Wednesday 2 May 2012  - Lisbon

Day 19 and 138 to go.

It rained a fair bit over night and was still damp when we woke up this morning a fair sign of things to come. We were quick in getting ready but managed to be out waiting for a bus at 10am.

Joining the locals we made the commute into Belem an area just out of Lisbon centre. There was some sort of official parade with horses and a band. It was raining and we were getting fairly wet but not as bad as the guys on the horses. Was a bit mad. 

The parade was taking place outside of Mosteiro dos Jeronimos (Monastery of Jeronimo) our first stop. We wandered into the cathedral first and admired the stain glass works and the tomb of Vasco Da Gama along with the other tourists and more kids. 

We paid to go in and have a look around the monastery. The buttresses and stone carving was familiar to other large buildings we have been through. The monastery dates back to 1496.

It was an opportune time to avoid the rain that was still coming down. Unfortunately many others had the same idea and it became quite crowded which didn’t bother me so much but Paul was becoming annoyed with being bumped and pushed and he let a few people know.

We escaped the building, but had to contend with the rain. My red poncho was coming in handy again. Just gorgeous. 

We wandered across to the water front and the next tourist attraction, Monumento dos Descobrimentos. A monument created to symbolise the Portuguese who sailed around the world. 

The last stop was the Torre de Belem (Belem Tower) another world heritage listed building. This sits in the water and was a military defence building with cannons. We got in quickly as we had bought our ticket at Jeronimo. We looked around inside before heading outside to the first level. It began raining again so we took refuge in a turret only to be washed out by a massive wave that came crashing through the small hole in the wall. Paul was drenched. 2 seconds later and I would have had it on film. Darn. 

We made for the next level that was inside. Refuge. The rain appeared to be easing. We made our way up the winding staircase only wide enough for one, stopping at different levels before reaching the top. We then had to try and get down. This required some patience, as you had to wait for others coming up and down. We eventually found our break and made it back to the bottom.

Our next stop was lunch. We walked the little back alleys before finding a restaurant to eat at. It was a bit of a laugh seeing it was off the tourist strip it was catering to locals and we couldn’t get an English translation from the menu or staff. So instead guessing I gestured to the lady next to us to point out what she was having as it looked all right and we ordered the same.  Battered fish steaks and a rice and spinach dish. It was a good choice that we both thoroughly enjoyed.

After our substantial lunch we walked back to the bus stop, but first I had to go into the Pasteis de Belem a shop first opened in 1837 and known for its Pasteis de nata (Custard tarts). We bought up 6 fresh tarts before getting back on the bus and heading into Lisbon. 

We got off in the central square, Praca da Figueira. From here we could see the castelo up the hill so we began the hike. It was quite steep and heavy going in places. The streets were like rabbit warrens with the pastel or tiled coloured homes of the locals of the Alfama district all around. It was beautiful. 

Eventually we found the entrance to the Castelo de Sao Jorge and we had a wander through the grounds and over the walls. It afforded great views of the city and river. One section of the Castelo housed a periscope that could look out 360 degrees around Lisbon and zoom in as well. You could see traffic passing over the April 25 Bridge and children playing in a park kilometres away. 

With our wander complete we stopped for a water and I picked up a Portuguese rooster souvenir before making the trip back down the hill. We walked past the Cathedral Santa Maria Maior (Lisbon Cathedral) and did a quick look inside before continuing down the hill. 

We meandered through the café strip seeing the Elevador de Santa Justa a 19^th century wrought iron lift. We didn’t bother going up.   

We continued on the Praca do Comercio before settling on waffles at one of the cafes. This allowed us to dodge the rain that was starting again.

With all the tourist bits ticked off we made it back to the bus stop via Praca Dom Pedro IV and with a bus waiting we got straight on and sat out the 50min journey back to our camp.

It was lovely to return to the van and sit down and enjoy a drink. Paul made dinner before we returned to the internet cafe to upload our bits, knowing that it could be 4 or 5 days before we get back on the net as we are off to Estoril MotoGP ground tomorrow where it is unlikely we will have coverage.

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