We set off from camp to try to catch the 9 am bus in to Lisbon. The stop was a bit further away than we had thought so we had to pick up the pace; luckily we made it and by 10 we were in Lisbon. We went to the metro to catch it downtown so that we could visit the TI, but there was strike action happening until 10:30. We decided to spend the time waiting at a coffee shop and Anoop had a coffee and a chocolate croissant while I had a regular one (a bit denser than the French ones). At 10:30 we headed over, picked up our travel card and a map and set off. We decided to take a miss on the first train that went by as everyone was jammed in like sardines. The next one was much more reasonable and we hopped on. We arrived at the waterfront at Praça da Commercio which was an enormous square. We visited the TI, picked up a map of town and a brochure on the Lisboa card. We had a general idea of what sights we wanted to see and had to decide if the card was worthwhile or not. In the end we decided that it wasn't going to work in our favour as we weren’t seeing enough of the sights covered by the pass.

We decided that since it was a nice day after all (the forecast had been for rain all day), we should start with the walking tours described in our book. We set off and caught the funicular up a steep, tiny street to a nice viewpoint over the city. We could see the castle on the hill in the distance and church spires poking up. We then wound our way down cobbled streets passed all sorts of neat house fronts with lots of colourful tiles. Arriving at the end of the first tour, we decided to pop in to a coffee shop for a custard tart (specialty of the region, known locally as a Pastel de Belém) and a coffee. We decided to sit outside since the sun was actually shining and bask, even if it was a tad cool. We enjoyed our treats and then continued downhill to catch the tram to the beginning of our next walk. We headed in to the mall at the bottom of the hill (we walked in on level 5 and out on level 1, also at street level!) to get to the tram stop. Just as we popped in, the skies opened up and it poured. We were glad we had finished our coffee and weren’t still sitting there! It lightened up a bit and by the time we got on the tram it had blown over already.

We arrived at the top of a hill for another fine view of the city. This time we were looking over red rooftops in the fisherman’s district. We wandered over to another terrace for a different angle and I noticed a rainbow right over a white church; it was just perfect and Anoop immediately began snapping more pictures. Once the rainbow disappeared, we walked around behind the small church beside us and admired the tiles on the side of the church as well as the small garden. We then headed down through some tiny cobbled streets which were very twisty. Our guidebook said that they had been designed that way to keep out invaders (and guidebook researchers looking for the route to the castle). We walked past small squares, orange trees, and lots of laundry hanging out to dry. We arrived once again at the waterfront and continued back towards the TI to start our third tour.

Once again the skies opened up and it just poured! We thought about visiting the tile museum, but by the time we had pondered and gone in to the TI to ask which bus went there and from where, the sky was blue again. We decided to finish up the tour in the historic quarter while the weather was decent. We wandered down the wide pedestrian zones which had been designed on a grid plan after most of the buildings were destroyed in the 1755 earthquake. We passed by one church which had been rebuilt and the side had been "camouflaged" to fit in with the rest of the buildings by tiling the entire length of it. We visited another church which had many of the original pillars from the church before the earthquake. It was a strange sight because there were all these old pillars and then new work all around them which didn’t really fit with the stone. We finished our tour in a big square in front of the theatre and then decided we might check out the tile museum. However, by the time we got to the stop and waited for a while for the bus, we decided we had had enough for one day and would just head back to camp.

The next day we got off to an early start. We weren’t sure how long the bus took to get to the ferry so aimed to catch one bus earlier. That bus showed up an extra 10 minutes early so we arrived at the ferry at 8:40, 10 minutes too late for the 8:30 and 50 minutes before the 9:30 we were hoping to make. We used the time to read up on the sights for the day and watch a repair man fix the ATM across from us. We hopped on the ferry (passengers only) and headed off, making one quick stop along the way. We arrived 20 minutes later on the other side of the river and set off. We had a nice sunny morning so decided to do our outdoor walking first and save the indoor stuff for later in case it decided to rain. We walked along the river past lots of boats and people out for their morning jog (a lot more spandex in Portugal than at home!). We arrived at the Monument to the Discoveries which was built in 1960 in honour of the 500^th anniversary of the death of Prince Henry the Navigator. The monument had carvings of prominent explorers from Portugal including Vasco da Gama, Magellan and Pedro Cabral as well as carvings of the men & one woman who helped finance the expeditions. The monument was built in the shape of a caravel and was pointed out towards the water. We walked around it and then continued down the waterfront to the Belém Tower. The tower once protected Lisbon’s harbour and stood in the middle of the river. Now, the tower is on the edge of the river, and the side closest to the monastery consists of breakwaters, marinas and a huge road. It was quite a neat tower and built in the Manueline style which has quickly become a favourite of ours (the Royal cloister and unfinished chapel in the Athabasca monastery were done in the same style).

