The Sweetest Capital City In Europe?

Confeitaria Nacional

Restaurant | "Portuguese Pastries in the Praca"

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One of the things I liked best about Lisbon was that the local take their sweeties quite so seriously. Wherever we went we found little cafés, confeitarias and pastelarias all devoted to selling the local versions of sweets and cakes. Very local. In Belem one eats Pasteis de Belem; in Sintra the Queijadas de Sintra take centre-stage. Many of these are historic landmarks in their own rights such as the Café A Brasileira, haunt of the poet Fernando Pessoa and all 72 of his split personaliti...Read More

Member Rating 3 out of 5 on May 10, 2010

Confeitaria Nacional
Praca Da Figueira 18B
Lisbon, Portugal
+351 213244470

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Vip Eden Lisboa

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Hotel | "Cinematic Rooms With A View"

Teatro Eden Photo - Vip Eden Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

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The VIP Eden is a swish, central, and surprisingly affordable landmark location right in the very heart of Lisbon. It is sited right on Praça dos Restauradores beside the main tourist information office (the Palácio Foz) and around the corner from the grand Manueline frontage of Rossio station. And it was hard for me to miss!The building that is now the hotel was once the Eden cinema (Teatro Eden). Opened in 1931 it is an eye-catching Art Deco masterpiece of creamy pink marble, crystalline windows and a sweeping palm-filled atrium. The pediment at the top displays Greek-style friezes of dancers – with cameramen placed off to one side to record the action. It is the sort of fr...Read More

The VIP Eden is a swish, central, and surprisingly affordable landmark location right in the very heart of Lisbon. It is sited right on Praça dos Restauradores beside the main tourist information office (the Palácio Foz) and around the corner from the grand Manueline frontage of Rossio station. And it was hard for me to miss!

The building that is now the hotel was once the Eden cinema (Teatro Eden). Opened in 1931 it is an eye-catching Art Deco masterpiece of creamy pink marble, crystalline windows and a sweeping palm-filled atrium. The pediment at the top displays Greek-style friezes of dancers – with cameramen placed off to one side to record the action. It is the sort of frontage I would have expected to see in a period film set in New York with a Gershwin refrain soaring in the background. Its site in Lisbon though is better: standing proud of the neighbouring buildings, fronted by the Restauradores square, with just blue sky as its background it really is a beauty. After it ceased operations in 1989 (and being used as a film location for ‘Until The End Of The World’ by Wim Wenders in 1991) it was renovated and reopened as an aparthotel.

This first impression was rather marred on our arrival late at night by the tramps sleeping outside. Inside however, the black lobby was very swish with smart English-speaking receptionists. There are nine floors of rooms reached by two lifts; ours was on the ninth floor. The rooms are not huge, but they have everything a traveller could need. Not just the usual hotel accoutrements of a (smallish) double bed, TV and radio, and en suite bathroom (with fluffy towels and a wonderfully powerful shower), but also a small kitchen with sink, fridge, microwave and even a dishwasher. The cupboards are stocked with cutlery, crockery and other ‘necessities’ like corkscrew, nutcracker, butter dish and colander.

Patio doors lead out to a balcony if your room is on the ninth floor. The view is top-class. From here you can see out over the hotel’s curtain wall to the east. The top of the Restauradores obelisk was right in our field of view, and the Castelo was obvious atop its hill, standing guard over the rooftops of the Baixa down below. At night it was spectacularly spotlit. Quite frankly, if there is a better view in Lisbon from a hotel room I would like to see it!

One floor up is the roof. There is a glassed-in breakfast room and a terrace with an outdoor rooftop pool – sadly while the weather was consistently sunny during our stay I felt it was rather cool for a splash in March. But the views from up here are even better.

