(written 22/3/2006 in Granada, España, by
Liz)
Once again, it rained all night, but we were still dry in our tent. Our tent is tiny, so I find it quite suprising that we managed to stay dry - I thought we were going to flood for sure!
In the morning, we again waited a while in the tent, and the rain finally slowed then stopped.
We went out to the bus stop, and caught a bus to Belém, one of the suburbs of Lisbon. We had decided to go here for a few reasons - it was right on the river, it had lots of winding little backstreets to explore, and most importantly, it reputedly has the best pastel de nata's in all of Portugal.
We spent a little while looking at the river and getting a few photos, before searching out the cafe where the famous pasteal de nata's were to be found - the Confeitaria de Belém.
I have to say, we
weren't disappointed, not only were the custard tarts the best we had had (hot custard, crispy, flakey pastry - it's too hard to describe how delicious they were), but their coffee was pretty special too, and I'm not usually such a big fan of coffee.
After all this tasty goodness, we thought we wouldn't find too much better to see in Lisbon (and the weather was looking dodgy again), so we caught the bus back to the camp ground, packed up the tent, and drove off.
Our road out of Lisbon proved much easier than the road on the way in had, and we found ourselves on the right road, heading in the right direction quite quickly. It was quite an unusual experience for us :)
Anyway, we drove over Lisbon's river, Rio Tejo, and then headed east.
We had a quick stop on the motorway for lunch (Servo food is terrible the world over), and then continued on our way.
Our last stop in Portugal was the tiny walled village of Monsaraz, quite close to the Portugal/Spain border. This quiet and peaceful town is set high on a hill, overlooking the surrounding farmland and countryside. You can hear sheep bells ringing in the distance, and see across the river towards Spain in the distance. As you walk along the narrow cobblestone streets, you suddenly come to a gap in the houses, and catch a glimpse of the green countryside beneath the village.
It was a very nice stop, but I think we were both a tad nervous about leaving the car near such an obviously touristy spot again. But never fear, our car was safe and sound when we returned, and we were soon back on the road.
One bridge and a few short kilometers later, we drove back into España.