Lisbon - Day 2

Horror of horror there was some rain today, well in truth bit was a light drizzle. By midday it had cleared up and the roads were steaming. We took full advantage of our Lisbon travel cards today; I in particular used five different modes of transport.

After a leisurely start we took the super-tram to Belem, a suburb of Lisbon that is about three miles west along the River Tagus. Essentially this was the ancient port for the city from where all the great Portuguese voyages of discovery were made. So there are many monuments and historic buildings. A Yellow Bus tour ensured that we saw all of them. The Tour de Belem is the ancient fortress guarding the entrance to Lisbon Harbour.

There is a monument built in 1960 to celebrate the achievement of the explorers, but the fact that it was build during Portugal’s fascist dictator’s rule probably explains its style. There is an impressive monastery/church that faces onto what is reputedly the largest square in Europe.

 However Belem has a unique culinary highlight, custard tarts or Pastis de Belem that are made from one shop, which produces ten thousand a day. Retailing at €1.20 my back of the envelope calculation says that this is worth a turnover of north of €7 million a year, Cooplands eat your heart out! As you can see from Marion’s sampling they are delicious, made so by the wafer thin flaky pastry that encompasses the tart. Would have brought some back, but I do not think that they will travel.

 Back on the tram to the centre of Lisbon to catch one of the traditional trams running from the town centre to a suburb about four kilometres away. These are small one-car vehicles that are essentially over one hundred years old, although the running gear has been modified more recently. The town has been unable to replace these because of the narrow streets, steep hills and sharp bends. With the windows completely up it made for an interesting journey through the streets, being really quite slow it was an ideal chance to observe the goings on in Lisbon.

 When we returned to the hotel Marion wished to read so I went for a walk. Quite by chance I found another of the elevadores that climb the steepest hills.

Of course I rode it to the top and then walked through the upper town and commercial centre. This led me to another way the people of Lisbon have of climbing their hills, a lift. This as can be seen was engineered by a pupil of Eiffel, as the latticework resembles his famous tower in Paris. Finally I walked through the heart of downtown Lisbon to the hotel.

 After a wash and brush-up it was out to our final dinner in Lisbon. This we had booked in a monastic beer hall. Note the lovely tiles on the wall. We shared a magnificent fish stew full of shellfish, lobster and rice. With a pint of the local brew it was delicious.

 So tomorrow we drive to the coast to the south of Lisbon, we have had a great stay here and would really recommend it as a short break destination.