Lisbon. June 13

We had a bit of a late start after our exciting festival night out and took the day to explore Belem, a well known area of Lisbon. It was really close by train, about 7 minutes, and we met Jas at the station to go together. Arriving in Belem we headed straight for the famed Portuguese tart shop, 'Café Pastéis de Belém'. FYI anyone who goes to Portugal, you MUST get these. Basically the best pastry ever, so crispy and flaky. Then they're filled with a delicious, smooth, creamy custard and cooked so they are brown on top. YUM. So we each got one, and the wait was worth it. They were the best we'd had the entire time. (P.S. So you understand how good they were. Elise hates custard. Elise lurved these.)We then headed to a cafe to get some coffee before tackling the sights of Belem.

Classic pink buildings, green guards and yellow tram. Good one Lisbon

LOOK CLOSELY AT HOW GOOD THOUGH

The main sights are the cathedral, which was incredible, huge and very beautiful, and a bit further away the tower. Unfortunately both were closed because it was a public holiday because of the sardine fest. Public for everyone bar the garbage men and street cleaners, they had a fun day ahead of them! Instead we got to go into a small part of the cathedral, which was still impressive and then see the outside of the tower.

Why be closed pretty cathedral?

Open chapel

Those feels

Some gigantor monument we didn't climb

After this we parted ways with Jas, as she had a street art tour to get to, and Elise went into Museu Coleção Berardo, the modern and contemporary art gallery of Lisbon. She was pretty over the moon to find a wonderful Anish Kapoor work, 'Eyes Turned Inwards', and a James Turrell piece hidden around a corner. The entire gallery was amazing, and the collection was huge, so Elise took about an hour over her estimated time, wooooopppsss. Ash explored the small part of Lisbon some more. The whole town is very quaint and beautiful. It follows the pastel and tile themes of the Lisbon buildings, all really fun and interesting to look at. We both met up again for a lunch just on the Main Street in this tiny restaurant. The young boy who was serving us recommended dishes for both of us, Elise getting a fish dish and Ash, chicken. Both were very tasty. We also asked him for his best pastries, and ended up with literally every kind they served, but we're only charged for two! AMAZING. They we're all delicious, one was the Portuguese tart, another a beer cake, which involves no beer and is pastry with a sweet almond filling. There were also two short bread like biscuits which were incredible, one was very dense and sweet inside, which was both our faves!

Outside the gallery

Anish Kapoor <3 Elise lurv you bro

Random church Ash found

Can't tell, but Ash caught the end of a wedding. Win. 

Yum fish. mmmmm so tasty. (It actually was though?) - Elise

After waiting for a good while at the station, we caught the train back to Lisbon and had an early night, attempting to update you all with our blog.

Love A&E