Belém's monastery and monument

When in Lisbon, visiting Belém is a must. We took the train there. Upon arriving at the Belém train station, we could already see the Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Monument to the Discoveries) in the distance.

Beside the train station was this garden called Jardim Afonso de Albuquerque (Garden of Afonso de Albuquerque). That's the fellow who discovered Melaka!

Our first stop in Belém was the famous Pastéis de Belém, which was on our way to Jerónimos Monastery (Mosteiro dos Jerónimos).

tuk-tuks beside the road, before we reach the monastery

There was a huge queue to go inside. (we didn't join the queue)

panoramic photo so that I can capture the whole thing from end to end

Opposite the monastery is a garden called Jardim da Praça do Império (Empire Square Garden).

Across the garden is the Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Monument to the Discoveries).

lots of people

boats beside the monument

the monument is shaped like a ship facing out to the sea

another angle (it is really hard to get a photo without someone in it taking a photo of themselves...)

we can see the bridge leading to the statue of Sanctuary of Christ the King (Santuário de Cristo Rei) opposite the river

the other side of the monument

And then we caught sight of the Hippotrip Amphibious Bus! I had heard of it; it was a bus that runs on both land and water. We didn't plan to ride it, but it was nice to be able to see it.

leaving a long trail in the water

In the next post, let's visit the Belém Tower! 

Sights of hilly Lisbon

Before we continue sightseeing, let's have a look at our hotel room and some interesting things we saw in town.

there are framed pictures of the main attractions

we didn't expect it, but there was a balcony

nice bathroom

The bathtub/shower area has a sliding door. It was my first time seeing a sliding door not starting from the ground, but from the edge of the bathtub.

a rubber mat was placed on a shelf for shampoo/stuff, and we put it onto the bathtub floor

view from the balcony

you can see that the buildings in the distance are on higher ground

In town, we saw this shop with a cow in front of it. There are multiple branches, and every one of them has that cow. 

It seems to sell miscellaneous stuff, like the colourful socks you see in the photo above, and also some toys. We spotted a little dog being left running on the floor (they were demonstrating their wares?), so I snapped a photo. I remember that we even saw this shop at the airport.

And they even dare sell half-eaten egg tarts! 😂 (This was not in Ale-Hop; it was in a souvenir store.)

In a grocery store, we spotted tomatoes in square boxes designed to look like tomatoes.

Cute.

Not far from our hotel, there was this "bridge" that we walked across several times during our stay. It led us to Puro and Flor de Lisboa. The first time we crossed it, I didn't notice until halfway across how high it was when we looked down. We were walking along the opposite side of the road (to the right), where the drop was even higher than in this photo.

those two girls are about halfway across

Then another day, we walked on this side on the road, and I noticed the stairs going down.

Also, drivers in Lisbon really need some skills...take a look at these steep and narrow roads.

This photo was taken from the car taking us to have our flame-grilled sausage on our last day in Lisbon. When the car was stopped at a traffic light, a street performer ran over with a few poles and a basketball. He proceeded to spin the basketball on a pole, then stack up the poles really high. I didn't manage to see it from where I was sitting, but my mother said that the basketball was spinning all the while. I snapped a photo and also took a video, which you can see below.

Two famous miradouros

After seeing all those trams in the previous posts, we actually took the tram ourselves. We took it to Miradouro de Santa Luzia and Miradouro das Portas do Sol, two famous viewpoints.

the route and the schedule

We waited quite a while for the tram to arrive. From the timestamps of my photos, it was around 10 minutes. While we were waiting, a few tuk-tuks passed by, trying to get customers. They asked us where we wanted to go and told us that they could get us there faster than a tram, haha. But we wanted to experience riding the tram, so we declined.

And then, the tram arrives! 

see the slope of the road?

Note: The sidewalk was narrow; it was not a nice place to stand and wait...

In the tram, we were really jam-packed like sardines, just like some of my research had said. We didn’t get to sit down at all. The tram looked full, but the conductor kept telling people to move back so that more people could go in. So no photos from the tram; I was busy making sure I didn’t get pickpocketed in the crowd. 

