bird.
There are no fish in the glacial melt in Denali National Park because there is so much gray silt in the water. However, someone thought they spotted a fish, so this multi million dollar overpass is being built courtesy of you the taxpayer just in case there was one.Beaver dam on the Horseshoe Lake Trail. There are a multitude of easy and moderate trails in the park.
Not just big ole mushrooms are grown in Alaska. Despite the short growing season in days, the length of daylight each day compensates and record breaking produce is grown and exhibited at the state fairs. The 2019 pumpkin weighed 2051 lbs!There’s the engine pulling our McKinley Explorer dome topped car – Alaska Train Denali to AnchorageGray silt-filled glacial melt water just outside Anchorage.Not as much to do as i expected there would be in Anchorage, but a highlight is this well maintained Tony Knowles Coastal Trail. We didn’t walk the whole thing (11 miles one way), but we enjoyed part of it. There are no grocery stores in the touristy areas. Historical and cultural museums are great as well as the city tour on the Anchorage Trolley.
So we have some traveling hens. Brett took these chooks for a ride on the pickup to the North place, where apparently they hung out for about 15 minutes, then continued their bumpy muddy gravel road journey to Highway Y, pulled in at the Neal farm and loaded two big bales of hay then continued to Brook road, another mile west on Brook road (another muddy, hilly gravel road. Cord drive was too muddy for a pickup, so Brett held up there to unload the hay for tractor to pick up and continue another mile to take out hay. It was during that down time, the hens apparently decided they’d had enough travel and hopped down to make themselves known. Dallas caught them and they scored an up front ride home. Never a lack of entertainment on the farm.
How did they go unnoticed for 22 miles? The only answer must be that they were settled on top the spare tire which is bolted underneath the bed of the pickup.
Interesting article i read this morning and a very important reminder to businesses which want to remain relevant, vibrant, and thrive to the next generation.
Millennials, usually defined as those born from the early ’80s through the mid-’90s, have been the dominant target generation of marketers for years, and the travel industry has not been immune.
Studies about millennials and their purchasing habits are omnipresent. Suppliers’ products have been specifically tailored to the generation. Millennials can even take a river cruise designed just for people their age. Agents want them as clients, and rightly so: Millennials, as a generation, are highly likely to use a travel agent.But like every generation, millennials grow older, which is why marketers are slowly adjusting their focus on the young people coming up behind millennials: Generation Z, the oldest of whom are in their 20s.
They’re already buying their own travel, and, perhaps even more importantly today, they are heavily influencing their families’ travel decisions, oftentimes planning entire vacations bankrolled by mom and dad.
Marketers are increasingly looking to reach Gen Z, which by some calculations is now the largest generation in the U.S., or very close to it.
Lynn Kaniper, president of marketing agency Dana Communications, said, “I do feel like they exert influence on their families and their travel decisions, and I do think that is why it’s so important for us to be considering them and not saying, ‘These guys are too young,’ or, ‘They’re not really who we’re going after.’ They do influence.”
Defining a generation
First of all, Gen Zers are decidedly not millennials.
“Gen Z is already around 22 years old,” said Jason Dorsey, co-founder of the Center for Generational Kinetics, which studies millennials and Gen Z. “They’re 21 to 22, and that’s shocking to most people, because they still think of 20-, 21-, 22-year-olds as millennials, and they’re not. This generation is just wholly different, totally different from millennials.”
Sources vary on the birth years assigned to generations, but most agree Gen Zers were born starting around 1996. That’s the marker used by Expedia and the Center for Generational Kinetics in a study released earlier this year. That study defined millennials as those born from 1977-1995; Generation X, 1965-1976; baby boomers, 1946-1964; and traditionalists, 1945 and earlier.
Dorsey, as well as other researchers, defines a generation less by years and more by the events that shaped members in their formative years.
For example, many view 9/11 as the event that defined millennials.
Gen Zers’ parents were largely generation Xers, who had different parenting styles than millennials’ baby boomer parents.
Jason Dorsey
Boomers wanted their children’s lives to be easier than theirs had been, and they were successful, leading to what many view as millennials’ sense of entitlement, Dorsey said. Generation X parents wanted their children to be less reliant and more self-sufficient.
