Portugal: Belem day trip - Winter 2015

During our time in Lisbon, my friend and I went to Belem. It was close enough to Lisbon, about a 15-20 minute local bus ride from Lisbon. I bought metro day pass for about 6 Euros (I really can't remember if it was 6 or 9 Euros). I visited Belem on December 29, 2015.

We arrived early to Belem because I wanted to have breakfast at a famous place I had looked up on Tripadvisor. It is called Pasteis de Belem. The reviews stated that there would be long line ups around the block, so I was hoping to go there earlier to avoid the line. First we got there at about 8:30am and there was no line up. In fact, we were able to find any table inside very easily. The famous pasteis de nata were delicious. I would say those are the best I have ever had in my entire life. The main reason is the crust. The crust was crispy and light. The filling had more content of egg compared to the one we bought at a bakery in Lisbon. I had two pasteis de nata and a custard croissant for breakfast. That custard croissant was so delicious, but it's also the flowing custard, which I can understand no everyone enjoys.

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My breakfast. I had two because I didn't realize we would come back for lunc

After sightseeing, we also came back here for lunch. Lunch was pretty chaotic. We had to wait for a table, which is fine but each room had a section to line up. There would be a person to seat people. We sat at a table that was not cleared off yet. We waited for a long time. I guess because we were sitting, they just assumed that the food belong to us. Finally our waiter received our order, and then cleared the table. I tried a lamb pastry and a chicken pastry in addition to the pasteis de nata. The pastries I had for breakfast and lunch were delicious. They were so buttery and crispy. 

My friend had a quiche, and a meat pie of some sort. I had Lamb and Chicken. 

Places to visit

Jeronimos Monastery - I suggest that if you do not have a ticket to go here early. I waited about 45-50 minutes to enter the Monastery.At the entrance, the left is to enter the Monastery. The right side has a door to the chapel, and that is free to enter.

Torre de Belem - I did not enter the Torre but you can see from the outside. 

Padrao dos Descobrimentos - You have to walk through a park from the Jeronimos Monastery to get to Padrao dos Descobrimentos. It was pretty amazing and we went on such a beautiful day. You can walk a little further to see the Torre de Belem

25 de Abril Bridge - Which has the same builders of the San Francisco - Oakland bridge

I enjoyed my half day trip to Belem. Belem is close to Lisbon and is very easy to get to by bus. I took Bus no. 28 from Praça da Figueira. While I love the Pasteis de Belem, I wouldn't say you should go all the way to Belem just for this. If you're there, you should definitely try it. It's one bus stop before the Jeronimos Monastery bus stop. Also, since the weather was so beautiful on the day we went to Belem, it just made the experience so much better. I really liked walking through the Jeronimos Monastery, and walking along the walk near the water.