The final day dawned sunny again. After a farewell breakfast we checked out quickly and left our luggage to be picked up on the way back to the airport. We then went to the Jeronimos Monastery only to find a long winding queue though we were there at 10.05 for a 10 am opening. Luckily, D's pregnant tummy got us straight in, into the fantastic monastery. This was easily the highlight of our trip and it came as no surprise that this fantastic building is a UNESCO World heritage sight.
The cloisters and the high vaulted ceilings in the Manueline style were a sight to behold. The monastery's library provided interesting insights in to the history of the monastery. The portals, the ceilings and even the pillars were all ornately and exquisitely detailed with stone work. The church to the side of the monastery had fabulous, tall stained glass windows. The gallery from the monastery enjoined the church and gave a view of the inside of the phenomenal beauty of the church from atop. We could not but spend a lot of time admiring the beauty and reminiscing about the ancient temples and palaces of India that have this and more but are not very well maintained, if at all.
We then walked across the park and along the Tagus once again to the monument of discoveries and the Belem tower. We then crossed the park again to visit the Pasteis de Belem Cafe, a cafe open from 1837 and famed for its pastries. We packed some delicacies to go, grabbed some sandwiches from Starbucks next door and took the tram back to Praca do Commercio.
From here we took the famous yellow bus tram which is more modern , costly and hence with no pick pockets as opposed to the historic tram 28. It took the same route as tram 28 ,with an audio describing the various landmarks as we wound through the historic areas of Lisbon.
The most impressive buildings on this ride for me were the Sao Bento Palace which is the current Portuguese Parliament with its traditionally dressed soldiers standing guard and the Basilica de Estrela with its domed roofs.
Sadly that brought us to the end of the Lisbon trip. We realised that, as is the case with many European capitals, a Lisbon trip has enough for 10 days if not more and not a mere 5. We missed the Monserrate palace, the moorish palace, the count's house tour and lots more..
The friendly locals made me want to comeback again like I would, just for the locals and their lack of prejudice to Italy ( Not Naples), Catalonia ( Not Madrid), Athens, Mykonos, Cyprus , US, Singapore but not Kualalmpur, Paris, Switzerland or Edinburgh.
We got off there and took the bus back to the hotel. We picked up our luggage and took the aerobus to the airport. We battled the terribly long security queue to the woefully crowded lounge and the amazingly inadequate food court to another long boarding queue to be seated in the flightonly to be told that the flight was delayed for another 2 hours. Luckily that changed and we took off and made good time and the arrival was delayed only by 5 minutes.
There was still the 2 hour drive back from Luton which was thankfully uneventful. We walked in exhausted and flopped on to our beds around 1am but with yet more wonderful memories to sustain us through the daily grind.
The cloisters and the high vaulted ceilings in the Manueline style were a sight to behold. The monastery's library provided interesting insights in to the history of the monastery. The portals, the ceilings and even the pillars were all ornately and exquisitely detailed with stone work. The church to the side of the monastery had fabulous, tall stained glass windows. The gallery from the monastery enjoined the church and gave a view of the inside of the phenomenal beauty of the church from atop. We could not but spend a lot of time admiring the beauty and reminiscing about the ancient temples and palaces of India that have this and more but are not very well maintained, if at all.
We then walked across the park and along the Tagus once again to the monument of discoveries and the Belem tower. We then crossed the park again to visit the Pasteis de Belem Cafe, a cafe open from 1837 and famed for its pastries. We packed some delicacies to go, grabbed some sandwiches from Starbucks next door and took the tram back to Praca do Commercio.
From here we took the famous yellow bus tram which is more modern , costly and hence with no pick pockets as opposed to the historic tram 28. It took the same route as tram 28 ,with an audio describing the various landmarks as we wound through the historic areas of Lisbon.
The most impressive buildings on this ride for me were the Sao Bento Palace which is the current Portuguese Parliament with its traditionally dressed soldiers standing guard and the Basilica de Estrela with its domed roofs.
Sadly that brought us to the end of the Lisbon trip. We realised that, as is the case with many European capitals, a Lisbon trip has enough for 10 days if not more and not a mere 5. We missed the Monserrate palace, the moorish palace, the count's house tour and lots more..
The friendly locals made me want to comeback again like I would, just for the locals and their lack of prejudice to Italy ( Not Naples), Catalonia ( Not Madrid), Athens, Mykonos, Cyprus , US, Singapore but not Kualalmpur, Paris, Switzerland or Edinburgh.
We got off there and took the bus back to the hotel. We picked up our luggage and took the aerobus to the airport. We battled the terribly long security queue to the woefully crowded lounge and the amazingly inadequate food court to another long boarding queue to be seated in the flightonly to be told that the flight was delayed for another 2 hours. Luckily that changed and we took off and made good time and the arrival was delayed only by 5 minutes.
There was still the 2 hour drive back from Luton which was thankfully uneventful. We walked in exhausted and flopped on to our beds around 1am but with yet more wonderful memories to sustain us through the daily grind.
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