For our final day in Lisbon we have quite the itinerary!
We started the day off by heading into the center to meet our walking group. Now this was with a company that we had done before and thoroughly enjoyed our time when we were with them! We learned all about the history and great influence that Portugal made on the world both within the past and also today. In the world there are eight different countries that recognize Portuguese as their official language, and it is the fifth most spoken language in the world! We then made our way to Cervejaria Trindade. Originally it was constructed to be used as a ministry and was the biggest building in Lisbon, but later on it become a pub. Making our way we ended up going to see the oldest bookstore in the WHOLE world! Its called Livraria Baraterira and was opened up in 1732 and is still operating out of the same building today. It even had the Guinness World Record certificate hanging proudly on the store window. We then made our way to the Santa Justa Lift, an elevator that I would never want to pay to go into, or that you could pay me to ride. I will happily take the stairs! It was actually built in order to attract citizens to the newly created center when it was formed. When the tour was over, it left us in the perfect spot to catch our tram to the neighborhood of Belem.
After a tram ride that was a little too close for comfort we got off right in front of the Jeronimos Monastery. It was stunning with all of its detailing in the stone work. It also reminded me of the Parliament Buildings in Budapest. We went inside to buy our tickets and were rather disappointed when we found out that we could no longer purchase them for the day anymore. So there went our plans to go inside and to climb up the Belem Tower. Instead we went inside the Church and then made our way over to the river to marvel at the Padrao dos Descobrimentos. This massive statue was built in order to commemorate the age of Portuguese exploration in the 15th century. In the background, overlooking the Tejo River, I was also able to the 25 de Abril Bridge which is in honour of the revolution that defeated the dictatorship on this date. It is the longest suspension bridge in all of Europe and the 26th longest in the world! Afterwards we walked over to the Belem Tower and then made our way to the Pasteis de Belem. This is the first shop that sold the Pastel de Nata, a delicious custard tart. We had read online that it could take an hour to get inside before you could try one of these delicious desserts that have a special recipe to others that are only used at the original store. Now to our surprise even though the line looked very long it took us less than 5 minutes to have the fresh and warm treat in our hands. I can see why this is considered the best place to have a Pastel de Nata!
By this time we had reached the consensus that we just wanted to head on back to our place. We first of all had some jobs to do along the way. A quick trip to the bus station to buy our ticket to Porto for tomorrow. There were many anxious people behind and in front of us in the line trying to buy tickets to catch their bus that was leaving so we as nice Canadians kept letting people go in front of us. Once we finally got out ticket we stopped off at Campo de Luz to the Benfica Shops. Now I knew that the Portuguese took their love of football to another level. Entering the Benfica merchandise shop it literally had everything you could desire Benifca! From globelts, notebooks, underwear and even a toaster that put the Benfica logo onto your piece of toast! Going in here was a like a mini culture shock. We then met with Fernando to thank him again in person for letting us stay at his place and then we packed to get our thing ready for Porto!