While in Lisbon, we always try to squeeze in a few day trips to nearby historical locations. One of the locations is Belem, home to the portuguese President and where you will find some of the most amazing monuments to the Discoveries. We visited Torre de Belem last time we were in town, so this time we focused on the Mosteiro (monastery) dos Jeronimos and a traditional staple of this town, a famos pastry shop which specializes in "pasteis de Belem", a flaky pastry with a custard filling. They sell an average of 6,000 of these pastries a day...!!
We also took off, one day, along with my mom and sister, to Conimbriga, a place where Romans built a city more than two thousand years ago, and where they lived for nearly 500 years. There is not much left, but most divisions are still very well defined and the mosaic work is absolutely stunning!! Upon visiting the museum, it was incredible to see that, even then , the romans used many items that are very similar to our modern things, such as safety pins, combs, tweezers, etc!!
Close by was a small children's park called Portugal dos Pequenitos (Portugal for small kids), where you will find a multitude of small scale typically portuguese buidings that kids can go in and out of.
Before we came home, we stopped in Batalha, home to one of the most incredible monasteries you will ever see...!! The Mosteiro da Batalha was built in the 14th century by order of the reigning king and is now considered, by Unesco, as part of the world patrimony. It is the final resting place to many kings and queens and the architectural details are breathtaking!!
The weekend before leaving, I could not miss a visit to a weekly flea market called Feira da Ladra. It literally means (female) Thieves Fair, the name being based on the way this selling location was started. Now it is properly regulated and most sellers are legitimate!! Unlique Paris and London, you can truly find an incredible amount of bargains as many sellers are not aware of the true worth of their items. I won't even tell you how much I paid for most of my finds...!! All I can say is, I wish I had a crate I could just ship home, I would have come back with much, much more!!! The fair spreads out through different areas and even through the adjacent streets, and you really have to look through much junk to find your treasures, but I found most sellers very delightful and very eager to make a sale!
A seller off one of the streets had a small handwritten note which read "to the person who stole a Seiko watch last week, could you please do the favor of returning it." I found the naivete of this note really endearing... The last picture includes my finds for that day (please make sure to click on the picture for an up-close look), of which my favorites are the old set of alphabet stamps, the enamel salt box and the doll! When my husband saw all this, he asked how we were going to bring it home, and just with my look, he self appointed himself as official carrier (yes, we hand carried it home!!), or, as he says, official "donkey"!!
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