Considering I’ve lived in Spain for 10 years and traveled extensively throughout Europe before then, I had amazingly never been to Portugal (ever!!) Eager to change this, we booked an Easter getaway to Lisbon and had 5 wonderful days in this lovely city. We’ll be back for sure!

With so much to do just in Lisbon itself, it can be overwhelming to plan a trip there. Personally, I can’t imagine spending less than 5 days and ideally it would be more like 6 or 7 to really take full advantage of what it has to offer. A couple of extra days would also allow for some scheduled chill-out time to avoid the burn-out we encountered on our last day in Sintra. 🙂

Here is a run-down of our full-tilt, all systems go visit to Lisbon!

Day 1 – Mouraria, Alfama, Baixa

Our flight arrived in the early afternoon, and we used public transit to get from the airport to our apartment in Mouraria. We opted for the Zapping Card where you just load the card with any amount you wish (we used just shy of 20 € for our 5 days). When you board a bus, train, tram, or ferry, you just swipe the card and the appropriate amount comes off. In Spring 2017, the costs were: 1,25 € for bus/metro/tram, 1,80 € for the train to Sintra, and 1,18 € for the ferry. These are much lower than paying as you go (especially for the old electric trams that cost almost 3 € for a single ride!)  More information about fares and routes can be found on the Carris website.

Being our first day, we did a mirador route that brought us to several viewing points: Miradouro da Senhora do Monte, Miradouro da Graça, Portos do Sol, and Santa Luzia. Lisbon is a walker’s paradise (if you don’t mind hills!) Our sunset location was at Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara.

Read the full post about our first day in Lisbon here!

Day 2 – Baixa, Chiado, Bairro Alto

Our second day began the quest for our favourite Pastel de Nata. You can’t throw a stone in Lisbon without hitting a café or bakery selling these rich treats. The rest of the morning was spent exploring Rua Augusta with its impressive arch and Praça do Comércio at the end. We continued along the river until the Time Out Market at Cais do Sodré where we stopped for lunch.

Filled with energy after our lunch break, we climbed up to Bairro Alto via Bica to watch the famous tram make its trips up and down the steep hill. We walked all the way to Basílica da Estrela and then took Tram 28 all the way back to Bica and continued our wanderings back through the city centre.

This was very much an orientation day as we just walked and walked and walked to get to know the city.

The details of our day can be found here!

Day 3 – Baixa, Chiado, Alfama

We retraced our steps from Day 2 down Rua Augusta to Praça do Comércio and then took the subway up to São Sebastião station to see the views from Parque Eduardo VII.

A stroll down Avenida da Liberdade brought us back to our area for lunch and a brief rest before tackling the castle. The best advice I can give for visiting the castle is to take the little bus #737 from Praça da Figueira right to the gates of the castle. We never did take Tram 28 from Martim Moniz up through Alfama since the line was always so incredibly long (and everyone wanted a seat so the trams would leave with all the standing room available.) We used Tram 28 as a means of transit from other points of town but always avoided that mayhem (and always stood!)

The castle was nice to ramble around. We timed our visit to be able to see the sun set over the city. It wasn’t nearly as overrun as I expected it to be, so it was actually a peaceful sunset.

You can read all about Day 3 by clicking here!

Day 4 – Belém & Cacilhas

Day 4 brought us further afield to Belém and then across the river to Cacilhas. We went up the Discoveries Monument which was a great view. The lines were long (and the sun was hot) for both the Monastery and Torre Belém so we chose to appreciate those only from the outside. We loved our stroll along the waterfront between the Discoveries Monument and Torre Belém.

No trip to Belém is complete without trying the famous Pastéis de Belém. Avoid the insanely long line at the counter by just going inside and taking a seat at one of the hundreds of tables available inside. The place is huge….please don’t wait in line!!!!! 🙂

Back in Lisbon, we took the ferry over to Cacilhas for another waterfront walk and delicious lunch. We walked all the way to Cristo Rei (via the elevator to take us from the waterfront up to the town centre of Alamada). It was worth the visit, for sure. Even if you don’t want to go up to the viewing platform at the statue, the views from the garden area are also wonderful. We enjoyed the sunset from Cacilhas.

