We have truly mastered the idea of being on holiday and not rushing as once again we did not get out of the apartment until around 11:30 this morning. Today we headed to the area of town called Belém to see the Monastery of Jerónimos and other sites in the area. Our taxi driver today was quite a good little guide and pointed out things in the area not mentioned in our guides.
There was a Citroen parade today and the front of the monastery was lined with all sorts of cute Citroens. We kept expecting to see Inspector Clouseau at any moment!
Remember when I said Friday was a national holiday? Well today was also the first Sunday of the month which means free entrance into many of the museums and sites in town. Being on holiday mode, we did not realize it was first Sunday until we saw the queue that was over two hours long to get into the monastery. So rather than bake in the sun or stand in a long line, we went around the corner to another part of the monastery that houses the Museu de Marinhan (Maritime Museum).
The Portuguese played a much larger role in the expansion of the new world than most people realize I think…much of which was prompted by Henry the Navigator (born in Porto). The museum is quite interesting and fortunately not crowded in spite of it also being free today (I think all of Lisbon was in the queue for the monastery itself). Inside the museum is also the continents of King Carlos I’s royal yacht, Amelia. King Carlos I was the last monarch of Portugal as October 5, 1910 marked the end of his reign and the birth of the Republic.
After the museum, we wandered through a little flea market of sorts in the park en route to the other side of the street along the River Tejo. There is a nice little restaurant just across the way in the shadow of the Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Monument to the Discoveries) where we grabbed a bite.
The Monument to the Discoveries was built in 1960 to honor the 500th anniversary of Henry the Navigator’s death in 1460. The monument looks like a giant ship sail with Henry at the helm and all the famous Portuguese navigators behind him. There is only one woman depicted in the monument and it is Henry’s mother, Phillips of Lancaster. You can reach the top of the monument via a lift and the views are spectacular.
Meanwhile back at the monastery, the line finally started to subside as it was about 4:30pm and the cloisters and church close at 5:00pm. While we would have liked to have seen the cloisters, there was still a decent line but there was no line to the church so we were able to spend some time in there. It was definitely worth the wait as it was beautiful. Next trip to Lisbon we can see the cloisters (on a non-first Sunday) and of course any other things we may miss on this trip.
By now, we were a bit tired from the sun and the crowds so we made our way down a bit from the chaos to get a taxi. While we waited, we found ourselves across from Pastéis de Belém (the birthplace of pastel de nata). The monks had created these tasty custard tarts that have become a mainstay in Portugal today as a way to raise money (similar to the way Mepkin Abbey used to raise chickens for eggs and now grows mushrooms). This place was originally on our list of things to today but our driver this morning said it was a tourist trap these days and the best pastel da nata can be found at Manteigaria who has an shop in the Time Out Market. If a taxi driver doesn’t know the best spots, no one does so we took his advise and skipped Pastéis de Belém and from the long line out front, I think it was sound advise.
One of the nice things about going the AirBnB route is you can fix dinner rather than eating out every night. I mean really does anyone eat out every night at home? We actually had leftovers from our dinner on Friday night along with a nice bottle of Vinho Verde. Oh and here’s a pic of the outside of our apartment.
We had reservations for 10:30 this evening for a Fado show but have decided we are too tired from being in the sun all day to head out (yes, we are officially old women). Tomorrow we will be in the Alfama section of Lisbon for our Portuguese tile class and Alfama is the birthplace of Fado so we will ask our instructor for her recommendation as a local…we’re sure the place we heard about was probably going to have more tourists than locals so it is best to wait.
Boa Noite!
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