“The key driver,” Dorsey said, “is, as Generation Z was coming of age, they were given the aftershocks of the Great Recession. They didn’t personally go through it because they were too young, but their parents were right smack in the middle of it. As a result, their parents told them, ‘You need to work hard. You’ve got to control your spending. Times can be uncertain.'”
The result, Dorsey said, was a generation that is more conservative about spending. For example, the “millennial mindset” around college was to get into the best possible college and pay for it with loans, leaving many with high student debt upon graduation. Gen Z, though, is more interested in getting a degree from a less expensive college or university and graduating with as little debt as possible.
In many ways, Gen Z more closely mirrors baby boomers than millennials.
Jonah Stillman agreed that Gen Z’s defining event was growing up in the midst of the Great Recession. Stillman, 17, is himself a member of Gen Z. He and his father founded the company GenZGuru, and he researches his generational peers and frequently speaks on the topic.
“We’re much more competitive, self-motivated and self-focused,” he said of his peer group.
Gen Z is also defined by its use of technology. Other generations are what Stillman calls “digital pioneers,” in that they still remember a time before technology like smartphones was so pervasive. But for Gen Z, technology isn’t just second nature, it’s an integral part of who they are.
Abhijit Pal, head of research at Expedia Inc., said he believes one of Gen Z’s defining moments was the introduction of the iPhone.
“I see them as growing up with technology and internet,” Pal said. “They’re very savvy with technology adoption. They’ve always been connected. As the millennial generation was defined by 9/11, I think Gen Z’s defining moment is the iPhone.”
Gen Z has also enjoyed the best job market since the one that younger Gen Xers and older millennials enjoyed during the tech bubble of the mid-to-late ’90s, Pal said.
Lynn Kaniper
Dana Communications, which works with travel and hospitality brands, has been researching Gen Z and communicating its importance to clients for some time, Kaniper said. To her, Gen Z’s members are entrepreneurial individuals. They like content in “snackable bites,” and they value authenticity.
“They would rather have a real person in a marketing or advertising campaign than a celebrity,” Kaniper said. “They connect with that more. It means more to them.”
The kind of travel they want
Gen Zers might be young and without huge incomes, but that isn’t stopping them from traveling.
“They do want to spend money on travel, but they are trying to be more fiscally responsible with it,” Dorsey said. “It’s great they want to travel, but they want to get as much for their money as they can, and that’s important.”
Gen Zers also rely on online searching to find the destinations they want to visit, Dorsey said. That online use is not limited to organic search and OTAs; they are also interested in reading ratings and reviews online. A top priority is more local, Instagrammable experiences.
Wendy Olson Killion
Wendy Olson Killion, global senior director of Expedia Media Solutions, agreed that Gen Z wants to travel.
“They have discretionary money to spend on travel,” Killion said. “Whether they’re getting it from their own means or from someone else, they’re making the decisions, and they have that discretionary budget.”
Social media plays a big role in influencing where they want to go, she said. They are also the most likely of all generations to travel internationally.
According to Pal of Expedia Inc., Gen Z is embracing the sharing economy, and they are more likely to book things like alternative accommodations. They are also brand agnostic and can be influenced by coupons. Like most travelers today, they value experiences over material goods (Expedia’s study found that 74% of Americans feel that way across generations).
Julia Douglas, president of Chicago-based Jet Set World Travel, also cited Gen Z’s desire for authentic, local experiences.
“They really want to live like a local, not have the traditional touring guided experience,” Douglas said. “They want to do something with a local host and get their hands dirty and connect with people they don’t know.”
A generation of influencers
While the older echelons of Gen Z are at an age where they can book their own travel, the cost is often financed by their parents. However, they and their younger counterparts are heavily influencing their families’ travel decisions.
“It’s amazing how influential they are, and also how crucial it is to appease them in the planning process,” Douglas said. “They almost become the primary point of contact even though they don’t have the wallet.”
To accommodate Gen Z travelers, Douglas said, she involves them in the planning process. They are encouraged to participate, whether it’s during an in-person meeting or via video conferencing.
Terrie Hansen, Virtuoso’s senior vice president of marketing, said 88% of the consortium’s members said their Gen Z children have a large sway over family travel decisions.