All of the stories and hints from Day 4 can be found here.

Day 5 – Sintra

It seems that there are certain things that simply must be done during a visit to Lisbon: eating copious amounts of pastel de nata, taking a tram ride, tasting the ginjinha liqueur, and taking a day trip to Sintra. We took the train from Rossio at 8:40 am and stepped back off the train at about 7 pm. Needless to say, it was a long day but certainly worth it.

We took the tourist bus (5,50 €) straight up to Pena Palace. Although the bus ticket was good for hop-on/hop-off we actually ended up walking the rest of the time so in the end a taxi to Pena Palace for 10 € would have been much better value and faster. From Pena Palace we walked through the park to the Cruz Alta Mirador and then down to the Valley of the Lakes. From that lower exit we had a short walk to the entrance of the Moorish Castle. After exploring the castle walls, we walked down to the town centre (path was signed and although they left you hanging in a few places, you could always make an educated guess on the correct way!)

Once in town we had lunch and then walked the 15 minutes to Quinta da Regaleira. We were starting to get burnt-out so we prioritised the Initiation Well and then called it a day! The train station is about half an hour away on foot from Quinta da Regaleira so we had our last walk of the trip!

Sintra is popular for a reason and crowds will always be an issue during the mid and high seasons. Patience is necessary along with the ability to just go with the flow. For all of the details of our visit, take a look at the Day 5 post here!

This is it!! The big kahuna! All of our training (walking and heat resistance) has been leading us to this day: Exploring the Palace Town of Sintra!

We caught the 8:40 am train from Rossio (included on our Zapping transport card). It took about 40 min to travel the 30 km to Sintra. The train wasn’t very crowded, but we were a bit down the platform so enough people were ahead of us that we didn’t get on the first bus of the day (9:30 am). I enquired about a taxi, which turned out to be 10 € to Pena Palace. In hindsight we should have taken it since we only used the bus once (and it was 5,50 € each).

The bus ride felt really long so we were glad to have seats. There were several people waiting in the town centre for the bus – they are probably still there waiting since the buses were always packed! The road is narrow and windy and the big bus could only just make the turns. We rode all the way up to Pena Palace and started our adventure from there with a combined ticket for the Palace and Moorish Castle.

From the ticket office you have to walk about 10 minutes (*uphill*) to reach the palace. There is a shuttle for 3 € that will take you up (complete with a long line of people waiting for it). To me, it is not good value at all. If you are not able to walk up the hill, there is a little hop-on/hop-off cart that costs 3,50 €. Not only will it take you up to the palace, but it will also take you all around Pena Park (and if you aren’t able for the initial 10 minute climb, you won’t be able to explore the park since it is huge with many ups and downs.)

Once we reached the palace, we decided to explore the terraces first. They are so colourful and different. We walked the rampart walls and enjoyed the views of the Moorish Castle below. So reminiscent of the Great Wall of China!

The inside of the palace was a bit of a gong show but organised into a one-way system that you just follow through as if you were in one big line (“In Line in Lisbon”, the title of my next book?) I hope Semana Santa is just like summer high season and that it doesn’t get much busier?? I can’t imagine having to deal with more people….or more heat but I know it would be way hotter in summer!

After leaving the palace, we climbed up the 600 m or so to the Cruz Alta Mirador. Actually “mirador” is a big of a stretch since there was one rock from which you could see the palace and only one person could fit at a time. They need to trim some trees!!! Checking my notes afterwards I noticed that someone recommended continuing on 300 m to the right to get another view but I forgot to check that! And truthfully 300 m more would not have been desirable with the heat and required energy.

We walked down to the Valley of the Lakes to exit that way since on the map it looked to be right beside the entrance to the Moorish Castle. Of course, “right beside” involved another uphill climb. I never thought I’d say this but, we are so over hills!!!!! Haha!

