The 100 Or So Horses Were A Sight To Behold

Lisbon Day 3
Woke up to a very rainy day and grey skies, not to be beaten we decided to ride the tram 28 for the morning...all going well for about 40 minutes until the tram stopped and we were all told to get off as we’d reached the end of the line...we duly got off with no clue where we were, no internet connection for google maps and no obvious landmarks so we stood in slight confusion until the tram that we all got off moved forward 20 yards and we were all allowed back on again for the journey back to where we started! No clue what that was all about... but we actually decided to get off about half way back as the tram was held up by a car stopped on the tracks and the area looked worth exploring further.

After a coffee stop in a small and quirky cafe we found that we were very close to one of the funiculars in Lisbon, now I do like a funicular (extra) so on we hopped on and headed down towards the river. We found ourselves at a superb indoor market and food hall so we stopped for a quick glass of local Lisbon rose wine and some iberico ham and cheese snacks from one of the stalls (extra).

After our lunch, we hopped on another tram and headed out to Belém district with plans to visit the Monastery of Jeronimos and Belém tower. Unfortunately the President of Bolivia had other ideas and decided to also visit the Monastery and didn’t want us there too, so it was shut for the day. On the plus side the parade of what looked to be 100 or so horses was a sight to behold.

We headed to the tower via a trip up to the top of the Discovery Monument, which afforded us fantastic views of the Monastery from above (extra) it went a small way to reduce the disappointment of not being able to visit properly.

The Belém Tower was lovely but we decided not to go inside but rather have a visit to the Pastelaria Belém, one of the oldest cafes in Lisbon and their warm Portuguese Tarts certainly tasted like they had plenty of years to perfect the recipe.

We then caught the bus back to our near our hotel and by now the rain from this morning had set back in, so we had a quick hot wine and cheese stop while waiting for it to get dark, so we could go to the top of Elevador Santa Justa, a large metal tower built in 1902, to admire Lisbon by night. Access was via a rather rickety wooded elevator and a beautiful spiral staircase for the last part (extra).

The views were spectacular, despite the wind and the rain and I managed to hang on to my umbrella at the top of the tower...just! As we were in a slightly different part of town we stayed out for dinner in the most unusual and quirky little restaurant I have ever seen with baroque decor and a bird shaped tap in the washroom..it was fab.