For all this one might expect to pay through the nose. However this was not the case. It worked out being very economical for us. Booking through www.venere.com we were given a rate of €350 for five nights – that’s €70 per night, or €35 each. Plus by staying here you make other savings. Regular buses run to and from the airport to a bus-stop immediately out front in the Praça for a €1.40 flat fare each way, so no taxi is needed. And with the kitchen being so fully stocked you can save money by self-catering. Rather than paying an extra €8.50 each for breakfast on the 10th floor we found a supermarket (Pingo Doce, Rua 1˚ de Decembro, just past Rossio station) and bought cereal, milk and juice. We were also able to buy all the ingredients for picnics and evening meals too. This ability to self-cater is probably the greatest boon to travellers on a budget.

So the VIP Eden is well-recommended as far as I’m concerned. It is a surprisingly economical option, perfectly located, and you get some wonderful views over the Baixa and over to the Castelo. In fact these two strands combined on our last night. Having bought a half-bottle of Douro red wine at the supermarket we retired up to the roof terrace. Pulling together a couple of sun loungers we had a farewell drink looking over the city for the very last time.
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Member Rating 4 out of 5 on May 10, 2010

Vip Eden Lisboa
Praca Dos Restauradores 24
Lisbon, Portugal 1250 187
+351 21 3216600

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Bom Jardim, Rei dos Frangos

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Restaurant | "The King Of Chicken Does Not Have Lamprey"

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Portas de Santo Antão, east of Resuradores and north of Rossio, pretty much seems to be where the locals come out to eat (those that do not go to the tiny hole-in-wall restaurants and bars in the Bairro Alto anyway). This long street must have almost a dozen eateries on it, as well as a theatre (showing La Cage Aux Folles on our visit). The way was thick with touts trying to entice diners, and all the places had signs in the window proudly decalred "We have lamprey". Yay. We had a look at them coiled up in the window displays. Ugly little suckers, and not very appetising to look at. We had already been adventurous with ...Read More

Portas de Santo Antão, east of Resuradores and north of Rossio, pretty much seems to be where the locals come out to eat (those that do not go to the tiny hole-in-wall restaurants and bars in the Bairro Alto anyway). This long street must have almost a dozen eateries on it, as well as a theatre (showing La Cage Aux Folles on our visit). The way was thick with touts trying to entice diners, and all the places had signs in the window proudly decalred "We have lamprey". Yay. We had a look at them coiled up in the window displays. Ugly little suckers, and not very appetising to look at. We had already been adventurous with cuttlefish that day, so we kept on looking.

In the end we chose to dine at Bom Jardin, Rei dos Frangos. The side street liking the Portas to Praça dos Resauradores is almost entirely taken over by this restaurant, which has now expanded to occupy three neighbouring buildings. The other diners (in the building we were in at least) all seemd to be Portuguese, coming in singly to sip a beer or in large family groups. They all have the chicken – Bom Jardin is the Rei dos Frangos (King of Chicken) after all! Other dishes were available on the menu, but freshly spit-roasted chicken is very much the house special.

We started off wth a canja each, a broth full of chicken and rice. We then ordered a portion of chicken and chips to split (€9.40 for the chicken, €1.40 for the chips). Our cheerful waiter came over and dished out the hot quartered chicken. Glancing at the other tables showed that the locals tend to eat it with creamed spinach. Each table also has a pot of sauce with a little brush to apply it. This is piri-piri sauce, made with the African birdseye chilli. You can put as much as you want on your dinner – though I would just like to warn you that it is exceptionally fiery, and a little certainly goes a long way in my experience!

