A full day in Lisboa lies ahead. A day of new experiences, trams, buses and different places to visit and experience. We go down to the restaurant to sample breakfast at our allotted time of 8.30am. There was a time when I would overindulge at a hotel breakfast but today having toured the buffet I came back with just a croissant and a strong coffee.
We set off for our first destination, which is Belem, to go to the café that first produced the magic of the Pastel de Nata. These are little bites of heaven which are described on Wikipedia as a Portuguese egg custard tart or translate on Google as cream cakes which just goes to exemplify that sometimes the English language can be so unromantic.
The tram to Belem is one of the new trams so not very exciting from that point of view, and even more disappointingly, the queue for the Pastelaria is massive. We decide to give it a miss. We can always come back in November or February or anytime we want once we live here. This is not a “once in a lifetime” trip, it is more a first foray into parts unknown. We decide to walk part of the way back along the river front.
Between Belem and the main bridge over the Tagus, there is a most fantastic viewing point that we would not have come across without deciding to walk. This is a real bonus, and we decide to walk on further to the LX Factory which is one of the hidden gems of Lisbon. Situated on the north side of the river, directly under the Ponte de 25th April bridge, it is filled with quirky little artisan shops. All very eclectic and fun. We decide to take our time to saunter around it and stop for lunch. I like sauntering. It is a form of ambling with attitude.
Lunch over we get a bus back into Lisbon and go back to the hotel; a siesta for me and a sunbathe for Kimberley. I like having a rest in the heat of the afternoon before attacking the evening activities. We decide to visit the Via Verde shop (the company that deals with the toll road charges) to see if I can get to the bottom of tolls in Portugal, but alas the queue is so slow moving that after eighteen minutes of waiting in a queue that has not moved, we decide to cut our losses and leave. The vagaries of the Portuguese toll roads remain a mystery.
The walk to the store was a twenty-minute uphill stroll and now we are heading downhill to an intersect with the number 28 tram. These are the old-fashioned streetcar trams that I liken to the worlds safest fairground ride as we shake, rattle and roll, through the city and back to the port. It was great fun, and we have a long, slow delicious meal at an Italian restaurant in one of the backstreets before capping off a busy day with an ice cream from Amarinos.
It has been a lovely day with lots of walking. Actually, on checking my walking app, which is uncannily accurate, we are on 21,564 steps. No wonder my legs ache. Tomorrow we head back east to where our sun is rising in the shape of CasaBo.