Going in Castelo de São Jorge
I was surprised how busy the Castelo de São Jorge was. I probably didn’t expect how many tourists come to Portugal, and it is probably natural that most of them would be in the capital city of Lisbon. Lisbon has a few interesting sites for visitors and one of the most popular ones is the Castelo de São Jorge or Saint George’s Castle. This is probably already peak time for visiting the castle but I think it was still manageable. The castle is described as a Moorish castle, it was reclaimed from the Moors and enhanced to what is it right now. It was built as a royal residence but later abandoned in favor of one closer to the river. I guess there was peace and there was no need for a fortress like castle on top of hill.
Walls of Castelo de São Jorge
The castle looks like a stereotypical castle where high walls have structures called battlements where portions of the wall are cut to allow defenders to fire back at invaders. I had no idea that castle building was so complex but it is the result of centuries of lessons on defending a structure. The Castelo de São Jorge has towers built at regular intervals for further defense. While a moat probably would have been quite useful considering how heavily fortified Castelo de São Jorge is, there didn’t seem to be one here. However, there is a bridge which let people into the castle itself. It probably isn’t too far fetched to imagine that there could have been water running under the bridge at that time.
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