Our first day in Lisbon was awesome. We got to see so much of the city, and watch the sunset from a castle.

On our second day in Lisbon we took the train to Mosteiro dos Jerónimos and Torre de Belém (Jeronimos Monastery and Tower of Belem). Both were just gorgeous. The monastery was so massive and impressive and make you feel so small in comparison. The cloisters were so beautiful. While it was very crowded, there were a few moments here and there without anyone around, and it was awesome to really take in the eeriness of being in a place so old.

On the way to the monastery, Aldo had his first taste of Pastel de Nata, a delicious Portuguese pastry. Since we’ve been back, we found one store in Union, NJ that sells these pastries. You bet your bottom we bought a bunch when we were there!

On our way to the attractions we also stopped to get some exercise:

Some of us had more trouble than others:

And finally, we get to the Monastery:

Here is a view of the Monastery from the Monument of the Discoveries. The building is HUGE!

Inside the monastery and the cloisters:

It was awesome discovering all the narrow hallways and dark staircases, imagining what it was like to walk through the cloisters 400 years ago!

People were tiny back then (1500-1600 AD):

And here is the Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Monument to the Discoveries) that I mentioned:

And now for my favorite part of the day – Torre de Belém. I just loved this Tower of Belem because it seemed to small, cute, and charming in comparison to all the churches we’ve seen. But it only seemed that way in comparison, because in reality it is a huge tower!

The view from the tower is amazing:

We had an awesome second day exploring this area around Lisbon. I loved the almost whimsical detail of the architecture on the Tower of Belem, and I was very impressed by the size and grandness of the monastery.

When I asked Aldo what his favorite part of the day was, his mouth was too full of pasteis the nata to answer 🙂