Music played in Jardim da Praça do Império, Christmas Eve
23 December 2024
We chose to be naughty today, since Santa won’t get word of that until after he has started his flight from the North Pole with his packages for us tomorrow, and we’ll still get the packages despite our naughty behavior the day before Christmas Eve. Besides being naughty and spending much time just relaxing and reading and sipping port, we did a desultory shopping expedition to a little mini-mart and a wine shop next to it on R. Alexandre Herculano a few blocks from the hotel, and bought some oranges, rolls, potato chips, candy, and a bottle of wine.
As we had walked the day before, we had noticed a ramen restaurant not far from the hotel, Buga Ramen Expo on R. Braamcamp near the Marquês de Pombal circle, and we decided in the late afternoon to walk there and have a ramen meal. We shared an appetizer plate of pork gyozas with a bowl of kimchi on the side, and then shared a plate of chicken karaage and a bowl of ramen with grilled shrimp on skewers. The ramen was a nice change from the endless bread, cheese, and sausage we’ve been eating.
Then back to the room for more rest and an early night of sleep….
25 December 2024
On Christmas Eve, we decided that the day would be a good one to go to Belém and look around. Fortunately, there was a helpful clerk at the hotel desk who told us that it was easy to get there from the hotel by heading up the street in the direction of the Docelândia café on R. Braamcamp where we’ve been having breakfast — when it’s not closed for Sunday and the Christmas holidays — and catch a bus there, the 727, for Belém. We had thought, looking at maps in Rick Steves’ guidebook, that we needed to take the blue line subway in the direction of Santa Apolónia, then switch to the green line, and finally take a bus or tram to Belém.
The bus proved much easier and more direct, and it was a treat to sit in it and look out the windows at the beautiful city as it wended its way to Belém. We decided that the best stop for us to get off at in in Belém was the stop at the Jéronimos monastery, and since I had noticed that right before that stop there’s the “original” pastel bakery, Pastéis de Belém, we thought we’d go there first and have pastéis.
It was about noontime when we arrived in Belém, and from the bus, I could see that the line to get into Pastéis de Belém was horrendously long, stretching out of the bakery-restaurant all the way down the street. We decided to brave the line and walked and got into it, and Steve then left me in line to walk to the bakery itself and see if there were other options.
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| Pastéis de Belém interior |
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| Pastéis de Belém tilework |
It was really good that he did that, since it turned out that the line we were in was for takeout orders and there was a shorter, if still very long, line to eat inside the bakery-restaurant. We got into it and in fairly short order found ourselves seated in a very airy, pleasant room full of light, with beautiful blue and white tiled walls. When our waitress, Débora, came to take our order, she said the place had been a madhouse all day due to most other places being closed and people flocking to Pastéis de Belém.
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| Pastéis and coffee, Pastéis de Belém |
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| Pastéis and coffee, Pastéis de Belém |
When they came, the pastéis were delicious, still warm from the oven, with crunchy pastry shells and a custard filling less sweet than other pastéis we’ve had in our time in Lisbon. After we’d eaten then and drunk our cups of coffee with milk, we walked on to the monastery, which was not open for visitors, but still had throngs of tourists outside it. The outside with its elaborated carvings and statuary was quite beautiful in the clear December afternoon sunlight, and it was very pleasant to spend time in front of the monastery looking at it.
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| Jéronimos Monastery |
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| Jéronimos Monastery |
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| Jéronimos Monastery |
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| Seahorse Sculptures, Jardim da Praça do Império |
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| Monument to the Discoveries viewed from Jardim da Praça do Império |
We then crossed the street to the Jardim do Praça do Império, which stands between the monastery and the river. A woman was playing Christmas songs on a flute in a big square in the gardens, and I took a great video of her making beautiful music, with a seagull sailing serenely into the picture at the end. We spent delightful time walking through the gardens in the wonderful sunlight, and ended up for a small bite to eat at one of the chain bakeries called A Padaira Portuguesa down the street from Pastéis de Belém, and ordered bowls of the soup of the day, which appeared to be a purée of carrot and some other yellow vegetable, possibly sweet potato or a winter squash. We also ordered and split a ham and cheese sandwich and some mineral water, and then made our way back by bus to Hotel Florida and again spent a restful late afternoon and went to sleep early, knowing as we did so that on Christmas, we’d be eating late in the day, since the Moroccan restaurant at which we made reservations does not open until 7:30 P.M.
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| A Padaira Portuguesa, Belém |
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| Carrot soup and ham and cheese sandwich, A Padaira Portuguesa, Belém |
We watched a good if somewhat strange German film on Kanopy on the computer as we lay in bed prior to sleeping — “Roter Himmel” (“Afire”). I’m not sure if I could summarize the plot, but the movie definitely held my interest. Then to bed….
Then this Christmas morning after we’d gotten up a bit earlier than we have been doing, around 7:30, we went down to the breakfast room and had breakfast, and decided after that that we’d take a walk to the botanical gardens, which are not too far from the hotel and which were ostensibly open according to their website — but we’ve learned that lots of websites are stating the places in Lisbon are open today though they are, in fact, closed for Christmas. We thought the walk would be worth it even if the gardens were closed.
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| View to Basilica de Estrela from R. de Escola Politécnica |
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| View to Cristo Rey from R. de Escola Politécnica |
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| Gate at National Museum of Natural History and Science, on R. de Escola Politécnica |
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| Gate at National Museum of Natural History and Science, on R. de Escola Politécnica |
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| Cork tree, Jardim do Príncipe Real on R. de Escola Politécnica |
And so it was. We walked again along R. Alexandre Herculano where we’ve done a bit of shopping, then to R. Nova de São Mamede and finally to R. da Escola Politécnica on which the entrance to the gardens is found. As we expected, they were not open today — but the walk was well worth it, for several beautiful overlook views we saw as we looked down side streets from Escola Politécnica, one to the Basilica de Estrela and another to Cristo Rey. We also enjoyed the lovely ironwork of the gates to the museum of natural history and science, as we also enjoyed seeing some spectacular trees — cork? — in the Jardim do Príncipe Real on R. de Escola Politécnica.
Then back to the hotel, and since we saw that the restaurant next to it, Basilico, was open, we stopped in and asked if we could have coffee. They kindly sat us inside instead at one of the outside tables where people were smoking, and we whiled away a nice hour sipping coffee, sharing a small pot of caramel gelato, and finishing off with a glass each of Chardonnay grappa.
Now, after we slept an hour or so, we’re waiting for the 7:30 restaurant event….
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