With drinks and desserts (chocolate mousse at €2.50 and pudim flan at €1.85) the entire bill amounted for €21.65 for two. Its nearest British equivalent, Nandos, would have been cheaper – but maybe this was just due to the crippling exchange rate at the time we visited. The meal was simple and pretty plain (unless one got too over-excited with the piri-piri). Not a real standout I must say, but certainly a good standby for those who don’t fancy lamprey…
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Member Rating 3 out of 5 on May 10, 2010

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A Ginjinha

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Attraction | "Losing My Cherry"

Cherry With Your Brandy? Photo - Lisbon, Portugal

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Like cherry brandy? Well in that case A Ginjinha is the place for you! Not too keen on it? Well tough – you still have to come here to take part in a time-honoured Lisbon custom!Ginjinha (or just Ginja to those in the know) is a typical Lisboeta spirit made from aguardente, sugar, and sour morello cherries. You can buy it in stores, but the best place to sample it is in the small cubby-hole sized shop fronts devoted to selling shots of the stuff and little else. There are a couple around the northern end of Praça Dom Pedro IV (Rossio). Of these A Ginjinha on the Largo de São Domingos is the oldest (now being run by the fifth generation of shopkeepers). It really is lit...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on May 10, 2010

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Elevador de Santa Justa

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Attraction | "Going Up?"

Elevador da Santa Justa Photo - Elevador de Santa Justa, Lisbon, Portugal

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The Elevador da Santa Justa is probably the most unusual attraction in Lisbon. It is one of the city’s most innovative public transport systems, constructed in 1902 to tackle the problem of connecting the different areas of the hilly city centre. It is a public lift, an elevator, linking the Baixa (the Lower Town) to the Bairro Alto (the Higher District).Located at the western end of the Rua de Santa Justa off the north-south Rua Aurea is a spindly free-standing gothic fantasy in cast iron. The 32m tall lift shaft is topped with a wider pavilion above. It resembles in part the metal latticework of Paris’s Eiffel Tower. You queue on the northern side to access one of the two counterb...Read More

The Elevador da Santa Justa is probably the most unusual attraction in Lisbon. It is one of the city’s most innovative public transport systems, constructed in 1902 to tackle the problem of connecting the different areas of the hilly city centre. It is a public lift, an elevator, linking the Baixa (the Lower Town) to the Bairro Alto (the Higher District).

Located at the western end of the Rua de Santa Justa off the north-south Rua Aurea is a spindly free-standing gothic fantasy in cast iron. The 32m tall lift shaft is topped with a wider pavilion above. It resembles in part the metal latticework of Paris’s Eiffel Tower. You queue on the northern side to access one of the two counterbalanced carriages. Inside these are redolent of classic railway carriages with their burnished dark wood panelling and brass accoutrements and the uniformed lift attendant. This attendant sells and clips tickets, closes and bars the doors, and then pulls the big lever that set the counterweight in movement to shuttle you up the shaft. The technology is distinctly old school!

At the top you are let out onto a viewing platform 32m above the streets of the Baixa down below. There are stairs to another level, with a café (though this was closed at the time of our trip). And from here you can walk over to the streets of the Bairro Alto, across an iron bridge. This leads you alongside the shattered shell of the old Convento do Carmo. The whole upper section resembles nothing quite so much as an old seaside pier with its pavilion and flags.

The Elevador is operated by Carris, who also have the monopoly on the town buses, trams (the famous yellow eléctricos), and three other elevadores (which are more like funicular railway-mounted trams). As such tickets are valid on each different form of public transport – though not the meTro – and buying bulk carnets can work out cheaper. Otherwise you can buy a ticket on board the Elevador for €2.80. This is valid for one trip up and one trip down, in any order. Though to be honest, one trip is enough to give you the experience. I suppose €2.80 is quite expensive for a journey that lasts less than a minute, but this ingenious and rather-dated piece of the public transport network is justifiably popular with both locals and tourists.
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Member Rating 4 out of 5 on May 10, 2010

Elevador de Santa Justa
Rua do Ouro at Rua de Santa Justa
Lisbon, Portugal

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Castle of St. George (Castle of São Jorge)

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Attraction | "Guarding Lisbon for Thirteen Centuries"

Standing Watch Over Lisbon Photo - Castle of St. George (Castle of São Jorge), Lisbon, Portugal

