Lisbon

We were last in Lisbon in March 2014 when we had 4 days to see the sights, so we had our bearings for this one day visit.
It was cloudy when we set off after breakfast. We drove to Lisbon to the Bélem area which is to the west of the city and closest to the Atlantic. It is the port from which Vaso da Gama set off on his discovery trip to India. There we visited St Jeronimus monestery.

Jeronimus is a very splendid building and full of people paying their respects (maybe) to Vasco da Gama.

The man himself

We had a short tour before a stroll around the gardens while our guide rushed off to buy some of the local cakes for us, Pastelda Belémet. We had tried them before, but these were the best.
Then it was back in the bus for a drive around in the other sights in Bélem. We only saw the tower of Bélem from the outside. It was once a prison and was also the first thing that those returning from a voyage of discovery saw.

This monument has a long list of names of those who died in Portuguese wars

The view across the bay With the 25th April bridge and the statue of Christ the Redeemer on the far bank.

The monument of discovery

Then it was time for lunch

The plan for the afternoon was that we took a trip on a tram. There is a circular tour that passes many of the sights. It is not possible to reserve a tram, so we joined the queue. Our guide had said that we would need to take two trams (they seat about 20) but when the first tram arrived, she tried to get us all in. The driver was clearly willing, but not all the group. As it was, the first tram set off with passengers over 80 standing! We were on the second tram with instructions that there was a problem on the tracks and that we would need to change trams.
Last time we were in Lisbon we took a sight seeing bus and this worked well for getting around and seeing the sights. We used the tram for getting around, but it doesn't do the job for sight seeing. Trams in Lisbon do not have their own space in the narrow streets and so the are subject to traffic jams, cars parked in the wrong place, delivery lorries delivering and similar problems, so the advantages of a tram are lost in Lisbon.
This is a one way street, so we had to wait for trams coming the other way.

The church of St Vincent

There are notices on trams warning of pickpockets. John had at attempt to pick his pocket, but fortunately without success.
As we approached out starting point, the driver declared that this was the terminus and we should all get off the tram. We knew that the group that left first were already at the terminus, but when we alighted, there was no sign of them. Fortunately we were able to ring our guide and tell here were we were, so we waiting altogether for what seemed like ages, expecting a large group to appear. Eventually we caught sight of the bus appearing in the square with the first group already installed.
We were soon on our way back to the hotel and headed straight for the dining room, somewhat later than we had intended.

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