Lisbon, Portugal

Lisbon was spectacular. For so many reasons but for me personally it was the first non work international trip in may years, plus I was traveling with my high school best friend! It turned out to be the perfect destination for us. We are the kind of travelers who like to get up and do something active/outside/touristy in the first half of the day. And then spend the late afternoon sitting in a square with a glass of wine people watching, listening to music, or just catching up. And that is exactly what we did! We flew into Lisbon a red eye, arriving at 7am. Taking a taxi to the hotel is seamless. We stayed at Hotel Lis Baixa in Rossio Square and it was nice & great location.  There are a lot of hotel options though.  Be sure and stay somewhere in the city center area. Lisbon is very walkable or an  inexpensive taxi ride. We walked the whole city that morning waiting for the room to be ready. Got lost on the streets of Alfama in at the alleys.. eventually made our way to the National Panteon and Se Cathedral. There is a great café adjacent to this cathedral along the orange trees – you can get cheese, coffee or wine or all of the above.

Later that afternoon we headed to Praça do Comércio. First stop was Museu da Cerveja (Museum of Beer) for beer and codfish balls. They are stuffed with cheese and are amazing!

Then we walked up Rua Augusta (through the arch) – a lot of shops on this pedestrian street - to Praça de Rossio. We took the Santa Justa Lift into Bairro Alto. Views of the city here are awesome.

We did go out for fado for dinner. It was great but also can go on for a long time and we were exhausted so didn’t stay too long. Note: if you order fish expect to have a whole fish.

Day two - we took the train from Rossio Square to Sintra. (TIP: BUY a ROUNDTRIP ticket at Rossio and check schedules before you leave Lisbon as they aren’t posted clearly on the Sintra side). When you get into Sintra, take a taxi or tuk tuk to Pena – you can buy tickets for this and the Moorish castle here. We started at Palacio de Pena, then Castelo dos Mouros (Moorish Castle - walk all the way up!), then Quinta de Regaleira (they have an amazing step well).

After Pena, walk down to Moorish Castle.  Climb the walls to the top of the tower.  After this, take a tuk tuk to Quinta de Regaleira.  (Tuk Tuks are a flat rate of 5EUR per person every time, doesn't seem to matter how far you are going. We walked up to the square (5 min walk) and did some shopping & eating.  Then from here it was a 4EUR taxi back to the train station (better not to Tuk Tuk from here).  

Day 3 - Belem. We took the train to Jeronimos Monastery and did the self guided tour. Adjacent is the famous bakery Pasteis de Belem. We were actually early enough that there were not lines but later in the day they went around the block. We crossed the street to try them and sat near the Padrão dos Descobrimentos monument.

We went back to Lisbon and took the Tram 28 (yellow trolley that is in every picture) up to St Jorge Castle. Great views of the city from here. And, they have wine trucks! Brilliant concept called ‘Wine with a View’ so you can sit and take in the scenery.

Day 4 - We went to Obidos - a great, cute little town an hour north of Lisbon.  It is a walled city with shops & restaurants and you can walk the perimeter of the town on the walls.  I loved it. To get there take the Rapida Verde bus from Campo Grande metro station.  The bus was hard to find - it was across the lot from the rest of the busses and nobody we asked spoke English.  We found it literally as the doors were closing.  7.70 EUR each way on the bus.  But then once you are in Obidos there are no entrance fees for anything.

A few general Lisbon notes: Food is amazing, cheap and easy to find. Don't go to any restaurants that have pictures on the menu. Those are tourist traps and often charge more. Go to hole in the wall places - they have the best food.   The Metro is great.  You can buy multi day tickets and they don't have to be used for consecutive days.  They are valid for 24 hours from when you first use them.  We bought 2 day passes and used them on different days in the week.  About 12EUR each I think? Good for metro, busses, tram, funiculars.   The wine is so good and so cheap!  I was loving everything from the Douro region, my friend loved the Dao region.  But I didn't have anything I did not like.  

Highly recommend Lisbon!!