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The Castelo de São Jorge (Castle of St George) is one of the oldest structures still standing in Lisbon. It was constructed by the Moors in the 8th century and wrested from them in the 12th by King Afonso Henriques who was helped out by a group of English knights en route to the Second Crusade. It – and the surrounding Alfama district – were largely spared the devastation wrought on the rest of the city centre by the terrible earthquake of 1755. The Portugese flag flies proudly from its battlements to this day and it is one of Lisbon’s major tourist magnets.Finding the castle is half the fun. Unlike the ordered ruler-straight grid of streets that had made up the since the Marques de...Read More

The Castelo de São Jorge (Castle of St George) is one of the oldest structures still standing in Lisbon. It was constructed by the Moors in the 8th century and wrested from them in the 12th by King Afonso Henriques who was helped out by a group of English knights en route to the Second Crusade. It – and the surrounding Alfama district – were largely spared the devastation wrought on the rest of the city centre by the terrible earthquake of 1755. The Portugese flag flies proudly from its battlements to this day and it is one of Lisbon’s major tourist magnets.

Finding the castle is half the fun. Unlike the ordered ruler-straight grid of streets that had made up the since the Marques de Pombal reconstructed the city post-earthquake the hilly Alfama district is a real maze. Roads and staircases coil hither and thither and it is easy to find yourself directed away from the route you were planning to take. The tip is just to keep heading uphill as much as you are able.

At €5 the castle is not amazingly fascinating. It is quite jolly trolling up and down the towers that ring the keep. "Atmosphere" was provided by a strange beareded man with an eerie-sounding flute, bells on his leg and a repertoire of about four haunting tunes. The views are great though. From the Castelo’s battlements, towers and cannon-decked terraces you can look out over Lisbon to west, north, east and south. From here I could see down the Tejo, even glimpsing the Padrão dos Descobrimentos and Torre de Belem in the far distance beyond the great red Golden-Gate-esque Ponte 25 de Abril. We were also able to spot the high pink façade of our hotel nestled next to Rossio station.

Other than the views there is not that much to enthuse about. The Tower of Ulysses holds a camera obscura. And the ruins of the Alcáçova (the Moorish and later Portuguese royal palace) holds the Olisipónia museum, showing archaeological finds documenting the history of settlement on the castle hill. This latter is free so visitors might as well have a quick nose around. But really it is the views from the ramparts over the city it has guarded for thirteen centuries that make a visit to the Castelo de São Jorge most rewarding.
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Member Rating 3 out of 5 on May 10, 2010

Castle of St. George (Castle of São Jorge)

Lisbon, Portugal

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Miradouro de Santa Luzia

Attraction | "My Viewpoint On Viewpoints"

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The hilltops of Lisbon are dotted with miradouros - viewpoints. Plazas and terraces are angled to offer great vistas over the city and river. There are many you can stumble upon just by wandering. The Castelo itself offers great views. To the north the Miradouro da Graça looks west over the Baixa. To the south the miradouro at Largo Portas do Sol looks east towards the churches of São Vicente de For a and the dome of Santa Engrácia. Over in the Bairro Alto the Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara faces east towards the Baixa and Alfama. But my favourite viewpoint would have to b...Read More

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on May 10, 2010

Miradouro de Santa Luzia
Largo De Santa Luzia - Alfama
Lisbon

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A Regueirinha

Best Of IgoUgo

Restaurant | "Sardines and Cuttlefish"

Cuttlefish and Sardines Photo - Lisbon, Portugal

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Hidden away in the tangled maze of streets that forms the hillside Alfama district we stumbled over a cluster of hole-in-the-wall eateries crammed into a trangular space at the junction of Rua da Regueira and Rua de São Miguel. We chose a table outside one of the places, A Regueirinha, and sat down in the sun to peruse the menu. A basket of nice fresh bread and some slices of a tart aged cheese were delivered while we ordered, and I had a bottle of Superbock beer. We chatted and watched the streetlife as we waited for our food to be brought. The Alfama, despite its touristy appeal, is still a neighbourhood home to a vibrant community, and life went on all around us as we sat in the ...Read More

