Pastéis, Promenades, and Panoramas

Today we made our way out to Belém to see the Torre de Belém and the Padrão dos Descobrimentos. Both were really impressive, and it never stops amazing me what people were able to build back then without any of the tools we have today.

After that we crossed under the main road and ended up in the Jardim do Paço do Império, a beautiful park with a great view of the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos.

Since we’d already tried pastéis de nata yesterday, we thought we’d visit the famous Pastéis de Belém bakery. The line for a café table was endless, though, so we decided to skip it and grabbed a box from the take-away counter instead. Sitting outside in the sun with them was lovely – but honestly, the ones we had yesterday tasted better.

From there we walked along the Tagus promenade all the way to the LX Factory. Such a cool spot – old factory buildings turned into restaurants, bars, and little shops. I loved the vibe there. We stopped for some garlic bread and sangria, because, well, that’s exactly what you do on holiday.

Later we took a bus over the Ponte 25 de Abril – which we keep calling Lisbon’s Golden Gate Bridge – and climbed up to the Cristo Rei Sanctuary. The monument is impressive, and the views are amazing, even without going up the elevator.

The adventurous part came when we used a hiking app to get to the ferry terminal. Yes, it gave us a route, but it was steep, full of trash, with abandoned buildings covered in graffiti. Not the most comfortable walk, and I’ll admit I felt a bit nervous until we finally saw other people around. If I’d been on my own, I wouldn’t have done it.

So I was very relieved when we got back into more lively streets. We rounded off the day with a nice dinner and a glass of wine on our hotel’s rooftop bar – the perfect ending to a long but wonderful day.Read more