The castle area was cool but quite a bit smaller than I expected. I thought there would be more walking on the walls to climb up. Nevertheless it was nice but could benefit from a one-way system or at least directions to start from the right hand side behind the ticket booth and toilets etc., which in retrospect seemed to be the logical flow.

By this time we were hot, tired, thirsty, and hungry (probably in that order!) so we headed for the town centre. I found it really hard to get information beforehand about walking down to town but within the castle area there were signs to guide you (for the most part!!!) We met some people who were walking up and they were really struggling so I would definitely recommend getting transport to the Pena Palace and then weave your way down on foot. It is a looooong walk up.  🙂 You can see in the photos above how far down town is.

The town centre is quite small (and packed!) so we just played a round of restaurant roulette and stopped at the first place that had a spot. We ended up on the main square at an Italian restaurant with a couple of salads and a big beer!

To get our first sweet fix of the day, we stopped by Piriquita II for a typical Sintra pastry: travesseiro. It is a puff-pastry “pillow” filled with almond cream. It was lovely and made a nice change from all the pastel de nata!!

We walked off the travesseiro with a visit to Quinta da Regaleira on the outskirts of town. This mini-palace is famous for its gardens and especially the intriguing Initiation Well. Needless to say, the place was crawling with people but it was still cool to see. We were still hot and tired so we really just focused on the Initiation Well and then started the walk back through town to the train station.

We had some time to pass before the next train so we stopped at Queijadas da Sapa to sample the other typical pastry of Sintra: queijadas. They were good, but I’d prefer a travesseiro! It’s a cute little café though and worth a stop (besides, you have to try the queijadas for yourself!!)

The train ride back to Lisbon was uneventful and we even had time to dash back to the apartment to stow the camera before the evening’s activity: watching the Real Madrid vs Bayern Munich Champions Game. And not just watching the game, but watching it at CR7 Bar & Bistro which is owned by none other than Cristiano Ronaldo! How could we not? Sitting under “your love makes me strong, your hate makes me unstoppable” emblazoned on the wall pretty much sums up Ronaldo!

There was no room in the bar area so we sat in the bistro where things were quite calm even when Ronaldo scored 2 goals and became the first player to score 100 goals in UEFA competitions. The icing on the cake of the win for Madrid was the amazing burger that we had. It was SO GOOD! And I do not dole out burger praise easily. Everything on the varied menu sounded delicious and dare I say it, actually sounded healthy. But I needed a burger after all this walking!

I used my running watch to track our Sintra mileage and it came up with 14 km. There was a bit of confusion in the park trees and inside the Pena Palace, but otherwise the tracking seems pretty good. I should have tracked all of our days!!! Or maybe I wouldn’t want to know….

So overall, Sintra was a success but the key to this was our early start to arrive in time for the first bus that leaves the station at 9:30 am (even though we didn’t fit on the first bus). With every train that arrives, this bus line just grows and grows. Alternatively, you can plan to take a taxi and skip the bus all together especially if you are planning to walk between Pena Palace and the Moorish Castle and then down to town. The walk at the end of the day to the train station from town was very easy.

Looking for more Lisbon adventures? Click on the links for Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, and Day 4! Or maybe you just want the Coles Notes Version?

No visit to Lisbon is complete without a trip down the tramline to Belém. As the tram (#15) starts at Praça da Figueira we opted to go back to Confeitaria Nacional for breakfast. Thinking ahead to the famous Pastel de Belém that we would simply *have* to try, we decided to go custard-free for the moment. We repeated the divine Bola de Berlim and tried an Africano (or at least that is how it appeared on the receipt). It was sensational!! So moist and flavourful and coated in delicious coconut.

When we went in for breakfast there was no one at the tram stop, but when we came out it was a bit of a zoo (go figure!) So as usual, it must be said….”go early”!! The tram was packed but being of the modern variety, there was good air conditioning and standing wasn’t too much of an issue.

