Wednesday, March 13, 2002. 17.10 GMT
Weather: rained all day on and off -- now sunny
Location: coffee show outside Baixa-Chiado station

I got another early start today, making it down to the Praça do Comércio by 8:40, which gave me twenty minutes to kill before the tourist office with its precious net terminals was open. I spent the time sitting in the sun writing postcards, but by the time I was ready to jump into the post office and mail them the clouds were already rolling in. I´m getting used to their tactics now: a bright early morning to confuse the tourists, followed by sharp downpours and grey skies for the rest of the day.

Postcards posted, I hit the net and again spent longer than planned catching up with the rest of the world. My well-laid plans to be in the museum district of Bélem by the time the doors opened at 10am was therefore thoroughly sabotaged, and with a stop for picnic supplies en route I wasn´t at the Monastery of the Jeronimos much before 11:30.

The Monastery building appears massive from the outside, but the tourable areas are limited to the wonderful cloister, magnificent church, and a few banal secondary rooms, stripped of furniture but with elaborate wall treatments. Much of the rest of the Monastery complex is taken up with the Museum of Archaeology, which has two very small exhibits open at the moment. I wouldn´t have stopped except that the skies chose that time to open and it seemed like a reasonable way to stay dry. I ended up standing in the entranceway next to a small group of French tourists, commiserating about the miserable weather and watching the rain bounce higher and higher off the road outside as the wind picked up.

Eventually it slowed to a steady downpour and as it looked like it might keep it up for a while I sprinted across the road and 100m down to the Bélem Cultural Centre, where I found a large sheltered area to sit and eat my lunch. As I did, the rain stopped.

I made my way through the complex and crossed over the highway to the riverside park, aiming for the Tower of Bélem, one of Lisbon´s most famous sights. This tower is actually positioned in the estuary, connected to the land by a metal pedestrian bridge. The tower has a commanding view of the entrance to the harbour, and wonderfully craggy Manueline architecture. At this point it was almost 2pm, and I was falling further behind schedule, so I set off back to the tram.

I almost missed it as I went by, but I jumped off the tram at the next stop and walked back to the pastry shop where the Patries de Bélem--little custard tarts, very tasty--were invented in 1837. Once this important detour was complete, I set off again by bus and subway up to São Sebastião station, next to the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation complex. This is the site of the modern art museum and the Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, housing the massive and impressive collection donated to Lisbon by the oil tycoon.

After a quick stop in the box office to pick up a ticket for the ballet, I started around the museum. Itºs housed in an elegant low profile building, with two courtyards in the middle containing deceptively natural-looking trees and plants. Most of the rooms have large windows looking into the courtyard or out to the park surrounding the building, screened with dark sheer panels to temper the light and protect the collection.

I skppped quickly through the Roman, Greek, Middle and Far Eastern collections, but lingered with the paintings, statuary and antique furniture in the European art wing, some truly exquisite works. Though I was initially concerned with running out of time, I ended up finishing at about 5pm, which was just as well as my feet were starting to feel very tired.

I headed back to the subway and "home" to the Pensão for a rest before dinner, stopping only for a coffee and a diary update.
posted by Tom at 5:10 PM | link |