Day 2: Lisboa

Another beautiful 75 degree day on the Iberian peninsula.

After a late start thanks to jet lag + the beauty of modern medicine, we decided to head to the western part of Lisbon - Belém. Fortunately, it was in stark contrast to yesterday's terrain: flat, and, most importantly for our aching feet, accessible by bike.

[Side note - we learned from the ladies at the bike rental shop that we dined at Lisbon's best and coolest wine bar last night, so our trip is officially off to a successful start!]

We used pedal power to follow a 6 km meandering and leisurely waterfront bike/pedestrian path, complete with scenic views, bars, restaurants, monuments and PacMan:

Eventually we ended up at the Jerónimos Monastery, which, luckily, was free on Sundays until 2 (many local museums are free on Sundays, a point to remember for our next visit). We snapped a few photos inside the tranquil cloister:

We then headed to lunch at a patio restaurant highly recommended by our guide book. As it turns out, all of the other Americans had the same idea. However, we turned down dessert and headed to Antiga Confeitaria de Belém, home of the famous pastéis de nata, crackly pastry tart filled with custard. Public service announcement: get more than one!! It was well worth standing in a line of people 30 deep. For those of you who enjoy Chinese pastries, this is a smaller, crispier version of a dan tat:

We walked off some of our gluttony at a nearby park before heading to see some monuments & the Electricity Museum, sponsored by who else but my company, EDP! In hindsight, I probably should have guessed. It was a pretty cool building, inside an old waterfront coal plant saved from destruction and renovated by your friendly neighborhood multinational energy conglomerate. It was super educational, and I immediately thought of several coworkers who would have enjoyed geeking out there for hours.

We later went to a local bar to catch some of the Euro Cup finals. Stan was completely engrossed in the game, while I was more enthralled with cheese so delectably creamy it had to be served with spoons:

Finally, after dinner, we stopped by our "landlord's" apartment on the first floor of our building (at his behest). He invited us in for coffee, asked all about our trip, told us about his fantastic day at the beach, and showed us the clams he caught and ate for dinner. Long story short, he confirmed what we had already realized: that 2 days in Portugal is simply not enough. With so much to do in this seaside country, such warm people and such a reasonable cost of living, what's not to love?

We are sorry to leave so soon, but know that we will be back.