Day 22 - Belém

# Pasteis de Nata: 1, Distance Walked: 14.6km, # Floors Climbed: 12

I didn't sleep well last night.  I could have the air conditioning on, but it was quite noisy.  Also it had a bright green light on it just to show you it was working.  If I turned it off and just opened a window I was too hot.  Also, when I looked out my window this morning I noticed this chimney.  Is it just me or is that the sort of chimney they have at crematoriums?

Today my plan was to visit various sites and museums in the suburb of Belém which is about 8km out of the centre of Lisbon.  

Step 1 was to pick up my Lisboa Card.  This card gives me free public transport and free entry to about 50 museums plus discounts to various others.  In theory this should have been easy.  I ambled to the closest place listed on their website for card collection.  I got there as they opened at 10am only to be told it wasn't possible to get my card there.  Instead, I had to go to somewhere completely different to get it.  Fortunately, that place was close by.  

Next step was to get to Belém.  There are 3 options - tram (slow and crowded), bus (slow and crowded) or train (much quicker).  I assumed it would also be less crowded but it turns out it is the train to Cascais.  While about 10,000 other people had the same smart idea as I did, another 50,000 had decided to spend the day at the beach so the train was crowded too.  (Those figures might be a slight exaggeration.)

First stop was an amble along the waterfront to the Monument of Discoveries where I dutifully took my tourist photos.  They had an exhibition inside on the history and importance of sardines (free with my card) but I was able to resist.

Next stop was the Tower of Belém, which I had particularly wanted to visit (also free with my card).  However, it was closed for renovations so I had to settle for more photos.

By this stage I was getting peckish.  There were all sorts of restaurants and stalls along the waterfront, including this one - who is a little far from home.

I went a street or two away from the waterfront and tried the menu do dia at a traditional restaurant.  It was a mistake.  I had bread (Decent) and olives (hadn't been brined long enough so were bitter) to nibble on first.  Then the dish of the day was grilled sirloin.  This was actually more like 3 thin minute steaks.  I ordered it medium rare and it was properly cooked on the inside.  However, the grill hadn't been hot enough and it was grey on the outside.  It was also tough.  It came with - you guessed it - french fries and rice.   I finished with an espresso which was burnt.  Except for the bread, a Dull meal.   I should hve tried the poutine.

The only excitment was provided by the grill chef.  There was an open kitchen so we could watch him work.  While he didn't have the grill hot enough when cooking my meal, he made the reverse error with another dish.  He burnt it so badly he filled the restaurant with smoke.  People were coughing.

After lunch I went to the Maritime Museum.  Having seen the Atlantic Ocean and the Portuguese coast I'm even more impressed at the mariners who braved sailing that sea, especially on such fragile ships.  The museum included a collection of royal ships too.   These were not so fragile.  In fact, they were heavy with bling.

After this I had planned to either go to the National Coach Museum or the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (both free with my card).  However, on the way I came across a museum called Quake which was all about the devastating 1755 earthquake here in Lisbon so I went there instead.  It is a private museum and cost a whopping 30E (no discounts with my card).

It is an immersive museum with 9 rooms.  You go through it in groups, spending 10 or so minutes in each room.  You are locked in each room and the door to the next only opens when you've spent the appropriate amount of time in the room.

The first room was a cheesy introduction.  There was a voiceover from a mad scientist telling you he was going to send you back in time to investigate the 1755 earthquake.  The 2nd had a bunch of interactive displays teaching you about earthquakes and the resulting tsunamis, how they form and what to do to be safe.  I would have liked to spend more time here playing with all the displays.  The third room had two subrooms - one about the 1906 San Francisco earthquake (complete with a floor that shook in replica of the earthquake) and one about the more recent (2011?) quake in Japan.  These were interesting.

The 4th room was a waste of time.  This one was the time machine that sent us back to 1755 with various famous events shown on a timeline to mimic travelling backwards in time.  The 5th room put us in a replica Lisbon street scene from 1755.  This was interesting.  

The 6th room was the best.  The earthquake happen on 1 November which is All Saints Day so many people were in church when it hit.  This room was a replica of a church and we all sat in pews watching the mass being held on a screens all around us.  Then our seats all started shaking in a replica earthquake, with images of the walls and ceiling falling down around us.  This was actually a bit scary and you were thrown around quite violently.  I can't imagine what it must of been like to actually live through it.

The 7th room had displays showing what Lisbon was like in the immediate aftermath of the quake, including a video of what the tsunami must have looked like.  The 8th room was all about how the rebuilding was done.  I wanted to spend more time here too.  The final room was the time machine again taking us back to the present, complete with cheesy voiceover telling us we were all now ambassadors for earthquake safety and preparedness.  If the tickets to this had cost 15E or even 20E this would have been an excellent museum.  

Mind you, if you live somewhere where severe earthquakes can happen such as Lisbon (or California or Japan) I suppose it is important to be prepared and knowledgeable about such things.  There are these tsunami warning signs all over the lower parts of Lisbon.

By the time my visit to Quake was over it was getting on for 6pm.  I had planned to take the tram back to downtown Lisbon but I was near the station so I took the train instead.  It was crowded again with everyone returning from their day at the beach.

I decided to have dinner at the restaurant in my hotel.  I couldn't be bothered walking any further today.  I started with the vegetable soup of the day.  I tried asking the waiter what vegetable exactly but that was beyond his English skills.  I think it was pumpkin.  It was quite Decent.  Next I had bacalhau a bras.  This was basically a hash made of salt cod, potatoes, onions and olives topped with crunchy fried potatoes and a raw egg yolk to break into it to make a sauce.  It was also quite tasty and Decent.  Dessert sadly was Bad.  It was three layers of chocolate cake, layered with chocolate ganache and served with chocolate ice cream.  The ganache and ice cream were bland and the cake was very dry and tasteless.

Tomorrow morning is my food tour.  Hopefully I'll eat better tomorrow.  I should get Good food during the tour at least.