Today we woke up and headed straight for Tram 28. Tram 28 is of the old style and travels up and down the scenic hills of old Lisbon. A ride on Tram 28 has become a tourist attraction, but it is still a real tram line that the people of Lisbon hop on to avoid walking up the steeps. Since we were not quite awake, it took us a little time to find the stop. When we found the tram, the conductor was on a break so he would not let us on. He told us in Portugese to go to the real stop across that street and wait. I was a little embarassed, but I made do. It was so early that once we got on there were only a few others with us and we were that only tourists. When this tram is packed full of tourists in the later hours, it is a prime place for pickpockets. We were in the clear.
Our driver. He used some interesting controls to navigate this relic!
This the same tram that we are on, just heading the other direction. San Franciso has nothing on this place!
Some market workers cleaning their store fronts before the start of the day.
The tram ride was picturesque and well worth the early wake up! The tram dropped us off on the far side of town. The driver got off and took another break and everyone left. I think we could have stayed on, but we decided to get off and check to see it the "off line" maps that Katherine has on her iPod work. Cool enough, we were half way to Belem! So, we decided to walk the rest of the way to the beautiful little city to the west.
Once we arrived in Belem, we stopped for breakfast at Pastries de Belem. Here I am munching down the world famous "Pastel de Nata." They are custard filled egg tart pastries to die for. We heard a lot of hype about these pastries, and we were skeptical, but they truly are very good!
We took a quick glimpse of the Jeronimos Monestary and moved on.
Our main focus in Belem was to check out the Museu Berardo. This is a modern and contemporary art collection of a Portugese billionaire. We always like to take a peek at this type of museum. We know we won't like everything, but the things we do like are well worth it. Give it a try is our motto. Berardo's private collection is now managed by the Portuguese government, and the entry is free so you have nothing to lose. We saw tons of cool, thought provoking stuff in the museum, and also a few really amusing pieces. I just took a few pics. We were in the museum for a few hours.
Gman pondering yet another solid colored rectangle. You get a bonus point if you can tell me the last place where I was mesmerized by such a lively rectangle.
Lunch at the complex. Why not sushi along the river?
The train to Lisbon took all of 10 minutes to get back. Plus, it was less expensive than a bus or tram. Yeah!!!
Holy cow! Or, holy cod fish!!! This is a huge pile of cured cod fish. It stinks up the market like nothing else.
Here are some post cards ready to go out. If you comment on the actual blog, you get one. Facebook does not count!
Blog-O-Rama! Me chilling out before another awesome dinner prepared by Ana.
Tomorrow we are getting up early for another run in the cooler early morning. We like having the city to ourselves. It will be our last full day in Lisbon, then it is off to Baleal for a week of surfing on the Atlantic coast. We are really enjoying Lisbon, but we can't wait to sample some Portugese surfing.
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