Armed with timed-entry tickets and a bit of luck we readied fairly early and then headed down the hill to the bus stop near the metro station closest to us, looking for a ride further towards the ocean, to a place called Belem.

A modern tram (15E) arrived, we had expected a bus or older rattle box, but because it was not crowded we hopped on. Travelling early is often a good idea here as it seems people do not really get going much before 10am. The tram followed the coastal fringe and we hopped off at the stop adjacent Jeronimo Monastery.

Our timed tickets were for 9:30am, we were early, it was quiet and there was nearly no one around, so we decided to take morning tea at an iconic location, the home base for Pasteis de Belem. We went inside, navigated a voluminous labyrinth of tables, sat and ordered tea/latte and a couple of their custard tarts, prepared to be blown away by how different they were. More on the differences in a future post.

Suitably refreshed and toiletted, we headed over to the monastery to see, out of nowhere, huge queues of people already lined up. We made our way to the entry only to be told to join the end of the longer line, which we dutifully did. Tour operators in the mid morning have priority access (they are on a schedule, I get that), meaning our line of timed ticket holders had to wait as they dribbled us in a few at a time. I am not sure they should even sell timed-entry tickets between 9:30 and 10:30 because of the relentless flood of coach loads of people.

Over half an hour in the sun, in a queue that got longer and longer, and we were finally in to the sections of the monastery open to the public. I will say this out loud – I am a bit of a fan of a cloister. Anyone who has read our blog posts from UK will see I am drawn to them, but the cloister at Jeronimo Monastery is something else entirely.