Day 2 in Lisbon: Barrio Alto Walk and Belem

After breakfast at the hotel we were able to change our room and get
one on the first floor that was cooler and not so awkward. We then
took a self-guided walk of The Bairro Alto which is one of Lisbon's
downtown neighborhoods. We took a funicular to the top of a hill which
gave great views of the city including the river and castle. We
visited a church and then stopped in the oldest beer hall in Lisbon
which was once the reflectory of a monastery before the monks were
forced out. We got some beer and Kevin tried out a popular Lisbon soup
with cabbage, potato and a single piece of spicy sausage. It was
alright. We decided pretty spur of the moment to go to Belem which is
a district about three miles from downtown Lisbon. We needed to take a
trolley to Belem where we headed to the Monastery of Jeronimos which
was erected by King Manuel in the 15th century. The monastery is a
celebration of Portugal's expansion and houses the tombs of men such
as Henry the Navigator, Dom Sebastiao and Luis de Camoes who helped
make Portugal the country it is today. We went inside the cloister
which was pretty nice. After the monastery we went to the National
Coach Museum which has a collection of 45 different horse-drawn
carriages.

We took a little break and went to the Antiga Confeitsria de Belem
which is a historic cafe known for making the first Pastel de Belem, a
pastry that can be found in every restuarant here. It's a custard
filled tart that you can see in the picture and we both agreed that
they were so good. You are supposed to eat them with coffee but it was
so so hot so we ate them
with some cokes instead.

We went to the Torre de Belem which is a tower with castellated
battlements and carvings of ropes and shields. It was built as a
fortress to guard the city and as a prison under Spanish control. We
walked to the top of the tower by climbing a very steep and small set
of spiral steps which were used to climb up and down the tower. I got
pretty freaked out when people would be climbing in the opposite
direction because there was very little room to manuvere around. We
also walked down to the dungeon which was very tiny and had very low
ceilings.

We literally ran to the next monument, Padrao dos Descobrimentos,
which is crafted in the shape of a boat right on the river with
crafted explorers who sailed during the 15-16th centuries such as
Vasco da Gama. We ran to make a 6:00 movie which retold the story of
Lisbon and the relationship between Lisbon and the sea. The movie was
definitely worth seeing and afterwards Kevin and I bought t-shirts. We
climbed up the monument where there were great views of the city and
river again.

We took the trolley back to the city and went to an Internet area so
that I could apply to some jobs and then got some dinner. After dinner
we came back to the hotel and watched Chicago on tv and went to bed.
It was a very long day!