Although my post yesterday about my experience going to Shabbat services at Shaare Tikvah included a promise for a second follow up post, I admittedly did not have a lot of time to think about exactly what I wanted to write because my friend Imogen (hi Imogen!) came to visit and allowed me to play tourist for a day. And so, if you’ll pardon my delay in delivering you part two of my reflections on the modern Jewish community here in Lisbon and its relationship to the history I am studying, I thought I’d share a little bit of our itinerary from today in words and pictures. If I do say so myself, it was a very fun one – one that I highly recommend recreating if your path ever brings you here!
First we went to the Miradouro São Pedro de Alcantara, one of the most well-known and well-visited miradouros (lookout points) in the city. This was wonderful in itself, but the especially amazing surprise that came with it was stopping in the convent of São Pedro de Alcantara, which I had not been in. Part of what made it so amazing were the azulejos decorating the walls of the chapel and then the sepulchre of one of the head Inquisitors – quite the unexpected surprise! I have to do a bit more research to understand which head Inquisitor exactly it was, but it was certainly not what I was expecting walking into the building.
The extremely detailed inside of the sepulchre within the convent.
A close up of the text mentioning this individual’s role as Head Inquisitor “Inquisitor Generalis.”
From there, we stopped at the Confeitaria Nacional for a sweet little pick-me-up after traversing the hills to the lookout spot. Established in 1829, this sweet shop offers all of the classic Portuguese desserts, including pastéis de nata (the iconic cream tarts). We got a few fun sweet things to share, including a pastel de nata, a coelhinho (a small mouse shaped cake with what seemed like an almond base and a layer of sweetened egg yolk under a sugar shell), and – my personal favorite – a bola de ananas (pineapple cake). The pineapple cake was a vanilla sponge with canned pineapple in the layers and a barely sweet buttercream. Total heaven with a coffee.
The treats, from bottom left: pastel de nata, bolo de ananás, bolo de bacalhau, coelhinho.
From there we walked all around the Baixa-Chiado area, stopping at the Praça do Comércio where the ships for the New World left. From there, we walked up Rua Augusta and stopped in a few shops to get some clothes due to a luggage issue.
After stopping briefly back at home, we went back out in the evening to eat at the fabulous Penalva da Graça – so far one of my favorite restaurants here in the Graça neighborhood. We devoured an amazing shellfish rice – the best I’ve had here so far! – and a heavenly melon. And we were even kindly helped into our plastic bibs by our kind waiter. Another amazing meal.
The seafood rice of all seafood rices.
The wonderful inside of the restaurant — filled with folks from the neighborhood and a great little mural.
To finish off the day, we walked around the Graça neighborhood to the Miradouro de Graça and then back around through Martim Moniz to Rossio Square, and back up the city steps towards São Pedro de Alcantara once more. As we went, we stopped briefly at A Ginjinha de Carmo to get a sip of the sour cherry cordial that is a classic in town for a little night cap. We rounded out the night with a visit to the miradouro we started out the day with, and then went back home. Overall it was a day full of lovely bites and even better company. These places are definitely going on the list of Lisbon recommendations I plan to write for you all at the end of this experience! Now, I’m off to sleep – boa noite!
The menu at A ginjinha do Carmo.
The night sky and people chatting at the evening miradouro.