There were a few attractions left in Lisbon we hadn’t visited including the National Tile Museum and Castelo de Sao Jorge. Also in contention for our Saturday was a highly-rated boat tour of the city by the appropriately-named Lisbon by Boat. The latter was on our official itinerary, but I had previously been unable to book via their online form.
The form worked late Friday night, so we were set for the 3:00 p.m. Saturday boat tour. The tour departed from Belém, giving us another theoretical chance at a custard pastry after an easy bus ride from the Time Out Market, which I’d chosen for our lunch destination.
Amanda had concerns about the Time Out Market being difficult, especially on a Saturday morning, and in retrospect she was right. It took a while to find seating, as only a small percentage of tables were the standard height (needed for kids and a high chair.) Food vendor lines were long, and the market only grew busier as the clocked ticked past noon.
I liked the concept of a multi-course meal, where we’d share a few entrees to sample a variety of foods in a single meal. Securing another round of the World’s Best Chocolate Cake for Cassy was quick and easy, as was getting a slice of pizza for Noah. Waits were longer for the Pad Thai order, and even longer still for fish and chips, which I planned to use to round out the meal.
Our Asian order, featuring Thai spring rolls, Pad Thai, and Japanese-style beef raviolis.
By the time the fish and chips were ready, we’d lost most of our table space, and Eilidh had no interest in staying in one place. Noah, Emmie, and I waited for the order, then stood by a high table and devoured the meal as quickly as possible.
I was transferring fries to Emmie by the handful.
We got to Belém early, but not early enough to take in any of the key attractions. Rather, we mostly hung out in a tree-lined park as we waited for the Lisbon by Boat tour. Eilidh was spotted by a group of Asian tourists, who snapped photos while sporting big smiles. Even Emmie had some paparazzi-type photos taken of her!
Eilidh had shown signs of a cold all day, and her experience on our boat tour went from bad to worse. After an initial bout of crying, Amanda successfully got her to sleep; her nap was short-lived, however, and crying resumed as it became apparent she was not going to settle back down. The driver smartly and rightfully agreed to return to shore and drop Amanda and Eilidh off at the marina before the final speed-boat portion of the tour.
A sign of things to come for Eilidh on the boat tour.
The 25 de Abril Bridge sits in the background; note the similarities to the Golden Gate Bridge.
All smiles (and crazy hair) for Noah during the speed boat portion of the ride.
Noah wants this spot the next time we take a boat tour!
Cassy, Noah, and Emmie seemed to enjoy much of the boat ride but the finale was undoubtedly the highlight. To add another incident to the mix, Noah fell near the dock and skinned his knee, resulting in a mini-meltdown. Fortunately, the Lisbon by Boat folks had bandaids, and I reminded Noah we were moments away from stopping to get a peach green tea lemonade from Starbucks.
The girls took an Uber home while Noah and I went to Starbucks and stopped by a pharmacy to proactively purchase more band-aids. We’d planned on using public transportation to return to our apartment but my 24-hour pass had expired; with no change for a bus fare and no proximity to a subway station to buy another day pass, I pulled up the Uber app and we went with the quicker but more expensive route for our trip back “home.”
Noah was excited to purchase some Mentos before we returned to the apartment.
