Portugal - Belem: Royal Treatment

This was another amazing day. The weather was perfect, getting up into the mid 70's fahrenheit, with perfect blue skies and white streaks of clouds. I wanted to be wearing my shorts, but I was afraid that the weather would turn and I'd be left vulnerable to the cold. Now that we are in a hotel with a common bathroom and shower, we had to be more aware of our morning activities, but it turned out not to be a problem at all, and we were out and about pretty much on time. We walked to the Prata Da Figueira and bought tram tickets for the #15 to Belem. Once on board, we struggled to figure out how to use our tickets as the ticket punchers were machines that we've not seen before. An old, disabled man in the front got up out of his seat and showed us exactly how to do it. Later, he threatened a pack of 3 thieves that boarded the tram and yelled at them to get off the tram, which they did. He also assumed, correctly, where we were headed, to the Monastarios Dos Jeronimos, and told us exactly what stop to use, and exactly how to get there from the stop. He made us feel GREAT! We got off at Belem, went to a nearby cafe for some breakfast of coffees and pastries, and then toured the Monastary, which was in immaculate condition. We skipped the attached museum, and did not make it over to the Palacio Belem, or to the Museu Nacional do Coches, but, we did make it to the Padrao Dos Descobrimentos monument to the Portuguese explorers of the 15th century, and all the way over to the Torre de Belem, which was a fantastic structure situated in the water and was used as a political prison by the Spanish when they temporarily took over Portugal. We took the tram back to Cais Do Sodre and bought tickets for the train to Cascais, and after asking a few people, figured out which train to get on. Another older lady sitting in front of us verified that we were in fact on the right train, and which stop we were to get off, and waived goodbye to us after she got off at her stop. What a day! Cascais is just a dreamland. By this time it was 2:30pm or so, and we needed something more substantial to eat, so we found an outdoor restaurant with umbrellas and had a fantastic meal of fresh fish, veggies, potatos, olives, bread, and drinks. Once finished, we walked up and back down the coastline for over 3 hours straight just taking pictures and video. Everyone was out enjoying the weather and the traffic reflected that, so it was nice to be on foot. We met Jose at the train station at 7pm, and he took us back to his place in Cascais to meet Ernest and to have dinner. He has a beautiful, completely remodeled flat, and Ernest is spectacular. Their hospitality was absolutely unbelievable. We started with beer. Then bread and a special portuguese cheese from Setubal, Jose (and Marina's) family's original homes, and thin sliced prosciutto. Then, white wine, and huge plates of a seafood dish Ernest invented, made of clams, shrimp, fish, onions, peppers and spices, absolutely delicious. I have never eaten clams in my life, but tonight was a first, and they were not bad. Actually, I am sure they were excellent, but being my first time, I was just quite happy to have eaten them at all. They loaded our plates twice, and we finished everything. Next, more bread and cheese. And finally, fresh pineapple slices, and then special "sand cookies" and a huge box of other very special tasty cookies, a 2nd and 3rd bottle of white wine, and to top it all off, two small glasses (I know there is a formal name for them, but I don't know what) of port that was aged for more than 20 years. I have only had port a few times, and this stuff was AWESOME!!! I helped them do some planning for their trip to San Francisco later this year, and Vee chatted with them about all kinds of things. They even presented Vee with a gift, absolutely unbelievable, of two CDs, one of Antonio Chainho fado guitar, and the other of Amalia Rodrigues a famous singer. Jose wanted to know what our plans were and asked us if we could postpone our flights to Barcelona tomorrow, and after explaining we needed Internet access to do so, he called a good friend to see if we could borrow her computer with Internet access, and drove us there after dinner to see about making the itinerary changes online. His friend was a very sweet woman, and her Internet connection was very good. I was able to make the changes, with a small fee, and now we are flying to Barcelona on Wednesday, instead of tomorrow. So for the next two days, Jose is going to take us to a whole bunch of other special places outside of Lisbon, and we are PSYCHED!!! We said goodnight to his friend (she is going to join us for the day tomorrow) and then Jose drove us all the way back to our hotel. Tomorrow, it starts all over again at 10:30! Although I did not describe Cascais at all, I will just let our pictures do so. It is a very special place, let's just say that. The kind of place you dream about.