Everything is closed on Mondays
Trip Start
Jan 25, 2010
1
31
48
Trip End
Apr 24, 2010
Lisbon, Estremadura, Portugal
Monday, March 15, 2010
We got off at the right stop and walked up to the Palace. We weren't allowed to take pictures, but it was really interesting to see this palace as compared to Versailles and the other palaces we have been in. It was definitely less extravagant but had one really cool room that was covered in marble and alabaster.
The next place we wanted to go was a famous bakery, Pasteis de Belém, that is known for its secret recipe and has been around since 1837. We got a few things from there for lunch and went down the street to Starbucks to eat and get a drink.
Right down the road is the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos (Hieronymite Monastery), where the recipe was created. The Monastery was closed on Mondays but it was really beautiful from the outside. In front of it was a park with a huge fountain in the middle.
Across the street, right by the water, were a few monuments that we wanted to see so we made our way under the street through a tunnel. The first was the Monument of Discoveries, shaped like a ship with different figures of Portuguese people making there way to the end of the boat. We had a photo shoot here (somehow I took 58 pictures) with the bridge in the background and the monument.
The other place we wanted to go was Torre de Belém (Belém Tower). We walked by the water to it and we passed some really cool hotels/spas, restaurants and a marina. We got to the tower and there was a good amount of people there so we were excited finally because something was open for us to see. We walked up to the gates and they were closed…one lesson we have learned in Portugal is that nothing is open on Sundays or Mondays. We were really tired from all of our walking so we waited for a while to walk back to the bus. We met a precious little dog that was running around chasing everything. Cydney was trying to play with him the whole time but he wasn't really having it. As we were getting up to leave, he ran over to me and started playing with me!!
The bus ride back was pretty long and we wanted to eat and get back to the hostel early so we could repack for the rest of our trip (YAY morocco!!!) and watch Moulin Rouge. Guess where we ate?? Hard Rock…seeing as it is the only restaurant other than Chinese that was open. I have come to the conclusion that the Portuguese only eat out for lunch and all of them eat dinner at home.
