Today we decided that we would head to the western side of Lisbon and visit the Jerónimos Monastery. A careful study of the bus routes informed us that we needed the number 43 bus which was ideally suited to our travel requirements for the day. The bus left from Rossio Square, so after breakfast we walked there to pick up the bus.
Being a square, there were four sides from which buses departed and we walked around a least twice before coming to the conclusion that the number 43 bus did not exist. It turned out that our travel guide was out of date. However, we found that a number 214 bus followed a similar route so we took one of them instead.
We managed to get off at the right place and were soon in sight of the Monastery and the enormous queue to get in.
After leaving the monastery, we walked across the road and the railway to the square opposite and beyond to the Padrão dos Descobrimentos – a monument which celebrates the Portuguese Age of Discovery during the 15th and 16th centuries.
Time then to retire to a little restaurant on the edge of an ornamental pond for some lunch. An interesting feature of this establishment was that it sprayed us with a fine mist of water throughout our meal. The beer was very strong, as after Alan had paid the €120 bill, he asked Pete for €60 as his fifth share and he duly handed it over. However this didn’t wash with the others and a correction was quickly made.
After lunch we walked to the Torre de Belem which was a little further along the estuary. When we got there Alan, Jerry and Fiona joined the queue to get in. The others decided against it and took a well earned sit down to await the return of the queuing three.
The queue never seemed to move and it must have been half an hour before the queuing three entered the gate of the tower. But once inside, we thought we would be able to have a quick look around so as not to keep the others waiting too long. However after a quick look around the ground floor, we went to climb up the tower, only to find another queue. Fortunately this queue was smaller than the earlier queue and we were soon climbing the narrow spiral staircase up the tower.
There seemed to be bells ringing and we wondered what they were. But we continued up to the top of the tower and discovered to our horror that the top of the tower contained another queue to get down. This queue was longer than the last queue but not as long as the first queue. It turned out that there was a traffic light system on the stairs and when the bell rings you are meant to step out onto the nearest floor. However this was not working because of all the ignorant people (including us) who did not understand the system, and we only got down by ignoring the bells and whistles and pushing past people coming up. A total nightmare.
It was quite a hot afternoon, and when we got back the others had retired under a tree to get some shade and there was nearly steam coming out of their ears. So overall, by Dungroamin standards, a spectacular success!
After a quick ice cream, we decided to make our way back to the monastery to catch the bus back. We took a different route to when we had come. Jerry had been to this part of Lisbon before and dived into a restaurant and out the back door as a short cut. Chris who was as usual out back birding, missed this sublte manoeuvre, and on attemtping to follow nearly ended up in the kitchens, before realising he didn’t know where we had gone. Meanwhile, the others had noticed one missing and Alan went back to look for him. As a result he passed a confused restaurant floor manageress three times without stopping to eat. Fortunately Chris soon found us and we were able to continue back to the monastery.
We boarded a number 15 tram back which we reckoned would take us to Commerce Square where we intended to stop and see the Arco da Rua Augusta. We didn’t have tickets, so we attempted to buy them from the ticket machines on the bus, but we could not get either to work. So we held tight and hoped an inspector would not arrive.
As we got off the bus and entered the square, we were met by a small sand storm which we had to come to terms with before getting our bearings and looking around. We had decided to walk back to the hotel from here and part way back we stopped off for a drink at a bar. Unfortunately we did not tell Pete and he missed us and continued back on his own.
Whilst sitting in the outdoor bar, we saw a procession coming down the main street accompanied by the ringing of church bells. We went to take a look and walked back past the very lengthy religious procession.
For our evening meal we walked another 50 yards down the street to try out a third street restaurant. Unfortunately on this trip for some inexplicable reason, we departed from the usual Dungroamin ritual of looking at a dozen restaurants before going back to one we first saw.
