Exploring Belem neighborhood of Lisbon

Today we explored the neighborhood of Belem. First we went on a VoiceMap tour of the monastery of Jerónimos, which is a very big and beautiful site of former monastery with the stunning intricate cloisters. Unfortunately, the main church of the monastery was closed for renovations so we basically just enjoyed the cloisters. We then went to a nearby VoiceMap tour about Age of Discoveries, where we learned about this very important period in Portugals history. If not for these explorers and navigators, who discovered the sea route to India and explored Asia and later South America, a small and relatively isolated country like Portugal would not become one of the strongest colonial empires. After the tour, we went to a 3 hour tango workshop with the Spanish teachers that we met last year. We finished our day with delicious dinner at the Clube de Journalistas - thanks to Ada who remembered the name of this cool and hip restaurant from our previous trip five years ago! We made it a small plates experience by just ordering all 5 of the appetizers on the menu! The food was just as delicious as I remembered! Late at night we went to a local milonga, but didn’t love it, as it was in a small space and the level of dancers was not particularly impressive.Read more