November 20 – Lisbon, the beautiful city on the Tagus River

We docked this morning in one of my favorite cities, Lisbon, capital of Portugal.  I’ve been here a number of times and I’m always charmed by it.  To reach the cruise port the ship sails under the impressive 25th of April Bridge, a large suspension bridge which reminds me of the Golden Gate Bridge. On the left bank lies Lisbon and on the hilltop to the right is the Christ the King monument which is reminiscent of the Christ the Redeemer Statue in Rio.  

The terminal is right in downtown Lisbon so it’s pretty accessible.  Immediately visible is the dome of the National Pantheon which towers over the old district of the Alfama. Also in the distance you can see the Castle of São George.  Many of the buildings are decorated with colorful ceramic tiles which Portugal is famous for producing.  On a visit years ago Al and I went to the national tile museum here and it was fascinating.  Today I had a specific mission in mind.  I wanted to go to the Jerónimos Monastery in the Belém District to take some photos and to go to the one of the most wonderful pastry cafés I know of, the Pastéis de Belém café.

The National Pantheon

Lisbon cityscape

I got off the ship and got myself a taxi to take me to Belém.  The driver didn’t really speak English but he could understand enough of my Spanglish that he understood where I wanted to go but we couldn’t really have a conversation. He must have thought I was okay because as we waited for a traffic light to change he gave me a caramel candy to eat and told me it was “Very good.”  When I arrived at the park across from the monastery it was very crowded.  There was a long line of buses parked and lots of tourists milling about.  I took a walk through the park down toward the waterfront to take a picture of the Monument of the Discoveries. It’s a beautiful monument celebrating the Portuguese Age of Discovery.  I think we often forget that before Columbus there were intrepid Portuguese who discovered the archipelagos of Madeira and Azores and not long after Columbus in 1498 Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama established a sea route around Africa to India.  In fact if I remember correctly at one time the Pope divided the world  between Spain and Portugal, leaving out every other country at the time.  From my vantage point across a very busy street I didn’t get a good picture of the monument but when I looked back at photos from prior visits I found a good one so I’m including it here.  I also realized I was too far away to get to the Belém Tower, a beautiful fortification which was the point of embarkation of Portuguese explorers and serves as the official gateway to Lisbon. The picture here is also one I took as we sailed in one day.

Main square downtown

Monument to the Discoverers

Jerónimos Monastery

Jerónimos Monastery

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Belém Tower

After my walk in the park I walked back to the street by the Monastery which is a beautiful building in a Portuguese Gothic style.  Today it includes a church in which Vasco da Gama is buried in an impressive tomb and the former monastery which is now the Maritime Museum and the National Museum of Archaeology.  I’ve been in there twice so I didn’t want to go in again, just take photos.  Then I walked a block or two to my main objective,  the café to get the pastéis de belém.  

Street where the café is

Decorated with typical tiles

It tastes absolutely wonderful!

Just one of the many rooms

I think I’ve written about this place before but here it is again.  This café was established in 1837 and it makes between 20,000 and 40,000 of these wonderful custard tarts each day! You can stand in line for takeout, but the best way to get some is to get a table and order a coffee and a tart to eat there and some to go.  That’s what I did.  The place looks small from the street but it stretches back and back through a rabbit warren of rooms. I had a cup of very strong espresso and a tart (maybe two) and ordered a dozen to go.  When they came they were warm and the puff pastry around the custard was deliciously light and crisp.  They were heavenly! When I finished I took my extras and caught a cab back to the ship.  The pastéis were all gone within an hour.  I shared some with friends, but most of them went to some of my favorite staff members who probably didn’t have any time off to go ashore.

A christmas tree under construction in the main square

Christ the king lit up at night as we sailed past

Sailing west into the sunset! Next stop Bermuda!

I went to a solo travelers cocktail party, dined with some of them and then spent the rest of the evening chatting with friends and listening to some of the live music around the ship.  I went to the Club with the intention of dancing a little, but after I’d danced one time a pair of really plastered passengers (someone told me they were eastern Europeans (?) got out on the dance floor and were flinging themselves around, jumping on chairs and basically oblivious to whether there was anyone else around. I decided the best thing for me to do was avoid them if possible.  It was a nice day and now we have seven sea days ahead of us before our next stop Bermuda.