Steve got up earlier than I did and went to the grocery store to get the right sized coffee capsules and look around again. He brought home a wine he found for 1.75 Euro? I’m skeptical… It was raining a bit this morning, but it cleared up and we went out around 11:30 to take the famous Tram 28.  This tram is supposed to take you around all the popular areas of Lisbon and is mentioned in all the tourist info, so I felt the need to try it. There was a very long line, so we talked to a Tuk Tuk driver and he told us the Tram 25 down the street would take us to Belem. No line, so we took that one.  Live and learn moment.  Tram 25 did in fact terminate at the same place that Tram 28 does, but while we were expecting to end up near the Belem Tower, we were about 3 miles from there.  The Tram ride was crowded and stopped a lot, (mostly locals running errands) so we didn’t fancy taking it back. The Tram 25 route is more for local transportation and doesn't go by many tourist spots. You cannot stay on the Tram when you reach the end of the line, you must get off and wait for the next one.  So, we started to walk home. Another live and learn moment. While we did discover many interesting places we would never have found along the walk home, it was very far, and up and down many, many, very, very steep hills. (just over 2 miles for us, but it seemed much further)

We had seen a beautiful church a few blocks back, so we headed in that direction.  Before we got there, we found another interesting church to check out, and just behind that was a cool looking Market, (Mercado De Campo Ourique) so we stopped in there to check it out.  The fresh fish market was closing down, but there were many rows of other goodies in the center, as well as food and drink, so we explored. We didn’t buy anything, but it was a trendy concept and we will look for other places like this closer to home.   

Mercado de Campo Ourique

From the market, we wandered thru the commercial district of that neighborhood, in the direction of the church we were looking for. Lots of shops and restaurants along the way.  We came upon a lovely park (Jardim Guerra Junqueiro) which was between the street we were on and the church.  Went in to look around, found a café there, and decided to stop for refreshment and enjoy the park for a while. 

Walk to the Park

Jardim Guerra Junqueiro

In the end, we decided not to go into the church we had set off to see but went out another exit from the park and walked east thru several nice neighborhoods in the Estrela area. Up and down hill after hill. Great exercise. Steve had to drag me up some of the hills. BUT, we would never have found this area if we were on a schedule and didn’t have time to go exploring.  After all, this is exactly what we wanted to experience during our extended time in Lisbon, so explore we did.

We ended up in Baxia/Chiado and were ready to sit down and have a cold drink and a bite, so we found a cute café, Brasileira do Chiado, in a very active square near the Metro stop.  The prices in this popular tourist area were higher than we had seen before, but not outrageous.  

After our snack, we continued our walk home and arrived around 4:30 pm. Tried the 1.75 Euro wine, and honestly, it wasn't much different from the others, tho I still prefer the JP from the Alentejo. 

Pictures of some sights along the walk home.