Lisbon, Portugal

Traveling to Portugal was the perfect escape at the perfect time of year. We visited at the end of September and were able to enjoy Lisbon and Porto along with some surrounding regions in both.

Lisbon - or Lisboa to the locals was amazing and we staying in this wonderful boutique hotel right in the middle of everything, the Corpo Santo Lisbon Historical Hotel . I know that there are plenty of loyalty programs out there to book with the big hotel portfolios, but typically when I travel I choose AirBnB's, hostels or smaller hotels that give a more intimate and cost effective experience. This hotel was just that. We had the best service and the concierge, Christopher, gave my mom and I such personal attention to help us get around and find hidden gems to eat at. Another big perk is the daily happy hours and free verde vino that they were constantly providing to us.

After arriving and dropping our stuff, we got right to it. The Corpo Santo is located in the Centro district of Lisbon, so really central to all of the tourist sites making walking the preferred mode of transportation. We started the day by hitting Praca do Comercio, the main square and having a beer at the World of Beer Museum. I would say all of the restaurants in this square were fairly touristy and overpriced, but it was a good way to introduce ourselves to the area.

Praca do Comercio

While we were there the square was undergoing renovation, but all the shops were still open and they were hosting a soccer match as well. The square was our north star for most of the trip as we knew to ask for directions back here and then we could get to our hotel in under five minutes.

From here we went to lunch at a little sleepy restaurant that was recommended to us and it was exactly the way to have our first meal in Portugal, Taberna do Vilarinho. All of the food was tapa style and we of course ordered way too much. First we had an olive course, followed by a delicious summer salad with mozzarella and figs and then a pork belly course. Three courses and couple glasses of wine for each of us and we paid 20 Euro. I am in love with this country already!

We went on to hit some of the major tourist draws and I would say while it was great to see what people were talking about, I think a couple of these would be okay to miss. We visited Igreja da Nossa Senhora, Se de Lisboa, Baixa-Chado, Praca Luis de Camoes, Cais das Colunas, Arco da Rua Augusta and Elevador de Santa Justa. The architecture in Lisbon is amazing and I think having any of these on your itinerary are going to make for a good photo opp.

One tip I would give is that the line for the Elevador de Santa Justa is really long and not well managed. If you go to the backside you can actually enter and walk to the observation area without having to pay or wait in line, the only thing you miss is actually getting to ride in it. The views from the top are amazing and you can see up to St. George's Castle from one side and to the Atlantic Ocean from the other side.

For dinner that night we received a recommendation from the hotel to go to Cais Ao Mar and they set up a reservation for us which was really helpful. This place is great if you're looking for a family style meal as they cook a lot of different seafood and put it on a platter in front of you. We went with just crab and that was more than enough for us, but we saw some groups digging into massive platters.

Day 2 Lisbon -

For our second day in Lisbon we had scheduled a food tour. I've used Secret Food Tours in three different cities now (Lisbon, Budapest and Rome) and they are far and away one of the best experiences I have when visiting new cities. The guides are typically local and very knowledgeable and charismatic, plus the amount of food and drink you get is amazing and you won't need another meal for the rest of the day.

This tour started with a Port Wine tasting at a small shop right off Rua Augusta and the main Praca do Comercio. We were scheduled for a full wine tour in Porto in a couple of days so I won't go into too much detail about the wine, but we did learn that Port wine was first started in the 1700s as a way to trade with England while there were strained relations with France but the English still wanted a wine fix. Because of the over ocean travel, wine that was shipped out of Portugal would have a considerable amount of evaporation by the time it would reach England so Dona Antonia created a way to fortify the wine with brandy in order to preserve a larger amount. Obviously this also created a wine with a significantly higher alcohol content, so all parties were kept happy. As a way to kick off the day, it was a nice early morning buzz.

We moved from the wine to a small stand that I'm confident we would have easily passed over as a casual tourist. Here we had a sandwich called Bifanas which is a pork sandwich that is marinated for at least 24 hours in garlic and white wine and is so tender and delicious. Of course we also had to have a Sagres (local Portuguese beer) to wash it down.

