Belem

Belem is a section of Lisbon by the Tagus known for its many museums and excellent restaurants.  The famous and ubiquitous custard tart, Pateis de Belem, was created there in a bakery of the same name. We decided to start at the bakery for breakfast before seeing the sites. We've had some problems with Ubers a couple of times. Yesterday the driver took half the group to the wrong place. Today half the group had an Uber that didn't show followed by one stolen by a woman who jumped in it when it pulled up. The third one was fine but by the time we were ready to go into the restaurant, the line was long and we feared we'd miss the tarts. What we didn't know was how huge this bakery is--rooms full of tables and a huge outdoor area where we sat. We've had the tart before but these were served warm and may be the best in Lisbon although locals have their favorite places to buy them. Besides the tarts, we decided to order what we thought was a small sample plate of assorted pastries but turned out to be huge individual pastries. We forced ourselves to eat them. We had a lost in translation moment when 3 people decided coffee with chocolate sounded good. It turned out to be hot chocolate with no coffee at all.

The first place we wanted to visit was the Jeronimos Monastery but the line seemed to have hundreds of people. There were no skip the line options promised by our Lisboa cards. Mass was happening so we couldn't get into the church until 2 but we could go to the cloisters but those were also crowded. We decided to do other things before going back.

We walked to the river to see the huge Discoveries monument that pays tribute to explorers that discovered sea routes. There are explorers depicted on both sides, led by Henry the Navigator. It's stunning. 

After seeing that we walked through a park and eventually made our way to the botanical garden begun in 1873. For some odd reason, much of the garden has been recently decorated with inflatable and mostly ugly Alice in Wonderland figures. There are peacocks and chickens wandering the garden. 

The garden is close to the Monastery so we could see the numbers waiting to go in had dwindled but we decided to eat lunch before returning. We found a row of outdoor restaurants, serving the usual Portuguese food as well as pizza restaurants and a McDonald's where you're served outside. Everywhere was packed but we had good food and excellent service given how packed every place was. It was clear a lot of families came to the area, either because it was Sunday or the day before a national holiday. Families were at all the sites and many were having picnics in the parks by the river. The warm weather might have also been a factor.

April 25 commemorates the Carnation Revolution of 1974 when

the last dictator was overthrown which paved the way for democracy. Monday is usually just a bank holiday but this year marks the 48th anniversary of freedom from dictatorship, one year more than the 47 they were ruled by dictators. There were some celebrations but we don't know what they were since we were going out of town.

After lunch, we went to the church which is a World Heritage site and one of the best examples of Manueline architecture, also called Portuguese Gothic. One difference in this architectural style is the use of maritime motifs. King Manuel ordered it built in honor of Vasco da Gama's successful voyage to India. He is buried there,  along with other royalty, Vasco da Gaman other explorers and the national poet Camoes. 

By late afternoon, we had time for one more activity. Three of us decided to go to the Coach Museum and four went to the cloisters at the Monastery. 

The Coach Museum has a historical collection of horse coaches. There are brief explanations of who owned them and how they were acquired.  Most of the early ones held only two passengers. Almost all of them are overly ornate until you get to the late 1800s with mail coaches and ones that carry more passengers. At that end, they have the first car that was common in Portugal.  Looks a lot like a Model T.

The other group went to the Cloisters which were the home of the monks of the Order of Saint Jerome. 

Like the church, the architecture in the Cloisters has Moorish, Eastern,  and maritime motifs. The Refectory is huge and contains Portugeuse tin-glazed ceramic tile work.