Today we had a slow start and ate a large breakfast at the hotel before gathering the courage to undertake more walking.
After breakfast we walked to the Convento do Carmo (a collapsed monastery) and took a quick look inside. The monastery collapsed in the earthquake, which destroyed a large part of Lisbon in 1755. It doesn’t have a roof but it stands as a memorial.
We then wondered down to the Praca do Comercio to collect the famous Tram 28 (well, the red tourist version rather than the yellow version which is full of pickpockets. Riding the tram can be summed up as spending 1 hour 15 minutes stuck in traffic only to arrive back at the place where you started. Still, they say that you have to have a “tram experience” when in Lisbon and we certainly succeeded in doing that…I just can’t claim that it was a good one. Having arrived back at the Praca we had a quick refreshment outside the beer museum before hopping on the bus up to the Castelo de Sao Jorge.
We spent a lovely few hours wondering around the Castle and taking in the panoramic views over Lisbon. We hopped on a free tour and learnt a bit about the people who dwelt there over the ages (from prehistoric times, the later Islamic period and the first kings of Portugal). We stopped for an ice cream and then for a Crepe (Nutella and banana with almond flakes… yum) followed by a cup of actual English Tetley tea(!) and had a good rest before starting the amble back to the hotel.
