We woke up this morning to find Portugal is on holiday. While it’s ANZAC day in Australia, in Portugal its Freedom Day , a celebration of the almost-bloodless military coup which began on 25th April 1974, when a revolution toppled the autocratic government and replaced it with a democratic one. The symbol of Freedom Day is the red carnation.
We had intended to do a few last-minute things today, in preparation for starting our walk tomorrow, but we’ll have time to do them in the morning before we set off. We’re planning on walking 13kms north tomorrow,catch a train back to Lisbon and spend one last night here. Then on Friday we’ll pack up and vacate the apartment, get a train back to where we stopped walking and keep on going 17km to our next destination. The alternative was to walk the whole 30kms in one day and on Day 1 of our long walk that seemed somewhat ambitious …. or perhaps even downright unrealistic.
We went to the Basilica dos Martires, the only church in Lisbon that issues credencials pilgrim pasports, and which also has the only chapel dedicated to Santiago Saint James. We have to go back tomorrow to get our credencials, but while we were there, I lit a couple of candles and put in a good word with Santiago … well, it can’t hurt, can it?
And then we caught a bus to Belem, an historic district a few kms from the centre of Lisbon, to worship at the temple of Portuguese custard tarts, the Casa Pastéis de Belém. Greg’s photos below probably tell the story better than I could write it, but I’ll just add that the time lapse between the ‘before’ and ‘after’ shots of the plate was 10 minutes at the most. Those tarts were delicious, and they were still warm when the waiter brought them to us! I can’t even begin to imagine how many tarts are baked there every day, but it must be thousands, if not tens of thousands.There are 60 dozen tarts in the bakery shot below.
One of the many rooms of the bakery Pasteis de Belem, and nearly everyone is eating Portuguese Custard Tarts
Baking Tarts
Greg buying strawberries for A$3 per Kilogram
monumento dos descobrimentos, Monument to Portguese explorers
Hi,
I also like custard tarts. That place must have been amazing. Good luck on your walk.
We went to the Dawn Service at Morphett Vale. A lot there.
Fay, I just revisted your blog to see if you and Ron had stopped at Lisbon last year. The custard tart bakery in Belem is about 50 metres from the Jeronimo Monastery and Museum that you visited!
Yesterday we met an American couple who are doing a cruise from Florida to Barcelona. They had a few hours in Lisbon and had been to the Coach Museum in Belem. They caught a tram with us in to the city so they could get back to their ship.
Those tarts are truly amazing-impossible to eat just one- one really needs a full plate
So true, Mickey … and then, before you know it, the plate is empty!
I LOVE Portuguese tarts AND strawberries. ♥