The final day in Lisbon was reserved for Belém. If you are going there on the weekend, especially on Sunday, you have to be contend with snaking lines.
I walked from the hotel to Praça da Figueira to take Tram 15. By the time the tram got to the next stop at Praça do Comércio, it was already full. Well, there are buses that also go to Belém. I did take one to get back to the city.
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| A nice day for a walk |
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| In the tram :D |
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| Belem and Lisbon aren't that far away from each other |
The tram made its final stop near Jerónimos Monastery. Already I could see 2 long lines. One for the church and the other for the monastery. So, I made a decision to continue on to Torre de Belém (Belém Tower)
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| My walking route |
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| Do you see what I see? Lines! |
On the way, you couldn't miss the Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Monument of Discoveries). There was also a line, but it wasn't that long. I'd come back later.
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| The tower in the distance |
By the time I got to the tower, I wasn't surprised to find yet another long line. It was a Sunday and as I understand it, the entrance fee is forfeited until 2pm at least on the first Sunday of the month. Seeing that the line hardly moved, I was okay with just taking pictures on the outside.
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| Kemain makcik ni :) |
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| Check out the line! |
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| :D |
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| Since I couldn't go in , the miniature gave some idea of the inside |
So it was time to turn back to the monument. The line was still bearable so I stayed in line until we got to viewing platform 30 minutes later. It could probably handle not more than 20 people at any one time, but it did provide a really good vantage point of Belem.
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| So wait.. was it 1509 or 1511? I guess the discovery was in 1509 but it became a Portuguese territory in 1511? |
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| Belém Tower |
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| Jeronimos Monastery |
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| Inside the church |
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| Vasco da Gama |
The next stop was
Pastéis de Belém. I actually got to know of it from Firouz. You could read about the history after the
jump. There was a huge line for dining home, so I decided to do a take away.
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| The take away lines |
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| I see them! |
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| A pack of 6. You can never have enough of pastel de natas :) |
I got my
pastel de natas, so it's time for lunch. Yup, you need to take care of desserts first ;).
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| This is really, really yummy! |
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| The guards at Palácio de Belém (National Palace of Belém), ...well minus me :D |
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| They are more laid back guards |
I was walking around along the river when I thought to myself that it would be great to get closer to the
Ponte de 25 Abril bridge. To be honest, I didn't but I did walk as far as this one museum - MAAT (
Museu de Arte, Arquitetura e Tecnologia/Museum of Art Architecture and Technology). Entrance was free since it was the first Sunday of the month, but I only spent a little in it. I was more interested with the view from its rooftop :) -- nope you don't need to pay to get there.
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| Look ma, now I'm in San Francisco! Hehehe |
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| The MAAT's rooftoop. Kinda looks like StarTrek Enterprise a bit :) |
After that, there was just the bus ride to the city, last minute shopping and packing. As I've said it in my first post on Lisbon, Lisbon really surprised me. It had exceeded my expectations by a landslide, given that I didn't put in much. Sorry about that :).
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| I need to go back for these :D |
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