Our guide, Jorge showed up at 2pm in a very nice black mercedes to chauffeur us around the city and see some of the major sites. Up first was the Castelo de Sao Jorge - which we can actually see on top of a hill near our hotel. It gave a nice overview of the city - a bit windy, but it's at the top of a hill! Then we took a driving tour thru the Alfama district and admired some of the old Moorish buildings and tile work. The streets are extremely narrow and the car barely fit thru some of the alleyways - quite a feat of driving (but somehow, I think Jorge has done it before......!)
We drove thru town out to Belem - which has a beautiful old monastery and church. There is also a pastery shop (as there seems to be everywhere in Lisbon!) selling Pasteis de Belem - which is a type of custard pastry Lisbon is known for. So we picked up a few of those and they were quite good. Originally, the monks & nuns made them to use up the egg yolks that were left over when they used the egg white to starch their white habbits etc. After all the monasteries were closed, they passed the recipe down. If you don't buy the pastry in Belem, it's known as a Pasteis de nata. Our last stop was at the tower of Belem - a former fort that had been in the middle of the river and was the only one left standing after the 1755 earthquake that leveled Lisbon. (there were 2 others on either shore that fell down) The river shifted after the earthquake and the tower is now on the north shore of the Tagus River. There was also a nice monument to Henry the Navigator, and a beautiful world map out of inlay granite showing Portuguese influence areas around the world.
Back to the hotel, some dinner and off too bed. We were TIRED!
More after our trip to Sintra!
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