Portuguese Tarts @ Pasties de Belem – My New Favourite Treat

We bumped into Uwe at breakfast today and found out that we were heading in the same direction - the district of Belem to check out the Jeronimos Monastery – so we traveled together again.  We went to catch the tram, but it turned out the tram to Belem was not running today so a tram driver told us we should catch bus #40 across the Plaza.

After waiting 25 minutes, we became frustrated with the bus system and decided to share a cab with another random person Paul met at the bus stop who was also going to the Monastery.  We never learned his name but he told us he’s a history professor from a college in Chicago, here on his sabbatical and he gave us a few good tips on places in the world he has traveled to.

We decided to start our day at Belem Tower, a fortified tower built in the early 16th century and from there, walk to the main part of town where the Monastery is located.  The tower was neat but did not seem worth going into for 5 euros so Paul and I waited outside while Uwe and the stranger went in.  They came back in 15 minutes and confirmed that it wasn’t worth it

From there we walked over to The Discoveries Monument to check out the amazingly sculptured exterior, and then over to the Jeronimos Monastery.  The church part of the Monastery is free, but you must pay to go inside to see the rest.  Uwe said it should be quite interesting to see the other parts because its where the monks used to live, so we decided to pay the 6 euros each to get inside.  We noticed that there was a family price for 9 euros for two adults with two children, but when we asked if we could get a family price since we were married but didn’t have children the guy at the counter said no.  I’m not sure if he didn’t believe that we’re married or we constitute a family, or if you really must have children to get a family rate, but it seemed rather silly to us.

As it turns out, the inside of the Monastery was a waste of time and money.  There is nothing in there but a big courtyard and a giant cardboard exhibit that takes you through the history of the monastery, the history of Portugal, and the history of the world.  I started to read this but got bored by the time I got to the second phase of the Monastery’s construction and gave up.  I would strongly recommend anyone going to the Monastery to not bother with the paid part and just visit the free church.  The church was amazing.  Unfortunately, my camera battery died because I forgot to charge it   Ultimate fail!

After the Monastery, the three of us decided to grab some lunch again before heading our separate ways – we had to get back to the hostel for Paul to work and Uwe was off to see the Anthropology museum.  The other people at the hostel had said we must get pastries at Pasties de Belem which was right by the Monastery, across the street from the bus stop, so we went straight there.   Again, we couldn’t figure out how to order at the counter, but a waiter pointed us to a table so we sat and he brought us menus.

We randomly picked a few lunch items - this menu had an english section which we could more or less understand and, thanks to Uwe, I figured out the coffee menu (which doesn’t come in an english version).  Caffe here is just espresso, Caffe con Leite is espresso with a little milk, and Galao is espresso with a lot of milk (sort of like a latte).  We ordered 3 tarts, which are their specialty, 1 chocolate croissant, 1 sandwhich, 2 individual pizzas, 2 Galao, and 1 Caffe con Leite.  Everything tasted awesome – especially the tarts which came out warm!  In case you don’t know what a Portuguese tart is, it’s like a chinese egg tart made with phyllo pastry.  The cherry on top was that the bill came out to only 14 euros!  If you’re in Lisbon, Pasties de Belem is a must!!!