Lisbon: Museu Miltar

I am returning to this blog after a two month pause. Two weeks of solid travel in Europe make you want to hibernate a little when you get home. Now I have a quiet Sunday afternoon and I want to do some more storytelling. Recall that we stayed in a chic hotel in the heart of Alfama, the part of Portugal that survived the 1755 earthquake in Lisbon. It is a rabbit warren of cobblestone passageways and you either go up or go down. We elected to descend down to the main drag, Avenida Infante Dom Henrique, bordering the Rio Tejo.

Here next to the train station is a fascinating military museum that doesn't get a lot of visitors and certainly should. It's still run by the military and costs a mere 3 Euros to visit. Housed in the former Royal Arsenal, its courtyard is overrun with medieval cannons (here's one beautifully carved and dated 1513 that looks too pretty to fire) and tiled scenes of long ago Portugueses battles, circa 1400s. The Battle of Faro, in southern Portugal, finally routed the Muslim Moores from Portugal, so is of particular significant.

Then you step inside to ancient carriages and a 16th century machine gun, and coats of armor for young princes.

But wait, it gets better. The Vasca da Gama Room awaits you in all its mythical glory. Here you seen the bust of the great explorer Vasco da Gama, who discovered the route to India in 1497, though his bust was sculpted in 1904.

Around him no surface has been left unpainted.

Here da Gama's ships are guided by Triton's mermen and mermaids. Here Triton himself lets the explorer ride the waves on an enormous shell. If that isn't enough, you can always just look at the great explorer's actual sword. A museum not to be missed.