Pasteis de Belem

Lisbon is said Lisboa by the Portuguese. I don’t know why but I find this name so funny and love saying it whenever I get the chance! Today we packed in our sightseeing by doing a tour bus so we got to go all over and see basically the whole city of Lisboa. There are lots of parts that aren’t so run down but there is probably still as equal an amount that is.

I headed downtown with Adrienne, Alex, Mauricio, and Netta. We really didn’t have much direction because we didn’t know much about the city. It was nice though just leisurely checking things out rather than having an strict agenda. We ended up in the Restauradores area downtown and got some food at an outdoor café and sat around just talking for awhile. Netta and Alex are both loud on their own and when they get together they are even more obnoxious and loud. In general it is very entertaining and they make me laugh though so I didn’t mind at all.

We walked to the water and then decided to do a tour bus. I’m really glad we decided to because we were able to see the whole city and get all our sightseeing done fairly quick.

We passed by the Campo Pequeno, Lisboa’s bull fighting stadium. I was ecstatic to hear that they use different rules here in Portugal and don’t actually kill the bull!!! The season starts in April so I was hoping we’d get to see a show but then I learned they don’t start til April 17th which is quite the bummer.

One of the main sites we saw was the Bellem Tower which I had heard I had to see from Aly who had studied abroad here. It is right along the water and very pretty but very small. I was surprised as we drove up to see it standing so small. After that the others headed back while Adrienne and I continued on. I was itching to get back to the plaza at Restaradores where we started because we saw all these great looking pastry shops and I really wanted to try one. I had read that Portuguese had sweet tooths and that they made some great pastries so naturally trying these out was one of my goals for my time here! At the next stop on the bus it just so happened that the original shop where they make Pasteis de Belem, the famous Lisbon pastry! So we got to try the real deal ones from the shop where they have been making them since 1837. They were this flaky pastry in a miniature pie shape filled with this egg-based custard. We took them to go and ate them in a park nearby. When we opened up the bag we found they had given us packs of powdered sugar and cinnamon to sprinkle on top so we ate them in the appropriate manner. They were quite scrumptious. I just love sampling the local sweets!