Picking back up where we left off, Lisbon! I arrived in the early evening on Friday amid rush hour traffic. I have to say, the Lisbon airport is not my favorite; it’s quite dark and cramped, a big change from the openness of the Madrid terminals. Anyway, by the time I got out, it was going to take over twenty minutes for an Uber to arrive, so I walked the short distance down the terminal and hopped on the metro. It was very easy to get a ticket and hop on the train, not very crowded, and there were a lot of seats. I love a train, so it was a good excuse to see bits of the city from below. Each metro station had a completely different style and theme. After one change, I arrived at the Airbnb and met up with Manny!
We had a quick turnaround to head to dinner, so I dropped my stuff and we hopped into an Uber to head to the restaurant. We both found that Ubers were incredibly cheap, far cheaper than Spain even. All of our drivers were pleasant, and none were upset about having to wait for us a minute or two (something I’ve found many Spanish drivers detest).
We headed to a steak restaurant and had some tasty bread before digging into our steaks. It was delicious! We decided to walk the mile or so back to the apartment, mostly downhill. We passed by one of the pastel de nata places that was on my list and decided, “why not!?” Manny and I tried as many pasteles de nata as we could find, and while at face value they may seem similar, we found that some were a little more lemony, a few a little more cinamony, some were warm, some scalding hot, some cold. Manny preferred them cold; I went more for the warm ones. But we did agree that the best place was one Manny went to before I arrived. He very kindly saved me one to have when I got to the apartment 🙂
On our walk, we stopped at a nice lookout point of the city before dipping past the apartment to look at the main square, the big arch, and the Tagus River docks. I could find the names for all of these places, but I think the descriptions do the trick 🙂 We found pretty quickly that our Airbnb was in a great location, very easy to get around from in the historic downtown neighborhoods. Walking through the city at night was beautiful and quite calm. Arriving back at the apartment, I promptly fell asleep on the couch and Manny very kindly took a photo of me 🙂 see below.
The next morning, Manny (very justifiably) slept in a little while I ventured out for coffee and pastries from one of the cafes on my list. After we were fueled up, we departed for the castle, Castelo de São Jorge. Walking up the hill, we stopped by a few shops before reaching the top of the castle for an amazing view. We climbed up to the walls and enjoyed being on top of the city. After some walking around, we headed back down the hill to go to the Lisbon Cathedral. On the way, we found the remains of a Roman theater, preserved in an outdoor museum structure. Just across the street from the cathedral, we stopped for a snack (pastel de nata and a bifana ~ steak sandwich) at a little hole-in-the-wall spot. It was very tasty, and we soon crossed the street to head to the church!
After the Cathedral, we walked down a short ways to hop on Tram 28, the classic Lisbon yellow tram. We rode it almost across the whole downtown area of the city to get to the Basilica de Estrela. There, we walked around the inside before climbing the stairs up to the roof. We had another great view of the city and it was very cool to see the altar from so far above!
Leaving the Basilica, we crossed to start walking back down the hill and happened upon a craft market in the park. We walked through and got a few little trinkets and souveniers. Continuing down the hill, we made a stop for coffee before finding ourselves on Green Street! We ended our walk at the Time Out Market and stopped for some late lunch. We saw the largest donuts I think I’ve ever seen at a branded “American Donut” place. The tiramisu donut we split was really tasty. And just because we hadn’t done enough, we hopped in an Uber to head to LX Factory. Tucked in an industrial area beneath the big bridge (what we called the Golden Gate Bridge), LX Factory has a refurbished factory building full of small stores, artisans, and places to eat! We walked through the shops and were about to head back when we found axe throwing. Now, Manny hasn’t been able to throw axes because of age restrictions in the US, and we figured, why not!? So we paid for 15 minutes and got throwing 🙂
After a very full day, we headed back to the Airbnb for a rest before gearing up for a walk around town before our late dinner reservation. We picked up another pastry while we walked and I tried ginjinha, the cherry liquor. I thought it was good, Manny sipped a little and decided it was the worst thing he has ever tasted 🙂
For dinner, I found a small restaurant called A Nossa Casa that took reservations only by phone from 3-6pm each day. We shared a bunch of food including some really tasty fish. The restaurant was tiny, but very peaceful, and we had another great dinner.
The next morning we set out to collect our rental car from Sixt, a short Uber ride away from the apartment. Our car was delayed coming in from the airport, so we headed around the corner to a cafe for some breakfast. When we got back, they soon figured out that they had sent a manual rather than an automatic car in from the airport, so we got a quick upgrade to a very fancy BMW sedan. Manny was pumped 🙂 We headed out of the city for the short 20 minute ride to Sintra!
In Sintra, the parking lot we were aiming for turned out to be a farmer’s market site, so we squeezed the car into a random spot across the street. Crossing my fingers, we left the car behind and grabbed a pastel de nata for the walk up to Pena Palace. There were a few people walking up, but we mostly had the tiny road to ourselves until one of the city busses squeezed past. Manny hopped right up onto the stone wall behind us, but I hugged the side and let the bus pass right in front, leaving me about a foot of space. After about 20 minutes of steep uphill walking, we made it to the entrance to the palace park. Continuing up to the palace, we saw the amazing colors and turrets peeking through the trees.
We walked around the palace, enjoying the view and all of the unique tiling. The arches were my favorite. One side of the palace was in direct sunlight and the other was quite cloudy, making completely different climates on either side. After walking around for a while, we decided to head back down and explore some more of the park.
Back in the car, we set out to find the ocean! Passing through the more modern areas of Sintra, we enjoyed the scenery and the views. Within about twenty minutes the ocean/river was in sight! We found a much more comfortable parking situation, and walked along the boardwalk area. The spot we picked for lunch had a nice view of the harbor with lots of small sailboats coming in and out! After lunch, we grabbed some gelato and walked around along the beach before popping back into the car to head into Lisbon.
Before we got to the city, we took a little detour so we could cross the “Golden Gate Bridge” and see what we referred to as “the Jesus statue” overlooking Lisbon. Actually called the Santuário de Cristo Rei (Sanctuary of Christ the King), the statue is just across the river from the city. We crossed the bridge and it really felt like we were heading out of San Francisco over the Golden Gate. The road up to the Jesus statue was surprisingly tiny and narrow for such a large tourist stop, but we made it and parked right at the base.
Manny and I decided it was very bad form, and probably terrible luck to pose like the statue as many people were doing, but we enjoyed looking out across the city! I think it’s the best view we had. I especially liked being able to see boats, trains, cars, and planes all at once from where we were standing – the random things my brain picks out, I guess.
After the statue, we crossed back over the bridge, filled up the car with gas (just a little bit!), and returned it. We decided to walk back down the main avenue and found oursleves in the middle of the International Women’s Day march! We walked along the march route before stopping at the National Confectionary for a few more treats. By then, it was time for a little rest before we set back out to walk around our neighborhood and get some last gifts. We had an earlier dinner before I packed up and headed to the airport!
It was a whirlwind of a trip, but so much fun! I was very glad to have gottent to spend so much time with Manny and I think he had a blast as well. I hope you enjoy the photos! This weekend, my aunt Nomi is visiting and I’m very much looking forward to showing her around Madrid! Love to you all!
Abe Tolkoff 