In the high season it really seems that you have to pick one of the main sights and just accept that it is the only one you will go into (if you don’t fancy standing in line in the baking sun all day). The tram lets off at the Monastery of San Jeronimo and the ticket line stretched almost around the corner. So we continued on to the Discoveries Monument where we encountered no line at all. We paid our 4 € and enjoyed the bird’s eye view of Belém in relative tranquility. It is a very small space at the top so there was no need to linger for too long.

It’s easy to forget that you are actually on a river and not the ocean as you stroll along the boardwalk towards Torre de Belém. The day was just perfect!

There was another huge line at the Torre de Belém (naturally) so we just enjoyed it from the outside.

By this time we were getting ready for our second breakfast, so we retraced our steps past the Discoveries Monument (now with huge line!) and continued to the main street. Belém is famous for their version of pastel de nata (the original some might say?) This fame comes with…long lines! haha! But what you have to know is that even though the long line zigzags out into the sidewalk, all you have to do is go through the door to the left of the entrance and grab one of the hundreds of tables available. The place is HUGE and the seated entrance is signed so it’s not even a secret tip! I’m trying to remember if you could order boxes to take away with the table service. I’m pretty sure you could. So there is really no reason to join the long line.

Wow – the line actually distracted me from reporting on the actual Pastéis de Belém! They were certainly good, but not our favourites by a long shot. The pastry looked sooooo flaky but then didn’t live up to its appearance. It was fully loaded and the filling was very eggy. So if you prefer the eggier variety of natas, then you would probably rate them higher than us. 🙂

Another quirky treat that makes an appearance on the main street is Pastéis de Cerveja (yes, Beer Cake!) We went to Pastelería Nau (gritty bar manned by an older gentleman instead of the shiny bar next door with a youngster serving – why do I always go for the gritty dark bars?!) The Pastéis de Cerveja is basically cake in a pastry cup. Sure, why not? It was a bit much after the Pastéis de Belém but we powered through.

It was still early afternoon by this point so we decided to get the tram back and take the ferry over to Cacilhas from Cais do Sodré. The ferry is also included in the Zapping card so we were still working off our initial 20 € charge from the airport. We happened to arrive at the other side just as a cruise ship was leaving Lisbon. I am a sucker for ships so we had some fun on the waterfront watching it sail by.

We continued along the waterfront and its derelict buildings until we reached Atira-te al Rio – the perfect restaurant in which to while away the afternoon! We scored a table right on the water with fabulous views over to Lisbon and wasted no time in ordering a set of canecas to rehydrate! It was difficult to choose what to eat but in the end we went with octopus salad (recommended by the waiter for good reason!!! Amazing!), sardines in lemon with roasted peppers (hello, amazing!), and a tabla de embutidos with, wait for it, carrot jam. The jam sent it through the roof! The embutidos were quite different to what we are used to in Spain so that was nice. All of this with 4 beers came to just 35 €. The sunburns were on the house!

Finally we managed to tear ourselves away from the table and continued following the waterfront until we reached the elevator that would take us up to Almada. (1 € for a return trip, not included on Zapping!) From town we walked about half an hour to the Sanctuary of Cristo Rei. We arrived very close to the closing time of 6 pm but still had enough time to take the elevator up to the base of the statue. The views were fabulous, and it was impressive to look up at the immense statue.

Back on the ground, we spent an hour taking photos and enjoying the views. Another cruise ship left port so we were treated to another sighting.

We wanted to be back on the water’s edge for sunset so we started back towards Cacilhas at about 7 pm. It took an hour to stroll back via the elevator and waterfront. The sunset did not disappoint. Great Balls of Fire!!

Back in Lisbon, we sought out a craft beer pub in Baixa that I had read about: Trobadores (Rua de São Julião, 27). It had a medieval vibe to it with some of the beers being served in clay cups. Very cool! The guy was really nice so we had a couple of different brews each to try and just enjoyed the scene.

