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- Oct 5, 2024, 1:34 PM
- ☁️ 24 °C
- Altitude: 33 ft
- PortugalLisbon DistrictPrazeresAlcântaraPorto de Lisboa38°42’5” N 9°10’8” W
Lisboa I
October 5 in Portugal ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C
From our anchorage in Cascais we time our visit to Lisboa with the current of the Tagus river. If we time this right, at flood tide, this will provide us with a couple of knots in our favor instead of working against us. Even though we could already see the famous Ponte de 25 Abril (bridge ) from our anchorage in Cascais, it is still about 13 nm all the way to Doca de Alcantara. From this harbor, just passed the bridge, we will explore the city. Along the way we first pass Belem. Belem is known for a couple of things. First of all, for some of the sightseeing right by the river.
Torre de Belem is a 16th-century fortification located in Lisbon that served as a point of embarkation and disembarkation for Portuguese explorers and as a ceremonial gateway to Lisbon. This tower symbolizes Portugal's maritime and colonial power in early modern Europe. A few hundred meters further down the river we pass Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Monument of the Discoveries). The Monument of the Discoveries represented a romanticized idealization of the Portuguese exploration that was typical of the Estado Novo regime of António de Oliveira Salazar. It always brings out a bit of mixed emotions to see such idealization of colonial times. It is fascinating to think how centuries ago people would set sail without any of the technology and knowledge we have now to set out into the world. I purposely don't say discover myself, because we all know "we" didn't discover any of the lands we have been taught to have discovered.
Lastly, Belem is very well known for its Pastel de Nata. Which are claimed to be the original ones. Pastéis de Belém, which were created before the 18th century by Catholic monks at the Jerónimos Monastery in the civil parish of Saint Mary of Bethlehem, in Lisbon.[3] At the time, convents and monasteries used large quantities of egg-whites for starching clothes, such as friars and nuns' religious habits. It was quite common for monasteries and convents to use the leftover egg yolks to make cakes and pastries, resulting in the proliferation of sweet pastry recipes throughout the country.
In the aftermath of the Liberal Revolution of 1820, following the dissolution of religious orders and in the face of the impending closure of many convents and monasteries, the monks started selling pastéis de nata at a nearby sugar refinery to bring in revenue. In 1834, the monastery was closed and the recipe sold to the sugar refinery.
However, we never tried pasteis de Belem! How could we not?! Well because apparently, if you ask a local, pastel de nata from Manteigaria are actually the best there is! We didn't need a local to tell us this, because we had our friend Tjaard who visited us for a couple of us to not only give us this inside information, but to bring us some right to our Nimrod before we had taken a step into Lisboa. Tjaard has worked and lived in Lisboa for a couple of months so it was very nice to have him as a tour guide for a couple of days. He took us to some of the sightseeing you cannot miss when you visit Lisboa for the first time: LX Factory, Pink Street, miradouros (scenic spots) and of course to Lisboa's famous trams!Read more
Traveler Prachtig daar …. Hebben jullie ook de Pastel de Nata op? 😋
Traveler Oh jazeker! Meerdere zelfs
Traveler 👍🏻