“Their parents are still making and paying for the travel experiences, but they’re huge influencers,” she said.
Gen Z children of clients should not be ignored. For one thing, parents are often pleased when agents do something to surprise their children during the planning process or while in destination. For another, as those children age, they will be more likely to use an adviser like their parents did if they recall good experiences.
Instead, agents should include them in the planning process and do things for them they often already do for their parents, Hansen said.
Terrie Hansen
For example, if a bottle of champagne is waiting for the parents upon arrival, have something waiting for the Gen Zer, too.
“Make them part of the process, both the planning and what happens during the trip,” Hansen said.
A Gen Z agency
As young as they might seem, members of Gen Z are also entering the workforce, including the agency channel.
Rob Karp is the founder and CEO of MilesAhead, an agency that has 12 employees and sold $7 million in travel last year. He is also 20 years old and a student at Cornell University.
Juggling his business and school “is definitely a challenge,” Karp said. But he maintained it’s a rewarding one.
“If you figure out how to do it the right way, it just adds such another flavor of excitement and another part to our lives,” he said.
Though he’s relatively young, Karp is no stranger to running a business. He founded MilesAhead the day before his 15th birthday. For a small fee, he would consult with people to help them use their frequent flyer miles and credit card points for free airline tickets, which, to this day, remains one of MilesAhead’s specialties.
Rob Karp
“People loved it, and they started referring out to their friends,” Karp said. “The people who have miles are typically the people who spend money, so they all of a sudden said, ‘Well, if we’re going to trust the 15-year-old to book our flight, why don’t we trust the 15-year-old to book our hotels?’ And that’s how it started to organically grow.”
Today, 10 of Karp’s 12 employees are also Gen Zers, several of them fellow Cornell students, like director of marketing Grace McBride.
MilesAhead does have a number of clients who are older members of Gen Z. Many are also college students, perhaps looking to arrange trips during their time studying abroad, which is a huge market, according to Karp.
Even so, McBride said the “sweet spot” for MilesAhead is her generation’s parents.
Karp agreed: “We can connect with the parents, because the parents don’t really know what their kids want the same way their kids know it, or people their age know it. We’ve done these trips ourselves.”
Grace McBride
When Karp’s Gen Z clients are paying for their own travel, he said they do tend to be price-conscious, but they are willing to pay for extras that enhance their travel experience.
“People have a willingness to pay to have these really — I don’t want to say ‘experiences’ — but they’re willing to go the extra mile on certain things, and they’ll compensate on other things,” he said. “I think that, yes, some people are obviously going to be more price conscious than others and they’re looking to get value, but if a Gen Zer sees value, they’re going to be willing to do it.”
Reaching Gen Z
Doyle said that focusing on digital and social channels is the best way to reach Gen Z, whether courting them as potential clients or as influencers in their families’ travel decisions. They live online, and that is where they will look for content that informs and inspires their travels.
Sarah Fazendin, an agent with Tafari Travel in Denver, said she uses specific online content to appeal to travelers, including members of Gen Z, who are likely to use the internet to research destinations.
“Everybody obviously goes to the internet to start researching travel first,” Fazendin said. “But particularly that generation, I think, has a trust in what they see on the internet and a certain authority that maybe older clients don’t.”
Sarah Fazendin
Fazendin posts keyword-optimized travel articles, tailored to attract the attention of people researching trips. For example, she said, she might post an article comparing one beach to another in Belize, or five great restaurants in Managua, Nicaragua.
A social media presence as a component of a marketing plan is also important.
“Make sure that you’re on the platforms we’re on,” Stillman said.
For Gen Z, that means Snapchat and Instagram. But Stillman did agree that Facebook’s targeted marketing capabilities have value that other social media sites don’t.
“More than a third of Generation Z travelers actually chose a destination specifically because they saw a posting about it on social media,” Pal said. “So that’s where they’re doing a lot of their research, and they’re falling in love with their bucket-list dream-travel destinations.”
When trying to attract that demographic, agents should focus their marketing messaging on the kind of experiential travel that Gen Z wants to do, according to Brian Hegarty, vice president of marketing for Travel Leaders Group.
