Some days it's so hot, it's all you think about. Amazing city, boy it's hot. Great meal, boy it's hot. Look at these stone carvings, boy it's hot. It hits 98 today, but it feels hotter. It's stiflingly, stupidly hot. We start the morning in a bit of air-con comfort as we drive around with our new friend Mariana to see some different neighborhoods further out form the city center. We start near Belem, the location of the monastery famous for selling the recipe for pastéis de nata. On the way we pass the Aquas Livres Aquaduct.
Then we go to Campo de Ourique, home of the Estrela Basilica and Botanical Gardens. We return to the City center via the Marques de Pombal Square (which is really a big circle).
Then we walk down to lunch in Sao Nicolau, and walk back to Rossi by way the big Cathedral (Se). Along the way there are other churches.
Stepping inside it's only a tad cooler. The church itself (Cathedral of St. Mary Major) is a fairly plain gothicky thing. It doesn't really impress in scale or detail - it really just is a nice old church.
I'm actually more taken with the arts and crafts store next door, A Arte da Terra, which features things made in Portugal: stone vaults made from long and thin slivers, and a rough stone floor that seemed like the remains of an old road.
Stepping back out into the heat, we make a beeline to the hotel, but it's all upsy downsy, and very tiring. And still very hot.
It's after 5 and it's still 96. The day is just not cooling off. We wash and head back out to dinner at Organi Chiado for a nice cooling salad with different seafoods, though the real highlight for me is the fizzy lemon cocktail.
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