day 19 :

wednesday, 13 june

Over breakfast this morning, Luis recapped some of the festivities from last night, and explained how the parade we saw is judged. The best performers get to participate in a smaller parade a week later, where they duke it out to see who's the best. Who knew that parades were so competitive?

Our leg muscles got a workout today as we hiked through several of Lisbon's very hilly neighborhoods. First on our itinerary was Castelo de São Jorge, a medieval castle that was renovated in the mid-twentieth-century. Besides the great views of the city, there were numerous paths, doors, ramparts, and a Rapunzel-like tower to explore (with the occasional treacherous drop-off –"we don't need no stinkin' railings!"). A musician played medieval sounding tunes on a wood instrument in one of the courtyards, adding to the ambience of the day.

We hiked through part of Alfama, the oldest neighborhood in Lisbon, which was left standing after the 1755 earthquake that destroyed much of the city. As a result, the streets and buildings there had a distinctly older feel to them.  We headed downhill toward the waterfront, and ran across a large excavation of ancient pillars and other ruins. We couldn't read the signs hanging on the fences surrounding the site, but it looked like a significant project that will take quite some time to complete. Arriving at the waterfront, we were now in search of lunch. Our friends had recommended we try Bica do Sapato, and Luis had given us directions to it this morning. It's a good thing we asked how to find it, because it was quite difficult to find even with detailed instructions. It was at the very end of a row of warehouses, and the sign was on the inner side of the wall, rather than facing the street. What we didn't realize is that most shops and restaurants were closed today, including Bica do Sapato, in recognition of the city-wide hangover that everyone was sporting from last night's festivities. Fortunately, Luis had mentioned offhand that he liked Pizzeria Casanova a couple of doors down, so we stopped in there and had some pasta and a traditionally-prepared Neapolitan pizza. Ok, so it wasn't Portuguese food, but it felt nice to have a change of cuisine for once. It was reminiscent of Tutta Bella Pizzeria in Seattle – tables full of babies and kids, with a long line of families waiting for a table as we left.

Our next challenge was to figure out how to get to Belém – a neighborhood west of the main downtown area that has the oldest and most famous pastry bakery in Lisbon that everyone (especially Bea) says you "must" go to. That sounded great to us, so we thought we'd take the tram over there. After spending a few minutes trying to figure out whether we needed to purchase tickets ahead of time, we saw a city tour bus ticket office that offered a tour where you could get on and off at any of their stops in the city. A number of people had mentioned that the tour was worthwhile, so since we weren't going to get to see a lot of Lisbon just by walking during our two days here, we decided to give it a shot. Aside from the sunburn that Dawn got on the ride (we had forgotten to put on our sunscreen this morning), it worked out well, and dropped us off within a couple of blocks of our pastry destination. Before treats, we saw that we were standing right in front of Mosteiro dos Jeronimos, so we took a detour to see that first. We're both glad we did, because this 16th century monastery is the epitome of Manueline architecture, with some of the most impressive rib-vaulted ceilings we've ever seen. After seeing Vasco da Gama's tomb, we left, and in hindsight we should've paid the small fee to see the cloisters; the pictures we've seen of them online since returning from our trip are captivating.

We finally arrived at Antiga Confeitaria de Belém, the bakery with the original, and still secret, recipe for pastéis de Belém. The shell is puff pastry, and is filled with a warm egg custard. Topped with cinnamon or powdered sugar, you take one bite and realize why everyone has told you that you must come here. Although there is always a line out the door, it moves incredibly fast. We started twentieth in line, and had completed our transaction for six pastéis about a minute later. The building is a labyrinth of room after room, filled to capacity with people drinking coffee and eating pastries at little tables. We wandered by the baking room, admiring the hundreds of freshly-baked pastries coming off of the assembly line to be whisked to the front counter to fulfill the never-ending demand.

We ate half of our pastries in the park across the street, spilling cinnamon and sugar on ourselves, but not really minding – there are worse things in life! Dawn insisted we buy four more pastéis ("for later!"), then we hopped onto the tour bus back to our neighborhood. Later this evening, we walked just a few blocks to a neighborhood restaurant called Cantinho de Bem-Estar, recommended by a friend of Bea's. We arrived at 8PM, having just missed the last open table. Minutes later, a sizable line had formed behind us – clearly a popular place! In spite of our troubles communicating (unsurprisingly, the waitstaff spoke little to no English), we managed to get seated and order pataniscas (fried dumplings filled with salt cod), grilled fish, and a bottle of red wine. Later, when we were walking back to our hotel, we saw outdoor charcoal grills in front of several restaurants, with whole sardines on the grill. We saw similar grills set up for the festival yesterday, but tonight the wonderful aroma permeated the air, making us feel like we were invited to someone's backyard summer barbecue.