For example, he said, focus on special events they could attend while traveling. Instead of posting about an all-inclusive deal on social media, look to post a picture of a more adventurous pursuit a traveler could undertake on a Caribbean vacation.
Brian Hegarty
“You happen to be staying at the all-inclusive, but that might not be the primary driver of why you’re going on that trip,” Hegarty said. “The primary driver might be because you’re going to take surfing lessons.”
Those are the same kinds of things agents should highlight when they are working with clients who have Gen Z children, Hegarty said, and options and itineraries should be presented in dynamic ways.
It’s about selling the experience, he said, and social media is an important component of that.
“Gen Z grew up on social media,” he said. “They have a little bit of social ‘FOMO’ — a little bit of social fear of missing out — because they see all of their friends documenting their entire lives and posting everything on it. So social media has a much larger influence over travel plans with Gen Z than it did over previous travel generations.”
Dorsey said he believes agents will eventually start hiring Gen Z influencers to get their message across to their peers — “evangelists for their travel agencies,” he said — because members of Gen Z trust their generational peers.
He also believes the generation is an important one for agents to reach as they continue to influence family travel and mature into potential clients.
“Now is the time to be paying attention to Gen Z, but recognizing they’re still on the front end,” Dorsey said. “Anything you can do now to engage them or understand them really does give you a head start.”
For Americans, Vasco de Gama (1460-1524), Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521), and perhaps to a lesser extint, Bartolomeu Dias (1451-1500), all come to mind as famous Portuguese exploeres, all sailing the world during the Portuguese Golden Age of Exploration. (Although Christopher Columbus married a Portuguese lady and had a son with her, and even lived and traveled out of Lisbon for a while, he was Italian.) And indeed these men accomplished a great deal for the world and their country!
However, what struck me as a defining point of history was far more recent; the Great Lisbon Earthquake of 1755. This natural disaster occurred on 1 November, so you can imagine all the religious leaders and believers thinking indeed it was the end of the world. Although, as massive as the quake was, anyone caught up in it would believe that.
With a population of about 200,000, estimates of death loss in Lisboa alone are up to 100,000. However, this seems to be a lot of debate. Who was killed by the earthquake? or the fires that consumed a good portion of the city? or was it those who rushed to areas near the water and were swept away by tsunami 40 minutes later? Whatever the numbers, the loss of life and destruction of almost the entire city is one of the greatest natural disasters in recorded history (barring Noah’s flood, of course).
The effects of this earthquake were felt in Scandinavia and maybe in Iceland. Recently (2015), documentation was found that indicates high waves were experienced as far away as Brazil! The time after the Great Earthquake was the birth of modern seismology.
We think that disasters are worse now, but i suspect that may not be the case, however, they do occur and are ‘rumoured’ (reported) more frequently and immediately due to modern communications. And these will continue until the end.
Old fashioned trolley followed closely behind by a modern one. These are essential to moving the 2.8 million people of the metropoliton Lisbon plus the 7 million tourists visiting the area each year!Tiles abound in Lisbon, both inside and outside buildings. These particular tiles are found on walls of the Jeronimos Monastery in Belem.
Jeronimos Monastery – With Papal permission in 1496, building began in 1501 and completed in 1601.Carmo Convent – The Convent of our Lady of Mount Carmel – founded in 1389 and completed in 1423 and was used as a convent until the 1755 Great Lisbon earthquake destroyed most of the building including the library and some 5000 volumes. There were some repairs and used for various groups, but after another earthquake in 1969 damaged it again, it was given as a museum.Interesting artwork at Lisbon on the Rio TejoMonument to Discoveries – Belem, Lisbon, Portugal. Built as a permanent structure in 1960 honoring a glorious past of Portugal’s overseas expansion and discovery. In the background, the 25 de Abril Bridge, a suspension bridge connecting Lisbon with Almada and inaugurated in 1966. Due to its coloring and style, it reminds one of the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco.Pena Palace
Igreja de Sao Domingos – dedicated in 1241 and the site of the execution of Jesuit missionary in 1761 for treason. Damaged in the 1531 earthquake and then nearly destroyed in the 1755 Great Earthquake, and barely survived a fire in 1959. Restoration efforts still show significant fire damage.‘Road’ in the Al Fama district of Lisbon.