Closed on Monday

One trick I learned as a naval aviator is that the best way to adjust to a new time zone is stay up as long as you can, go to sleep at correct local time, and get up the next day and get some sun.  Your body adjusts much faster if there is sun.

We discovered that one of the reasons the hostel is so inexpensive is that the free breakfast is not free for us.  Jill tried to get a cup of coffee for me, but that required spending 12 euros.  I told her that a cup of coffee sound terrible.  She looked at me in shock.  It seems that my body needs coffee to get through the routine day-to-day, but once I'm in "Adventure Mode", I don't need coffee.

I did wake up to a pulled muscle in my leg.  I pulled it hiking up the hills yesterday in the heat.  I doubled my electrolytes, took some Vitamin-I, and will muscle through it.  No time to rest!

Our goal today was to beat the heat and visit much of the things that we could before it became too hot.  We took the Metro to a stop close to the water and visit a museum or two.  In Lisbon, Mondays are a day off for many restaurants, museums and other sites.  Still, there is more than enough to see without going in.

We visited the Padrão dos Descobrimentos,

the Belém Tower,

and the Jerónimos Monastery.

Unfortunately, they were all closed on Mondays.  Fortunately, the Museu de Marinha was open and with the Lisboa Card, very inexpensive to visit.

One of the remarkable things about Portugal is that they would sail where others would not. While Spain, England and France would carve dragons, snakes and other mystical creatures on the bow of their ships, Portugal would carve their famous ship captains.  It also celebrated how they have survived through their alliances with other countries.  For example, they have had a long alliance with Great Britain called the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty that has lasted off an on since 1373!  Portugal is a strong partner in NATO.  Their small navy is leading the NATO mission to fight pirates.

Once it became too hot, we returned to our hotel and took a nap until it cooled off.  We spent the evening walking the Parque Eduardo VII which is right by our hotel.  One challenge we ran into was that many restaurants are closed on Mondays, and they seem to be open when they want to be open.  We walked all around looking for something for dinner.  I was hungry for pizza.  We ended up finding a place really close to our hotel that was open.  We ate up in our room and had a early night.  

Tomorrow we are getting up early to take the train to Sintra and spending the day there.  The train ride is free.