Lisbon - Day 2

Our second and final day in Lisbon began with a walk to the nearby bullfight ring, Campo Pequeno. No bullfights were scheduled for today which is a good thing because this ring is no longer designed for them. The bulls would need to hustle outside.

Come to think of it, this is the first bullring I've seen. Don't think I've come across one in Spain... either that or I wasn't paying attention.

We passed Campo Pequeno only because it was close to our chosen lunch venue, Fogo De Chao. That's right, you guessed it - a churrascaria. This time we were given a little block of wood - one end coloured red, the other green. At first we thought, 'wtf is this for?'. It was pretty obvious thereafter that red meant 'Stop with the meat, man' and green meant 'Bring on that animal muscle fibre'.

Smee beside the large photograph of meat skewers. Mmmm ... inviting...

The food was as you'd expect - meaty. The salad bar in these places are a poor accompaniment and are more often just a display case of boring, wilting salads and sometimes, even more meat! People seriously can't eat like this everyday. They would die of... erm... tired jaw muscles from masticating all that meat.

I made the most of the non-protein food on offer - grilled fresh pineapple. Refreshing!

Banana fritters. One of my faves. I asked for extra!

That's one mean looking Passador, but really, he was quite friendly and kept giving us the best cuts of meat.

Afterwards, we toyed with the idea of going to the airport early but instead we jumped in a cab and headed towards the area of Belem to see THE symbol of Lisbon. I would have been quite upset to have come all this way and not have seen it in it's stony flesh. The cab ride was only about 15-20 minutes which was much better than the 1 hour public transport alternative.

So what was I fussing about? The Belem Tower! It was built in the 1500s as part of the city's defense system.

Looks pretty good for a 500 year old building. I could post up about 50 other photos of the tower, but that would just bore you to pieces.

Nearby was the Monument to the Discoveries. You gotta remember that Portugal was a superpower a few hundred years back. That was pretty cool too. I thought it was constructed not too long after Belem Tower but then I found out it was built in 1960.

A close up of the Portuguese explorers, including Henry the Navigator and Vasco da Gama.

We didn't have time to explore the nearby monastery, but it looked pretty spiffy from the cab. Neither did we have time to stuff ourselves with tarts at Pateis de Belem, the 160 year old patisserie.

Our cabbie was super-friendly and clearly wanting to practise his English skills. He helpfully pointed out some pickpockets at the tram stop (and cursed their presence) and then proceeded to give us a verbal tour of Lisbon. He drove us past the aqueduct which remained standing after the destructive 1755 earthquake. All very interesting. I'm starting to sound like a textbook.

With that, we bid adieu to Portugal. I might visit again.....or probably not.