We then headed over to the restaurant recommended in our guidebook to look at the menu (and try to decipher the Portuguese) to decide if we wanted to eat there for lunch. We picked up a treat from the pasteleria next door which was also recommended (because it was where the Pastel de Belém originated) and sat in the park to enjoy it. Once we had recharged, we headed off for the church portion of the Monastery of Jerónimos. The church and monastery was made of white limestone and built in the Manueline style as well. The interior of the church was stunning. We particularly liked the intricate ceiling and the sea motifs hidden in the décor. There were seven confessional doors built right in to the wall, rather than booths as you usually see. We also saw the tomb of Vasco de Gama, who discovered the sea route to India. We spent quite a while wandering around the church and looking at all the details.

Afterwards we headed back to the restaurant having decided that the fish on the menu sounded tasty. We arrived and got a menu which had translations in English. We particularly liked the descriptions for the following dishes: Stewed Soap Dog Fish & Grilled Pork’s Paunch with Beans Rice. Neither of those was calling out to us! The owner came by and was very chatty and cheerfully recommended two dishes because they were wild fish as opposed to farmed. We decided to order one of each and then we could try both. Anoop started with a shellfish bisque which was so far the best fishy soup we’d had. It was delicious and not too fishy at all. The owner came back with my fish which was grilled whole and then asked if he could serve it for me. I more than happily agreed, not knowing where to start taking out the bones! It came with a sauce on the side which he then ladled over the fish and boiled potatoes. Then Anoop’s swordfish came out and he had a different sauce for it. We really enjoyed both and were glad we had decided to go out for lunch.

It had started pouring so we decided to head to the carriage and coach museum down the street. It was filled with coaches, berlins, carriages, sedans and all sorts of equipment and outfits relating to horse drawn conveyances. We particularly liked the oceans coach which had huge figures on the front, two of which represented two oceans joining hands. We continued past lots of coaches and learned about the difference in types of construction and suspension as they developed. We also saw a “modern” sedan which had been added to the collection in 2011 as a sort of art piece. We had great views down on the coaches from upstairs and enjoyed looking at the ceiling as it was painted quite nicely. We also got to see some of the carriages used when the royal children wanted to go out in the garden. They were so small and quite cute compared to the others!

It had stopped raining by the time we finished and we decided to head back towards the monastery. On the way we popped back in to the coffee shop, this time to enjoy a coffee with a custard tart, a specialty of the pasteleria. In Portugal, pastelerias are a combination of a pastry shop and a coffee shop so you get the best of both worlds. We found a spot in one of the smaller rooms in the back of the building. There were at least 5 sitting areas and you just kept going further and further in to the shop to find tables. There were nice tiles decorating the walls and you could see in to the kitchen where they would make all their treats. Since it was the afternoon, all the baking was done for the day. We really enjoyed our treats and then headed back to the monastery to visit the cloisters.

The cloisters were by far the most incredible we have seen so far. Each pillar, each archway, each doorway had different carvings on them. We spent over an hour peering at all the details and walking around and around. There were so many different gargoyles as well, including a cricket! Each time we walked around we seemed to find something new to look at. We also walked around the upper level of the cloisters which gave us nice views looking back to the church. We were allowed on to the upper level of the church where the choir would have stood when it was a monastery. The view down on to the church below was amazing and it was really neat to be allowed up to the second level. We continued walking around the cloisters taking more pictures of details until it was closing time. We then headed back to the ferry and returned to camp.