Luckily the beers gave us a bit of an appetite for dinner. We kept tonight’s choice super-local with a couple of bifanas from Casa das Bifanas on Praça da Figueira. Lisbon gets full marks for sandwiches: first the prego (beef) on Day 2 and then tonight’s bifana (pork). Yum!

Tomorrow SINTRA!!!

Looking for more Lisbon adventures? Click on the links for Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, and Day 5! Or maybe you just want the Coles Notes Version?

 

We woke up to the church bells at 8 am. Lovely! The only plans we had for the day revolved around food so we just headed out to see where the wind would take us.

Breakfast brought us to A Brasileira for definitely the best coffee so far….you could almost taste the beans!! Local coffee lore reveals that A Brasileira was the first place to serve a bica. We also had a pastel de nata and a pão de Deus (bread with coconut). The bread was very bready (oddly enough) and not very exciting. The pastel was acceptable – not eggy but the pastry didn’t hold up to Confeiteria Nacional’s. We then moved along up the street to Manteigaria to watch the pastels pastry being rolled out and the custard being made. And then we tasted them. OMG amazing! There was no trace of egg flavour, pastry was light and flaky, and we really liked them!!! The current favourite!

We retraced our steps from the day before down Rua Augusta with the 200 mm lens to take more photos. The street was packed with people enjoying the day. Being Easter Week there were definitely lots of fellow Spaniards.

We hopped the subway at Baixa-Chiado and went up to São Sebastian to see Parque Eduardo VII. I’m so glad we didn’t walk!!!!! The park was cool, and I would imagine sunset would be nice.  We then walked down Avenida da Liberdade enjoying the cool shade of the trees and dreaming of being able to shop in the shops!

We reached the bottom right at 2 pm so perfect timing for our chicken lunch at Bonjardim. The cheese to start was amazing as was the bread. In Lisbon it seems to be typical to be brought bread (and possibly other nibbles) immediately. You are usually charged for this unless you ask them to take it away. The chicken was great too, but the breast meat was dry. The fact that it was still good means it must normally be amazing.

We passed on dessert to save room for yet another pastel de nata and bica; this time at Fábrica da Nata. It was an amazing fully-loaded pastel that could barely be contained by the delicate pastry. There are a couple of locations in Lisbon with one right at Praça dos Restauradores, which is where we went. It was a lovely (and refreshing) setting in the back room.

As we headed towards home for a rest, we tried our next ginjinha. This time it was just a few blocks from the apartment at the legendary (and tiny) Os Amigos da Severa. After an nice pastel and ginjinha-induced siesta, we were ready to take on the castle!

Dreading the walk up, we decided to take the wee bus #737 all the way up to the castle gates from Praça da Figueira. Let me tell you, it was worth it’s weight in gold! Apart from the lovely views, another highlight of the castle visit was the peacock community – they were very entertaining! There were loads of them all “chatting” to each other on the ground and even in the trees. The coolest moment was seeing one in flight since that is something I had never seen before.

We had a ramble around the castle and ramparts until sunset and then settled in at the café terrace with a beer to watch night fall.

Once it was dark, we circled around to Miradouro da Graça to check out the city lights. We then took Tram 28 to Praça do Comércio to see the arch and everywhere lit up. We were still very full from all of the various afternoon treats so we opted for a ham & cheese brioche supper from one of the many bakeries lining Rua Augusta. This was pretty much the only food fail of the trip, but also the least important so I’m okay with that! 🙂

Looking for more Lisbon adventures? Click on the links for Day 1, Day 2, Day 4, and Day 5! Or maybe you just want the Coles Notes Version?

I woke up bright and sort of early at 7:45 am fully rested thanks to the one hour time change. We lazed about and marvelled at the lovely castle views. We finally headed out the door at 10 am for our breakfast at Confeiteria Nacional. We indulged in a bola de Berlim (Berliner doughnut) and pastel de nata plus 2 bicas (espressos). The pastel de nata was much eggier than the one on the airplane and less sweet. The pastry was divine. The bola de Berlim was yumsters…super fresh. The coffee was great too.

