Belem Bound (October 21, 2022)

Most of today was spent in Belém, a district of Lisbon along the Tagus River.  Portugal is one of the oldest nations in Europe and Lisbon is the second oldest capital in the world (after Athens).  A lot of that history took place here in Belém.  We took a bus from near our hotel to the place, though I had to remind Fe not to be a Homer Simpson about public transportation.  To be fair, the bus did get very crowded.

First stop was Jerónimos Monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983, and a Portuguese National Monument since 1907.  That handy Lisbon Card I mentioned earlier got us in to see it free!

The Jerónimos Monastery

Detail of the South Portal

Tomb of Vasco da Gama.  Luís de Camões also has a tomb here, but I (foolishly) did not get that picture.

View of the two-storey cloisters

Note the gargoyle downspouts.

Tilework in the refectory

When we reached the riverfront, the first thing we saw was the Monument to the Discoveries, built in 1940 for the Portuguese World Exhibition.  Impressive.

Monument

The front (?) of the monument.  You can go up to an observation deck, but we didn't.

Belém Lighthouse (not working)

Finally, we got to the Torre de Bélem (or Bélem Tower--I'm trying to go native).  The tower was built between 1514 and 1520 for the defense of Lisbon.  Years later it was turned into a lighthouse and a customs house.

Bélem Tower

Fe and I in front of the tower.  I am having trouble seeing where my hair ends and the tower begins. :(

You may have noticed a similar building style between the monastery and the tower.  There is a good bit of that here in Portugal, and it's called Manueline (or Portuguese late Gothic) and was popular in the 16th Century.  It incorporates maritime elements as well as representations of discoveries brought from the voyages of Vasco da Gama and Pedro Cabral.

We had a light lunch after this at a little restaurant beside the tower.  Nothing much to this except that it allows me to bring up "Pastel de nata," a Portuguese egg tart dessert that is all over the place.  I had my first one (OK, two) here and it was delicious.

Pastel de nata

Now, I know they say that your first pastel de nata is always the best (I think I got that right), but "they" are wrong.  On the way back this afternoon, Fe saw the Pastéis de Belem store which also sells this pastry.  This place uses a secret recipe which allows them to call theirs pastéis de Bélem whereas everyone else must use pastéis de nata.  We did the touristy thing and bought some, but boy was I glad.  The crust was flakier, the custard was creamier, and it was just a better tart.  I will continue sampling but I don't think it can be beat.

Pastéis de Bélem

I am eating dinner later and staying up like a real European but I will have to sign off today and get some sleep for tomorrow.  

I'll leave you with the Portuguese magic words of por favor (please) and obrigado (thank you).  Don't think it's that easy, though.  Men say obrigado--women say obrigada.  Google translate doesn't explain that.