Belem in an Afternoon: Pasteis, Monasteries, and LX Factory

There's a version of Lisbon you can do in three days that involves the castle, the trams, the Alfama, the Bairro Alto, and one good fado dinner. Then there's the version that adds Belem. Belem is what you do on the half-day where you don't want to climb hills and you do want to eat custard tarts at the source.

How do you get from Lisbon to Belem?

Tram 15E from Praça da Figueira (35 minutes, about €3 each way, gets crowded after 10am, sit on the right for the river view). Or the suburban train from Cais do Sodré to Belem station (10 minutes, €1.50, faster, less photogenic). We took the tram on the way out and the train on the way back. This is the correct order.

Are the pasteis de nata at Pasteis de Belem really the best?

Yes. The bakery is on Rua de Belem, four hundred yards from the tram stop, and you cannot miss it because the queue goes around the corner from 9am until close.

The trick: ignore the takeaway queue, walk inside, and find a table in the warren of back rooms. The interior is a series of azulejo-tiled dining rooms that go on for about a hundred metres and somehow always have a free table at the back. They've been making pasteis de belem here since 1837 to a recipe from the Jeronimos Monastery monks next door, which they keep secret in a basement vault.

They are better than every other pastel de nata in Portugal, including Manteigaria. Order three each and a galao (long milky coffee). Total: about €7. Dust the cinnamon and powdered sugar over the top. Eat them warm. Come back for more at the end of the day, because you are not strong and neither are we.

Is Jeronimos Monastery worth visiting?

Jeronimos Monastery is the 16th-century Manueline limestone confection that's a UNESCO site and the burial place of Vasco da Gama. The exterior is free. The interior is €12 (book online at mosteirojeronimos.gov.pt for a timed entry). Allow an hour.

The cloisters are the photograph. The church itself is a single gigantic vaulted nave with carved pillars that look like wet ropes. The nautical theme is everywhere. This is the building Portugal built when it controlled half the world's spice trade, and the ambition is visible in every column.

Should I go inside Belem Tower?

Walk down to the river to see it. The small white limestone fortress, built in 1515 to defend the harbour, has the best silhouette of any tower in Lisbon. Whether you go inside is up to you (€8, queues, narrow spiral staircases). We did not. We took our photo from the riverside park and walked on. The tower is best appreciated from outside.

The Padrao dos Descobrimentos (the ship-shaped monument with explorers leaning forward) is on the waterfront between the monastery and the tower. €6 for the lift to the top. Don't bother. Look at it from the front, take the photograph, keep moving.

What is LX Factory and why should I go?

This is the actually-good part of the afternoon that most Belem guides skip.

LX Factory is a former 19th-century textile factory that's been converted into a complex of independent shops, restaurants, bookshops, and art spaces. The bookshop, Ler Devagar, is the famous one: an old printing-press hall with bicycles hanging from the ceiling and shelves three storeys tall.

The point of LX Factory is that it's where Lisbon's young creative class actually hangs out. Late afternoon you'll find DJs spinning in the courtyard, craft beer at the bars, and graffiti artists working on the back walls. We had a cocktail in the central courtyard, walked through Ler Devagar, bought a ceramic dish from A Vida Portuguesa, and watched the cranes of the port turn red in the late afternoon sun.

If your timing is right (Sunday afternoons), there's also a market. Antiques, vintage clothing, plants, vinyl, coffee. Two euros for a coffee, three for a wine.

How much does an afternoon in Belem cost for two people?