A short Tram 15 ride away to the southwest from Lisbon, Belém beckons. Two main sights draw the visitors in – the Jerónimos Monastery and the Tower of Belém. Some may say there’s a third attraction – the Pastéis de Belém where queue stretches beyond its front door with a length that rivals the monastery and the tower. Arriving late in the afternoon from Tomar, we skipped the pastry and visited the heritage sites. (There are quite a few museums around too but they don’t have quite the pull like these three.)
We visited on the first Sunday of the month, so both Tower of Belém and Jerónimos Monastery were free to enter. That being on the weekend, there were quite a lot of people visiting too, but without the delays caused by ticket purchase, we did get in reasonably quickly. A 10-minutes walk separate the two if you go along the seafront, passing the Monument to the Discoveries en route, with a view of the reduced-size Golden Gate Bridge (actually Ponte 25 de Abril) and Christ the Redeemer (known as Cristo Rei) in the horizon.
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Strategically placed on a hill and overlooking the town while remaining near to River Nabão, the Castelo de Tomar is an imposing figure, protective over the Convento de Cristo, as both constructed were under the watchful eyes of Gualdim Pais and set to be the seat of the Knights Templar in Portugal. Today a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site, the air of mystery is abound within the walls of the castle and the convent, alongside interesting Templar and Manueline architecture – with hints of Moorish and Gothic influence – to feast our eyes upon.
The castle, expectedly, forms the defence system which in the past, secured the Christian Kingdom which was advancing from the north against the Moors which reigned supreme in the south. The outer defensive wall has sloped lower half and round towers to make it more difficult to attack. When the citadel within reached its capacity for residency, dwellings outside the walls were built, which gave rise to Tomar. As you can imagine, it’s now a relatively easy walk between the town and the castle.
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We took one look at Sintra and F turned to me, “Are you sure we won’t add another night here and reduce one in Tomar?”. In hindsight, yes, we should have done that. Don’t get me wrong – Tomar is a lovely historical town (more on this when I get round to writing about it) but there are just so much more to do and to visit in Sintra – in addition to being drop dead gorgeous – by comparison that we could benefit from a longer visit here. The 48-hours we allocated flew by far too quickly so we were also rather baffled to see so many day-trippers from Lisbon shuttling in and out quickly in a few hours.
Travellers from Lisbon, us included, can easily get to Sintra in about 45 minutes from Lisboa-Rossio train station, if one managed to find the train station in the first place… It is not the best sign-posted train station we’ve ever came across and from the exterior, it could easily passed for a city hall or something to that effect. Gorgeous building, terrible signage. In any case, armed with our topped-up Viva Viagem card, we beeped our way across the barrier and hopped on the next train out. There are trains every 10-30 minutes, depending on the time of the day, and one-way travel costs €2.15 per person.
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We flew a couple of hours across the Atlantic from Lisbon, where all that I could see from my 5E seat (read: not much) was a large expanse of water for the bulk of the journey, when billowy clouds start to make their appearance. I joked to F that it’d just be our luck to get cloudy weather in the Azores when it had been clear up until now, and boy I should have kept my mouth shut. Indeed, we would soon be landing, and the clouds were there to stay and kept us company for the day.
The masterplan: fly in to Horta, Faial, on the first flight and catch a ferry to Madalena, Pico, the same morning at 10.45am. However, our flight departure was delayed so we missed the sailing by 15 minutes and had to wait till 1.15pm. Maybe just as well. We were at the ferry terminal when I noticed that “our” checked luggage was not ours. Darn! A frantic call later – thank goodness for luggage tag – we managed to locate its owner who, in turn, had our luggage. He was also travelling to Pico, so at least we could luggage-swap without having to return to the airport.
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We had initially planned to hike in Lovćen National Park but soon learned that “daily departure” and “minimum 2 persons” indicators on a tour website could not always be counted on. A change of plan was needed, so we opted to rent a kayak for two for the day and head out for a paddle in the Bay of Kotor. This would be my very first kayaking experience, and the fact that the ria is deep enough for cruise boats to get in and out made me a little nervous. I’m still a fledgling swimmer afterall!
We started out from Mua, the small town that’s right across from Kotor. After being instructed to try to stay by the coastal front, and advised on the safest strategy should we ever wish to cross the width of any part of the ria, we were sent on our merry way, our bag tucked into a waterproof drum behind us and a small waterproof daypack inside the kayak itself. I had swapped our regular dSLR for my trusty old compact to take photos on this excursion to avoid potential problem, like, I don’t know, drowning the dSLR in salty water?
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Between the very early start in the morning to catch our flight, and the heat that we were yet unaccustomed to, F and I struggled to stay awake during the hour-long bus ride from Herceg Novi to Kotor. I think I gave in to a few minutes of nap but as I jolted awake, I looked out the window in amazement. The Bay of Kotor was breathtakingly beautiful.
A World Heritage Site, Kotor sits at the farthest pocket of the bay, backed by steep, rocky and grey mountains on its rear. Its medieval centre is enclosed within impressive city walls, filled with small streets that form a labyrinth of sort, and perfect for exploration by foot. Having been under the Venetian rules for several centuries, traces of this old empire are easily, most notably the relief of the winged lion at multiple locations within the stari grad.
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