Banging Belem

I’ve been to Portugal many times in my life. My family started going every two years when I was eight. But despite the fact that I’ve been 5 or 6 times, I havn’t really seen much of it. We usually travel from Lisbon to the Algarve in the fastest way possible and then set up camp at the beach, with some miscellaneous visits to the cities of Loulé and São Bras de Alportel to visit my grandmothers. But other than that, we don’t see much.

That was going to change this time. I was going to see Lisbon. The three days I spent in Lisbon before I met my parents were going to be filled with seeing and doing the things I didn’t get to do in the one afternoon we spent there when I was 17. And I had the greatest tour guides: my cousins who live in a suburb of Lisbon who are around the same age as me

The first thing we did was visit Belém which is known for two things. The first is the famous tower, the Torre de Belém. Built sometime in the 16th century, it was made to honour the expeditions of Vasco da Gama. It also served as a part of the Portuguese fortifications protecting Lisbon.

The Tower of Belem

Look at that stone work

The view from a lookout point

That dark spot at the bottom of the photo is how far the water rises in the winter

Belem is also known for its awesome pastries called Pastéis de Belém or more commonly as pastéis de nata. My cousins called them “cookies” which is not only incorrect in language but in fact as well. These aren’t “cookies,” they are small custard-filled caramelized pieces of heaven. And Belém is the best place to get them. Rumour has it that they were created by nuns in a nearby convent and Casa Pastéis de Belém was the first place to sell them outside the convent. So we went to Casa and got our very own pastries fresh out of the oven and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar, just as tradition dictates.

How amazing do those look?

My cousin Manuel devouring some pastéis

Fun facts about pastéis de nata:

• They were the sweet chosen to represent Portugal in the European Union’s Café Europe initiative in 2006.
• They have become available at numerous bakeries, as well as Macau-style restaurants and Hong Kong branches of the KFC restaurant chain.