Pastel de Nata (Portuguese tarts from Belem) and Trip summary

Day 44 Sunday 29 September

I am not coping with the rock bed very well and find it hard to get comfortably off to sleep. It’s a bit frustrating as we are doing lots of hills, steps and exercise full stop and my aching old body longs for a good sleep and comfortable place to repair and refresh each night.

This sleep interruption could be partly due to the wonderful hormonal changes I am going through, but its the worst I have had on holiday so I wonder if its all the sugar that I have been consuming that is hyping me up? When I say all the sugar – its very little by Portuguese standards – however I am normally just about sugar free in my diet so that is why I am thinking it’s the sugar buzz.

I have also not been able to drink as much water as I would like, especially in this heat as we moderate it during the day due to the challenges of finding a bathroom… One tries to make the fluid up at night but that also impacts on comfort. And finally I have had very few vegetables full stop over the past 6 weeks. We take a multivitamin daily, but nothing beats good hydration and nutrition.

What is the point of this very personal and perhaps boring preamble paragraph or two – another travel hint. If you are going through change of life – maybe postpone travel LOL. No seriously do take multivitamins and try your best to keep your hydration up evenly during the day. And as we try to do, book a place with reviews for the type of bed you like. Albeit its a very subjective thing. Sleep is pretty important to keep up the pace and demands of travel like we do.

So, with my battery feeling a little low we went down the lovely spiral staircase to the terrace and enjoyed a moderate and relaxed breakfast. It was another hot day today of 28 degrees that felt more like 32 in the sun, and in the dappled shade of the garden we pondered the realities of our last day of Europe. Well essentially the last day of our holiday as we will be heading home tomorrow with a 48hr stop over in Singapore to adjust to time zones and recharge.

What have we thought of this trip? Of all the adventures it has been the least exciting; almost a bit of an anticlimax to some of the thrilling sights, experiences and beauty we have enjoyed on our other trips. However, we knew that it wouldn’t have the wow factor like the others when we planned it, but I still kind of hoped for a little more ‘special’ moments. Does this mean we haven’t enjoyed it, or have regrets about any of the places – definitely not! As I look back at my photos and post blogs (two weeks behind) I smile and feel happy remembering the lovely time we have had, the new tasty delights we have savoured, and the pleasure and privilege of being able to travel and do the things we love to do. Wouldn’t change any of it, and very happy indeed.

We both feel that we have just about done the highlights of Europe, and that this will probably be our last 7-8 week stint for a while until we do a long retirement wash-up of the last things we want to see. We had planned to take a year off when we turn 60, but now have reviewed that and think all things considered, if we continue to age as well as we have we will wait until we are 65. In-between this time we want to do another 6 weeks in the Uk and perhaps tack on a bit of France or Germany within that time, some Iceland and Scottish islands, add a European cruise of some sort, Egypt and Turkey. We also want to do some more of America and Canada. Next trip is likely to be heading over that way all being well.

Post script – I am posting this finally in May 2020 after COVID-19 has changed the world travel landscape. Wow. So appreciate all the travels we have done so far, and so pleased we did them when we did. We are also busting to go again and the paragraph above is noted. However, now we want to do more 5-6 week trips as soon as borders allow and then the 6-12mth semi retirement trip might just happen at 60…. Gosh who knows, but this current environment has shown us yet again the importance of going when you can and not leaving too much to ‘sometime’ in the future. Carpe diem!

Our activities for today were to finish off Belém, pack and get ready for our early start tomorrow. If any time left was left over, perhaps some shopping up the street or a bit more exploration. We warmed up our muscles by heading downhill to the train station and zapping our green card for the quick train trip down to Belém.

Once we arrived we made our way through the shady spots as much as possible through the park and streets to the Monastery where there was already a decent queue. With resolve we joined the line, and were pleased to see it move along quite quickly. We also noticed people going off to a second entry so I sent Vern to the front to check out the signs. He came back none the wiser so I went off as I overheard a conversation in French about the other line which made me think we needed to be elsewhere. I don’t speak French but am able to pick up words sometimes if I know what the subject is about and I guess the others LOL.

I was right, and so we left the first line and went off to join another. This also moved quickly and to our good fortune we had hit the “free Sunday of the month.” This meant entry was free today saving us €10 each, although we still needed to get our zero value tickets to obtain entry.

The Monastery of Jeronimos is a giant, white limestone church and monastery that dominates 300 yards of the Belem waterfront. King Manuel who ruled from 1495, erected it as a thank you for the discoveries made by early Portuguese explorers. It was financed in part with a 5% tax on spices brought back from India. Manuel built the church near the site of a humble chapel where sailors spent their last night ashore in prayer before embarking on frightening voyages. Monks used to accompany the sailor-pirates on their trading/pillaging trips, hoping to convert the heathens to Christianity. Many trips were financed by the ‘order’.