Member Rating 3 out of 5 on May 10, 2010

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Lisbon Se

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Attraction | "I See The Se; The Se Sees Me"

The Se Photo - Lisbon Se, Lisbon, Portugal

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The Sé (cathedral) does not look like much in photographs. It looks small, crammed in by all the houses around it, jolted by the trams rattling by on the corner. It is certainly nowhere near as ornate as many of the later churches that speckle the cityscape. But this cathedral, founded in 1150 to celebrate the Christians’ ousting of the Moors, has a simple charm to it. Its frontage is that of a border fortress, battlemented, with two towers that rise higher than the surrounding edifices. Its deeply recessed door is surmounted by a circular rose window. Entry is free, and inside it is pure vaulted gothic, dark and atmospheric (and made even more so by piped-in Gregorian chanting). To...Read More

The Sé (cathedral) does not look like much in photographs. It looks small, crammed in by all the houses around it, jolted by the trams rattling by on the corner. It is certainly nowhere near as ornate as many of the later churches that speckle the cityscape. But this cathedral, founded in 1150 to celebrate the Christians’ ousting of the Moors, has a simple charm to it. Its frontage is that of a border fortress, battlemented, with two towers that rise higher than the surrounding edifices. Its deeply recessed door is surmounted by a circular rose window.

Entry is free, and inside it is pure vaulted gothic, dark and atmospheric (and made even more so by piped-in Gregorian chanting). To the left of the entrance in the font in which St Anthony of Padua is claimed to have been baptised (you can see carvings of him preaching to the fishes and animals). There are a succession of simple side chapels (and one not quite so simple with a massive gold retable and a shopaholic’s selection of mitres. It costs €2.50 to access the ambulatory and cloisters. Instead we paid €2.50 to visit the upstairs Treasury. This is where they keep the good stuff. On display are the relics of long-dead saints (including St Vincent, patron saint of the city, whose relics appeared in the city in 1173, supposedly having been brought across the seas in a boat piloted by ravens), a whole colour-coded wardrobe of priestly vestments, ostrich-plumed liturgical fans and a selection of reliquary-shaped carrying cases (designed to answer the all-too-common problem of just how to pack that awkwardly shaped reliquary in ones hand luggage). There was one particular monstrance (a vessel designed to showcase the Eucharistic host) that caught my eye. It was fashioned from gold and studded with rubies, emeralds and other priceless gems. Practically the entire wealth of Brazil, torn from the earth at the cost of the lives of thousands of slaves, must have ended up encrusting that particular bit of ecclesiastical frippery. A truly monstrous monstrance!

The Sé is by no means a must-see, but is certainly worth a look if you are in the area.
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Member Rating 3 out of 5 on May 10, 2010

Lisbon Se
Largo De Se
Lisbon, Portugal

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Carmo Monastery

Attraction | "The Skeleton in the Sky"

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On the very eastern edge of the Bairro Alto, teetering over the drop down to the Baixa stands the gothic Convento do Carmo. Constructed in the 14th/15th century, this was once the largest chuch in the city. Until the 1755 earthquake anyway. Even today you can quite clearly see where the earth below it must have moved – the masonry in places looks to have been physically torn roughly in half like a hunk of bread. Its roof is long gone, but the pointed arches still rear up to the skyline like a whale’s bleached ribcage.This shattered shell has housed the Museu Arqueologico do Carmo for 150 years now, a repository for stonework and sculpture from this and other dissolved monasti...Read More

On the very eastern edge of the Bairro Alto, teetering over the drop down to the Baixa stands the gothic Convento do Carmo. Constructed in the 14th/15th century, this was once the largest chuch in the city. Until the 1755 earthquake anyway. Even today you can quite clearly see where the earth below it must have moved – the masonry in places looks to have been physically torn roughly in half like a hunk of bread. Its roof is long gone, but the pointed arches still rear up to the skyline like a whale’s bleached ribcage.