After breakfast we wandered around past the Elevador de Santa Justa, down Rua Augusta through the arch and then along the river at Praça do Comércio towards Cais de Sodré. The river walk was full of people enjoying the beautiful Sunday morning and afternoon.

By the time we made it to Cais de Sodré it was late enough to justify stopping at the Time Out Market for lunch. Prego Peixara was our focus and it was well worth the 15 minute wait. You get a buzzer so we found a seat close by and took in our surroundings as we waited. Every plate of food that walked by looked delicious. We had a “Clasico” and a “Dandy” and both were delicious. We also tried a bolinho de bacalhau which was fab. We will have to find some more around town.

Eventually it was time to move on. Our goal was to have ice cream but that plan took a while to come to fruition. We ended up at the Bica street again and watched the trams for a while. It’s hard not to be fascinated by them – especially on that street! 

Our wanders eventually brought us to the Basílica da Estrela and wow, I’m so glad they did! The basilica is one of my favourite churches ever! This could be in large part due to the amazing Jesus rays that were streaming in and illuminating the altar of Fatima. WOW.

We lucked out with Tram 28 arriving just as we were leaving. We had to stand but it was no big deal. I should add that our Zapping transit cards were valid on the electric trams so it was easy to just hop on. We hopped out after Bica and then continued our search for ice cream. We found a snazzy place with lots of sorbet options so we treated ourselves there. Walk walk walk (this city is a walker’s paradise – even with the hills!) We eventually found ourselves at Ginjina Sem Rival. Naturally we had to stop to try our first ginja. As far as liqueurs go, it is quite tasty!

Nearby is the Santo Domingo church. It looks unassuming from the outside but wow when you walk in!!! It was extensively damaged in a fire in 1959 and rather than rebuilding, they just patched it up so you can see all of the original stone. Very different.

And then it was back home for a well-deserved rest before the day’s sunset and dinner activities!

The rest was a little too intense so we left the house at 7:15 pm which was putting us a bit late for sunset. So we did the unthinkable and decided to leave the camera at home!!!! What??!!!! We still headed for Park Bar on Calçado do Combro (located on the roof of a parking lot!) for a pre-dinner drink. We were a bit peckish so we picked up a big cod croqueta at Casa Portuguesa do Pastel de Bacalhau. The specialty there is to add a sheep’s cheese (Serra da Estrela) to the mix. It was good but for our tastes, there was too much competition between the two strong flavours.

We accessed the Bairro Alto via the Ascensor da Bica which was actually pretty cool. I thought it might be a bit gimmicky but I forgot how steep the hill was so I was glad to be carried up! We found the entrance to Park Bar through the side entrance and elevator of the parking structure. Unfortunately it had just closed! We weren’t the only ones arriving so people were kind of like “get your story sorted online so we don’t waste our time”!

We continued down the street towards Taberna da Esperança, our dinner destination. We had some extra time so stopped in at a bar for an imperial. This was a super-local bar which was highlighted when our beers were only 0,75 € each!!!!! There were lots of people eating (around 8:30 pm) and everything on the menu was 6,50 € and under! When we left I tried to find the name of the bar and it didn’t have one!!!!! Fab!

Dinner was fantastic again. Goat cheese with rosemary and honey on toast, cod with roasted peppers on toast, and lamb cataplana for main. It was all amazing as was the bottle of wine that I so expertly chose! We had no room for dessert so the recommended 2 starters plus main for 2 people sharing was a bit much. But I do think that I was happy to sacrifice dessert instead of one of the starters (they were both so good!) Of course the real culprit could have been the cod croqueta snack earlier that evening…!

Although we were just in time to take the last Tram 28 all the way home, we ended up walking to try and settle our stomachs a bit! It was a beautiful night!

Looking for more Lisbon adventures? Click on the links for Day 1, Day 3, Day 4, and Day 5! Or maybe you just want the Coles Notes Version?