It is built in the Portuguese unique decorative “Manueline” style popular from 1480-1580 when Portugal was in its peak of power under King Manuel 1, the Fortunate. Reflecting the wealth of the times and the many cultural influences of the Age of Discovery, it blends ornamental late Gothic features with Mudejar (Moorish) elements. The restored cloister of the Monastery is an excellent example of this architecture – certainly the most ornate we have seen. It was also lovely and cool, so we enjoyed this reflective area before debating whether we would queue for the separate church entry.

The hot day and very long lines informed our decision to skip that and go and check out the custard tarts instead. The Casa Pastéis de Belém cafe is the birthplace of the wonderful Portuguese custard tart that’s called Pastel de Nata throughout Portugal, but here they are called Pastel de Belém. Since 1837, residents (and now thousands of tourists) have been coming to this cafe to get their tarts fresh; its popularity stems mainly from the fact that their recipe is a closely guarded secret, and of course its history. Supposedly only three people know the exact quantities of the ingredients. The cafe makes around 20,000 per day and is open 7 days a week from 8am to midnight.

Pastel de Belem are very delicious, warm and uber crunchy. You sprinkle them with cinnamon to your liking and maybe some more icing sugar (like you need it). Best washed down with a good coffee or cup of tea.

Whilst we thoroughly enjoyed eating them amongst the historical tiled cafe, the hundreds of other tourists also enjoying it took the romance and class of bygone days away. Instead of an elegant high tea (brunch actually) we felt a little like we were on a tour experience having another activity being ticked off. Having now consumed a few of these delicacies I rate these equal if ever so slightly behind the ones we have got at the the Time Out Market, which are a little less sweet and more creamy. To make ourselves feel healthier we also shared a toasted jamon and cheese sandwich and called it lunch.

After our refuel, which also had very nice clean toilets (second travel tip of the day) we checked out the church line again but it was still ridiculous so we continued on to the next stop which was the Coach Museum.

Again, this was free entry and situated in a beautiful old royal riding school building. We later realised there are two parts to the coach museum – a bigger one housing 70 carriages was in another building across the road and down a bit. We had run out of time and energy to visit that one as well, and felt we had seen enough coaches including the fabulous royal collection in Russia.

What we did get sidetracked on seeing was a huge bike meet or gathering from modern to the classic where the riders were all dressed up and came in one by one, got photographed and then parked up. I was surprised to see the number of women solo riders on Harley Davidson dressed almost rockabilly style with checkered skinny trousers, scarfs, headbands and brightly painted nails! Vern really enjoyed this motorbike treat for about half an hour before we got the train and metro home to rest and cool down before packing.

After packing, freshening up and doing a final hand wash which we went downstairs to ask if we could store our bags there to save clunking them down the stairs in the middle of the night. Sara (one of the owners) was on duty and was most gracious giving us keys to stow them in the library or a vacant room downstairs, offering to make us sandwiches and fruit takeaway breakfast and basically giving us keys also to the early breakfast foods and normally chargeable area. She also was happy to book the taxi for us.

On a roll, I got brave and asked for her brownie recipe which is the nicest brownie I have ever had. I also complimented her on the quality of the breakfasts which have been one of the best continentals we have ever had the pleasure of. She was happy to share and later on in the evening I received an email with not only that recipe but several other of the lovely home baking we have enjoyed every day. She was really delighted and touched with my compliment and that we enjoyed our stay. We love these small pension/albergo type hotels that have about 12-15 rooms and are run by the owners; you get such great service and a personal touch.

We wanted as early a night as possible so just trekked down the hill to the market for our last meal which was nice but noisey. It is the easiest for us to get to in Lisbon and probably middle to upper range in quality. I had a squid and sweet potato stew in the style of the southern coast and fresh filleted and boned sardines grilled on toast and salad.

Being filleted and fat they were rather delicious. I really don’t enjoy fish with bones in it – and this is the first time I have seen sardines filleted. Vern had pork and duck croquettes which were not that great, and a nice goat cheese, rocket, apple and walnut salad. We finished it off with a Super Bock stout and a shared special Portuguese custard pudding with a creme caramel sauce. Dessert was like eating a lolly, horribly sweet but I can appreciate how sweet tooth’s may like it.

So our last evening in Portugal drew to a close with a final wander through druggie central. In the golden orange dim glow we passed the happy folks and others lurking in the shadows, turned the corner for our slow ascent up the steep 1km hill home. We only required one short pause on the corner (didnt qualify as a stop) due to all the food in our tummies. As I stretched out on the hard bed reflecting on the holiday, my emotions flitted between looking forward to heading home and being a little melancholy that this stepping off the treadmill time is just about over.