This shattered shell has housed the Museu Arqueologico do Carmo for 150 years now, a repository for stonework and sculpture from this and other dissolved monastic houses. €2.50 buys you a ticket. Inside you progress down what was once the nave, now open to the sky. The aisles are dotted with stonework – column capitals, gargoyles, gravestones (even a couple in 7th century Hebrew). At the far end are five enclosed rooms that comprise the heart of the museum. Here you will find the museum’s most precious exhibits. There are displays of neolithic / chalcolithic artefacts, including icons of various horned or cyclindrical gods. The next room contains Roman, Moorish and Morabic pillars etched with lions and griffons. There are the wonderfully-carved tombs of various notables from the 14th and 15th centuries. There is a room with extra-European finds: pre-columbian statues from the New World, a Ptolemaic sarcophagus and mummy, and (rather disturbingly) two bound weathered 16th century Peruvian mummies, curled upright and clutching their knees in free-standing glass display cases. Not strictly necessary, I felt. And the last room held azulejo depictions of the Passion and 15th century alabaster bas-reliefs carved in Nottingham.

In many ways I think the exhibits were of distinct secondary interest to the actual location. The Convento is a stunning ruin, and can be admired not only from the Largo de Carmo fronting it in the Bairro Alto, but also from Rossio square down in the Baixa – from there you can see it looming skeletally overhead through the fountains’ mist.
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Member Rating 3 out of 5 on May 10, 2010

Carmo Monastery
Largo do Carmo
Lisbon, Portugal

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Igreja de Sao Roque (Church of Saint Roch)

Best Of IgoUgo

Attraction | "The Most Expensive Chapel Ever Constructed"

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We found the streets of the Bairro Alto to be well-kept and well-populated – a distinct difference to the the often shabby and sometimes deserted Alfama. This area is pretty spruce and ritzy with patterned cobbles in the streets and quares and chic boutiques and noodle bars jostling for space. It is all very pleasant.A tarnished statue of a dinky lottery ticket seller, cigarette dangling from under his moustache, announces that you are in Largo Trinidade Coelho. The north-western side of this square is formed by the Igreja de São Roque. You wouldn’t believe it to look at it, but this church contains a chapel that, relative to its size, is estimated to be the most expensive e...Read More

We found the streets of the Bairro Alto to be well-kept and well-populated – a distinct difference to the the often shabby and sometimes deserted Alfama. This area is pretty spruce and ritzy with patterned cobbles in the streets and quares and chic boutiques and noodle bars jostling for space. It is all very pleasant.

A tarnished statue of a dinky lottery ticket seller, cigarette dangling from under his moustache, announces that you are in Largo Trinidade Coelho. The north-western side of this square is formed by the Igreja de São Roque. You wouldn’t believe it to look at it, but this church contains a chapel that, relative to its size, is estimated to be the most expensive ever constructed.

Entry to the church is free. Inside the décor is quite giddy with bling – a total contrast to the bare grey Sé. The walls were lined with patterned azulejo tiles, the flat wooden ceiling had been given a baroque trompe l’oeil effect to make it appear slightly arched, and the side chapels all had massive gilt altars. The highlight thjough is the most expensive side chapel, that of the Chapel of St John the Baptist, up ahead on the left.

This chapel was constructed in 1742 at the then astronomical cost of £250,000 – a huge amount for this shallow side chapel (though a speck in the ocean compared to the profits the Portuguese monarchy were then accruing from Brazil where 20% of all gold mined was declared crown property). The cost comes from two different sources. The first is the material used in its construction. The balustrades are green marble, the walls red marble, and the entire chapel lavishly decorated with ivory, agate, porphyry and lapis lazuli. The three ‘oil paintings’ on display are actually incredibly intricate mosaics made up from crushed precious minerals. The second aspect of the cost came from the fact that it was actually constructed twice. Dom João V originally had the chapel constructed in Rome for Pope Benedict XIV to celebrate Mass in. The chapel was then deconstructed, shipped over to Lisbon, and then reassembled here. This was part of an orchestrated courtship of the papacy to recognise the Braganza dynasty as the lawful rulers of Portugal.

