travel

Pasteis De Belem

The previous post in this series is here..

We had one more stop in Belem area. It was the Church and a pastry shop right near the church called Pasteis de Belem. This bakery has been around for a long long time and they have this one delicacy that is egg based. (angeye namakku appeattu!).

San kept raving about it as did our guide. So off we went, stood in line. Our guide knew the staff. so we got a little closer to the baking tour which was nice. Then we got to eat. I opted for a different pastry as the strong smell of eggs did not agree with me.

The two ladies were rolling their eyes constantly at my hot cocoa and pastry.

We got some to go in hopes that we could keep it in the fridge and bring it to the kids. The expiry date out of fridge was going to be 36 hours tops. So we got as freshly made stuff as we could get. Then we drove back to Baixa area. Our guide dropped us off and took off to do homework! Apparently a student doing this guide thing part time!

A video highlight reel of this segment.

It was still bright out. So we went to find dinner and decided to walk back to the gate and water front. We were treated to some interesting sights and sounds the rest of the evening. That in the next post..

Our first day in Lisbon

Yes.. this is part of a missed series of blog posts on the 25th wedding anniversary trip.. that trip itself is nearing its anniversary.. so I better write about it before it becomes murky.

We flew from Prague to Lisbon first thing in the morning. The previous post in this series is here..

We took a Taxi from the airport that dropped us off in the Baixa area (cars were not allowed inside this main road that leads to the gate. Had to roll our carry on suitcases on the cobblestones for a good 20 minutes and reached our hotel. It was cute and cozy. Bepoet was the name. We put our things in the room and promptly came down to see as many things as we could for the rest of the evening and night. Given how crazy we are when it comes to covering points on city tours, have to break this into multiple posts..

We got a map and finally decided to walk to the first stop, the cathedral. I did impress a bunch of church goers with my backbending ability while holding an iPhone steady to take this almost 270 degree pano shot.

After we walked around the cathedral up a slope, there was a bus that could take us around all the spots. We decided to help a local girl with her tuk tuk business and had her take us around the city. First we went up to the vista point on the local hill, and from there we made it to Belem. Sangeetha has already been to Lisbon before and she also turned into a tourguide. I was getting a stereophonic guided tour at some point. On the way we saw the replica of the golden gate bridge, a replica of the Jesus from Rio.

A gallery of landscapes photos from this leg of the tour

and a portrait gallery

Once at Belem we visited the Vasco de Gama monument, the Belem tower and a church. We only caught the museum from a distance as there was no time to visit the museum. The lady was on the clock and the museum was closing. After this we were going to stop to eat something special. Both the guide and San hyped this up to no end.. that on the next post..

but before that.. a video highlights reel of our start to seeing Lisbon!

at first glance, Lisbon is a city like no other city we have visited before!

Another hike for the long weekend

Saturday was 2 back to back yoga classes and a 9 mile hike. Sunday was just one yoga class followed by a 6 mile hike. We are slowing things down.. by Tuesday physical activity will be restricted to a yoga class if we are lucky and some walking up and down office buildings..

This time we went to Quicksilver with a different group, thanks to the little one.

We have hiked this park before but this time there was a lot of water in the creek. The colors were vibrant after the rains but the trail was a little bit tricky with slush covering most of it.

We got to see a lot of turkey vultures and red tail hawks as well as a solitary deer.

Enjoyed the hike..

A few pictures..

A short video highlight reel..

We are fortunate to have these lovely places to hike in within a 30 minute driving distance!