The route was full of slopes up and down, and the tram kept jerking. It was really rather scary...we needed to hang on to something for dear life. I wouldn't recommend taking the tram, unless it was empty in an off-peak season and you want the experience.

The tram passes by a few sights, including the Lisbon Cathedral (also called Sé, which you can see is one of the stops in the route above). I caught a glimpse of it, but that's all from such a crowded tram...

I got a nice photo after we got down from the tram: 

The tram stops right beside Miradouro de Santa Luzia. There were lots of people there, but it was definitely less packed than the tram. :P

you can see lots of people standing at the edge on the right; that's where the view is!

on the far right of the viewpoint

Then we went to Miradouro das Portas do Sol, right beside Miradouro de Santa Luzia. 

You can see that some of the the buildings on the right are the ones seen from Miradouro de Santa Luzia.

zoomed in (or more like, the previous one was zoomed out :P )

a photo that shows the railing of the platform we were standing on

It was very windy; I remember that we put our caps away because of that. And they were selling caps; for people whose caps had flown away…haha!

captured a sailboat

After that we called a Bolt to take us back to our hotel. We weren't going to brave the tram again...

Across the street from where we were waiting for our Bolt back to the hotel. The viewpoint is on the right.

The Bolt car passed the Martim Moniz Square (Praça Martim Moniz) on the way back to the hotel. I snapped a photo of the fountain as we passed by. We didn't visit this square ourselves, but it seemed to be a main square; a number of tours list that as their starting point.

And finally, we are done with our first day in Lisbon. So many things to see! (Of course, I did mix in stuff from the last day...but we only visited a few places on our last day.) 

A pink street and the Bica funicular

After leaving Praça do Comércio (see previous post), we went to visit Loja das Conservas, a store selling canned sardines (and other seafood). We had heard that it was possible to taste the sardines before buying, but unfortunately that turned out to be only for private tours. There was actually a tasting ongoing while we were there.

I only took one photo inside the store, because it was rather packed. They hung up stuffed sardines (made of cloth :P ) for decoration, and you can see so many cans of different colours. On the right is the counter with cans of sardines behind it, and further beyond, you can see more cans against the wall. Every wall had sardines stacked against it.

Behind the table, you can see the people in the tasting group. A few small couches were there, and there was an array of different cans opened up for them to taste with small pieces of bread.

An employee came to ask us whether we needed help, and he explained to us that they sell lots of different brands there. In general, everything is more expensive than what we had bought in Porto, so all is good. :P

There is a small square near the store, where a few trams pass. 

Then we visited Pink Street.

you can see why it's called Pink Street...

looking back

another angle, where we can see the blue building behind (I don't think it's famous, but it's kinda pretty)

After that we went to the Time Out Market for lunch, and I snapped a photo in this little garden beside the market/food court.

Jardim Sá da Bandeira

Not very far away, there is the lower end of the Bica funicular, also closed due to the unfortunate accident on another funicular before our visit.

If I remember correctly, there was a little path going up beside the entrance of the funicular (to the left; not in the photo). But we didn’t want to climb up, so we left. But on our last day (last full day) in Lisbon, we came back to town to try flame-grilled sausage, which was not far from the top of the funicular. So we went to take a look. And it was a real tourist destination!

See how many people are there!

Even though the funicular was not in operation, they parked it there so that tourists could take photos with it. During my research, I had read that this is the most-photographed funicular in Lisbon, due to how it is framed on both sides by the buildings, and the background view of the Tagus river.

view down the steps to the river

the back of the tram (or the front?)

We wanted photos with it too!

Sunglasses are a must; otherwise we were squinting and frowning into the sun!

After that, we walked along the streets a bit. It was in the Bairro Alto neighbourhood, and I snapped a photo of this square.

Praça Luís de Camões

This was right before we visited the top of Santa Justa lift. We saw the bottom ends in the town center, and the upper ends in this higher neighbourhood.