With entry being free (though there is a charge to view the adjacent museum) the Igreja is well worth a look. It is open to the public until 18:00 daily. They seem to be very stringent on this; on our visit we found the lights being flicked off by the custodian at 17:50.
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Member Rating 3 out of 5 on May 10, 2010

Igreja de Sao Roque (Church of Saint Roch)
Largo Trinidade Coelho
Lisbon, Portugal
213 235 381

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El Gordo

Best Of IgoUgo

Restaurant | "The Big One (Bill, That Is)"

El Gordo Photo - El Gordo, Lisbon, Portugal

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It probably says something that my abiding memory of El Gordo will be the bill we were stung with, not the quality of the food. This tapas bar seemed a nice little place decorated with bric-a-brac and with a chilled out funky music policy veering from Minnie Riperton to Fun Lovin’ Crimals. But it really was criminally expensive - €66 for the pair of us, and we were not even full. We didn’t tip. It didn’t seem important considering that the staff had already added on an extra 20% to our bill - €4 compulsary cover charge, and then an extra €6 for some ham and bread they brought out without being asked. To be fair your bottle of Portuguese red was not too bad a price for a restaurant (€12.5...Read More

Member Rating 1 out of 5 on May 10, 2010

El Gordo
Rua De Sao Boaventura 16
Lisbon, Portugal
+351 21 3424266

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Antiga Confeitaria de Belem

Best Of IgoUgo

Restaurant | "The Famous Pasteis de Belem"

Pasteis de Belem Photo - Antiga Confeitaria de Belem, Lisbon, Portugal

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I sometimes think it mustn’t be a bad life being a monk. If you’re not busy brewing beer you get to live in some of the most beautiful buildings around – the Mosteiro de Jeronimos in Belém being a case in point. Not only did monks live and worship in this gorgeously over-the-top complex, but they also got well fed doing it. For this monastery was the home of the Pasteis de Belém. The pasteis de nata that you will see in confeitarias across Lisbon are all base upon these famous custard tarts. These were prepared solely for the delectation of the Hieronymite monks out here in Belém. Following the 1830 liberal revoluation and the dissolution of the monasteries the cooks moved to...Read More

I sometimes think it mustn’t be a bad life being a monk. If you’re not busy brewing beer you get to live in some of the most beautiful buildings around – the Mosteiro de Jeronimos in Belém being a case in point. Not only did monks live and worship in this gorgeously over-the-top complex, but they also got well fed doing it. For this monastery was the home of the Pasteis de Belém.

The pasteis de nata that you will see in confeitarias across Lisbon are all base upon these famous custard tarts. These were prepared solely for the delectation of the Hieronymite monks out here in Belém. Following the 1830 liberal revoluation and the dissolution of the monasteries the cooks moved to this location just down the street to sell pastries made to their own secret recipe. Now no visit out to Belém is complete without a trip to the Antiga Confeitaria de Belém.

You will not be able to miss the place (or the fact that it has been in operation since 1837!). If you do not see the blue awnings, the numerous signs, or even the inset brickwork in the pavement all advertising its location in its inimitable typeface you will certainly see the queue of people. (The logo is repeating across the packaging carrier bags, doormats and souvenirs on sale in the café – I did want one of their chef’s hats!) The trick is to go in via the right-most door, pay at the till, and then present the chitty the cashier gives you to the servers behind the counter. For €5.40 you will get a hexagonal cardboard tube containing six individual pasteis and also two sachets, one of icing sugar, one of cinnamon.

