M Joins the Trip of a Lifetime! And then what?!

At 7:30am, M joins us in Lisbon! I knew she was here because the police car was beeping at her taxi. After letting her in, we all went back to bed because M had no sleep on her red-eye and T & I had been accustomed to waking up around noon.

Once we woke, we spent the rest of the day touring the city of Belem. Belem is the home of the Monastary of Jeronymos and President of Portugal! We had a light Italian lunch on the pier next to the Monument to the Discoveries. We had our best Sangria ever there. We then proceeded to the Monastary to see the Tomb of explorer Vasco da Gama! That was so surreal.

We also got a snack at the famous Pasteis de Belem, established in 1837! It was a pastry shop whose recipe for custard cups has been guarded by the monks who began making them for income almost 200 years ago. It was such a treat and we recommend it to anyone visiting Lisbon. Even T, who is not into pastries, truly enjoyed this flaky, crunchy, savory dessert.

We then went back to the city to the Port Wine Institute, which was established in 1756. You could taste over 300 port wines here between 1-22 euro! But they didn't tell you much about the wines. Wine was followed up by the famous roast chicken at Bonjardim restaurant and a night out at Bairro Alto, where we were becoming regulars...