From here we walked the Jewish district and were able to see the few buildings that survived the earthquake of 1755 which leveled most of the city. Almost every structure came down and the whole city was rebuilt, so architecture predating this time was pretty cool to see. In the Jewish district we tried another Portuguese delicacy that I was very apprehensive of. Sardines! They were served as open faced sardine sandwiches with a vinho verde on the side. Vinho verde translates to green wine but it just meant sparkling wine for our purpose.

I wish I could say that I learned to love sardines here, but while I tried it, I couldn't finish mine. It was very salty and a texture and taste that I just could not get excited about. With that said, I definitely finished the vinho verde.

Next stop along the way was to our "lunch" location. Here we had three courses starting with a sheep, goat and cow's cheese, then a chicken sausage and finally a Bacalhau (salted cod fish) with roasted potatoes. Here we also had house red and white wine (I was not kidding when I said that Secret Food tours ensures you get your monies worth of food and drink).

After we were good and full we went on a quick walk through the town to see how Bacalhau is made and and where it is sold. We also visited a cheese shop and stopped for a quick sip of cherry wine and a fig.

The grand finale and what I think we were really excited about is the custard tart, Pastel de Nata. This dessert was created in the Jeronimos Monastery in Belem, Lisbon and are sweet pastries that are served with cinnamon on top and I could eat a million of them. We were able to see how they're made, but the real treat is watching them disappear.

This food tour was four hours of stuffing our faces with all of the local food and drink and I cannot recommend it more highly. If you want to try the best foods, learn some history and enjoy the company of some other hungry tourists then this is the tour for you.

Santa Luiza observation deck

After eating so much, we decided to do an afternoon up to St. George's Castle. We took the 28 Tram to the top and took pictures at the overlooks for Santa Luzia and Santo Estevao. Both gave great views of Lisbon below but I would suggest Santa Luzia for better pictures.

We continued up to St. George's Castle which does have an entry fee, but the line was really short and it was definitely worth it in my opinion.

Day 3 - Lisbon:

On our third day in Lisbon we decided to take the train to Cascais and explore the beaches for the day. Fortunately, like everywhere else in Europe, Lisbon has a great public transportation system and it was a short 5 minute walk from our hotel to the station and then a 40 min ride up to Cascais.

From downtown #Cascais we walked to #BocadoInferno (Hell's Mouth) which was aptly named because of the number of suicides that were committed at this location. Hell's mouth was incredible and surprising not very touristy.

We walked from Boca do Inferno along the coast and to Praia da Rainha (Queen's beach). On the way we tried to stop at the Santa Maria Lighthouse but it was undergoing renovation so we couldn't climb it and I couldn't get any decent pictures. This was the hottest day of our trip, so definitely a good day to visit the beach, and all of the tourists that we missed at Boca do Inferno, seemed to agree with us., Like most European beaches, bathing suit tops were optional so I tried to steer clear of too many pictures here as well. Also, cooling off in the water was a little more than I bargained for as it was so much colder than anticipated!

After a tasty lunch in town we got back on the train and took it to the Belem stop to see #Jeronimos Monastery and the Tower of #Belem. The tower is built out over the ocean and connected by a small wooden foot bridge.

We opted not to pay to go in, but the view from the coast was clearly breathtaking. This is a very popular tourist location so there were plenty of street vendors and restrooms and overall a nice place to plop down and have an ice cream and enjoy the view.

Jeronimos Monastery was another 10-15 minute walk after the tower and back away from the coast. This monastery was actually shut down in the 1800s, but as mentioned before is where pastel de nata was first created. This big a beautfiul structure was a welcome sight and provided some much needed air conditioning.

After the monastery we headed back to the train and to our hotel, taking a tour through the gardens which are enormous and easy to get lost in.

One last recommendation for dinner and a sunset from the hotel, in fact the concierge said they had been dying to go to this place so we knew it was going to be a good one. If you're looking for pasta or pizza I cannot rave more about Mercantina. I had a carbonara pasta and my mom had lasagna and we could easily have split one dish, but it was all so amazing.

Lisbon was a magical place and I was sad to leave it the next morning, but off to Porto we go!

#travel #lisbon #tourist #food