When you have your pastries you can cross the street and find a shaded bench or sunny patch of grass in the Praça do Império gardens and consume your lip-smacking Pasteis de Belém. Maybe it was the history or the atmosphere but I have to say that I did enjoy these more than the city-centre pasteis de nata. If anything they were sweeter (even without adding icing sugar and cinnamon). I really must recommend a visit! Read Less

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on May 11, 2010

Antiga Confeitaria de Belem
Rua De Belem 84-92
Lisbon, Portugal
351-21-3638077

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Piriquita

Best Of IgoUgo

Restaurant | "Queijadas de Sintra"

Piriquita Photo - Piriquita, Sintra, Portugal

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While we were in Portugal Rebecca and I were very happy to note that the locals take their ‘sweeties’ seriously. Every locale seems to have its own traditional sweet pastry. Under the shadow of the Heironymites Monastery in Belem, Lisbon, it is the done thing to munch on Pasteis de Belem. And in the hills of Sintra the cognoscenti queue up for Queijadas de Sintra..So esteemed are these pastries that the historic family establishments that produce them have formed their own association to keep standards high, the Associacão das Antigas Fabricas das Queijadas de Sintra. The recipe is a closely-guarded secret, but in general they are little cheesecakes, sweet like ricotta. ...Read More

While we were in Portugal Rebecca and I were very happy to note that the locals take their ‘sweeties’ seriously. Every locale seems to have its own traditional sweet pastry. Under the shadow of the Heironymites Monastery in Belem, Lisbon, it is the done thing to munch on Pasteis de Belem. And in the hills of Sintra the cognoscenti queue up for Queijadas de Sintra..

So esteemed are these pastries that the historic family establishments that produce them have formed their own association to keep standards high, the Associacão das Antigas Fabricas das Queijadas de Sintra. The recipe is a closely-guarded secret, but in general they are little cheesecakes, sweet like ricotta.

We certainly couldn’t leave town without trying these for ourselves. After a busy day of sight-seeing, our last appointment before we headed back to the train station was to drop in on Piriquita. This confectioners and café has occupied the same location since 1862, on a narrow street leading up from the road across from the Praça da Rainha D. Amelia and Palacio Nacional. Though to be honest we could have just followed the crowds. The counter of the place was backed up three deep with hungry (mostly Portuguese) customers. There was method to the madness however. Punters take a number from a dispenser to the right of the door and wait until they are called. A sign asks for patience, explaining that at busy times of the day you may be waiting up to five minutes; my wait was roughly ten minutes – understandable considering that there were thirty people in the queue before me.

There are lots of different cakes, pastries and sweets on display, but the locals seemed to be ordering only two different types. The first was a long rolled pastry that seemed to be stuffed with cream or cheese – these were piled into boxes when ordered, five or six per box. (I believe these are known as travesseiros, ‘head-pillows). The second were parcels wrapped in printed paper, labelled up as queijadas, and with a sign advertising them at €4.00 per pack. Most people seemed to be ordering a box of the first sort, and then a packet of the second. I just ordered a package of queijadas to take away and eat on the train.

Unwrapping them proved that the ornate printed wrapping paper bore the logo of Piriquita, the seal of guarantee of the Associacão das Antigas Fabricas das Queijadas de Sintra, and a date stamp. At this stage we still weren’t sure what to expect. Inside we found six little pastries, about an inch-and-a-bit in diameter. They had a sweet (but not tooth-rottingly so) taste; knowing that they were cheesecakes enabled me to place the ricotta-like taste, but otherwise I don’t think I would have spotted that the filling was cheese-based. Rebecca and I munched away happily on these as the 19:36 train carried us back towards Lisbon, a final memory of our day in Sintra.
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Member Rating 4 out of 5 on March 22, 2010

Piriquita
Rua Das Padarias 5, 7 E 9, Sintra-vila
Sintra, Portugal
+351 21 923 06 26

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