Mosteiro dos Jerónimos

Built after Vasco da Gama’s return and paid for by the spice trade, Jerónimos states the Age of Discoveries in stone: ropes, corals and armillary spheres carved into the portal, and a two-storey cloister that is the reason to buy a ticket. The church alongside holds the tombs of da Gama and Camões and costs nothing to enter.

For a reader on a port call the split matters more than the architecture. Church and cloister are separate decisions with separate lines, and the ticket desk stops selling well before closing — so the cloister is only a plan if it was bought before you left the ship.