July 2017 my best friend Claire found really cheap flights to Barcelona for March of 2018. Neither of us had any clue what our schedules would look like 9 months from then but we threw caution to the wind and booked a trip. On March 6th, the day before we were supposed to leave, there were reports of an insane snow storm that was going to be hitting the Northeast, which had the potential to really mess up our plans the next day. In an act of total spontaneity (with what felt like a thousand phone calls) we booked a brand new one-way trip for ourselves on a new airline so we could leave NY a day early and beat the snow. I raced home and ran around my apartment like a chicken with my head cut off trying to make sure my bag weighed less than 25 lbs. only an hour before I raced to JFK to catch a flight that was taking off a full 24 hours before I planned on leaving the country.
I am someone that likes a good and solid plan. Needless to say, this wasn’t that. Luckily Claire and I had been preparing for weeks and we were both already 90% packed and ready to go. It was a little bit crazy but the alternative was risking being stuck in NYC, our international flight getting cancelled, missing our overseas connecting flight, and ultimately missing several days of a trip we’d been looking forward to for months. That was something neither of us wanted so… off we went!
After a 2-hour delay leaving NYC, we arrived in Lisbon around 2pm on March 7th and used the (actually super-easy!) metro to make our way to our first Airbnb of the trip. From there we checked in, dropped off our bags and got a sandwich at a little shop nearby called Mercado. Since I hadn’t tied everything up with work yet I ran back to the Airbnb to take a call while Claire picked us up some hot wine at this awesome open air market. We regrouped and decided because it was pouring rain we would kill some time at a nearby shopping center before finding some more wine (you getting our Lisbon theme yet?). We grabbed a cheese board and local wine at Lisbon Winery - they had a million different choices so going with the waiter’s recommendations based on what we like was the must. Then we went for a light dinner at Alto De Bairro (quesadillas and fries… can’t go wrong!). We had made it to a normal hour for sleeping without giving into the jetlag, so feeling accomplished, we crashed back at the apartment.
We began our first day at a bakery with some God’s Bread (see the below picture of the eggy, coconutty goodness that we discovered) and a nutella croissant before our first walking tour. An aside: I had spent the last year of my life going pretty light on carbs. But, this trip was beginning to look a lot like carb-mas. We found Discover walks online and used them to do a free walking tour of Belem. Both Claire and I have done a decent amount of traveling before and we agreed that starting a new city with a free walking tour was a perfect way to get the lay of the land and decide after where we wanted to return to. We started in Belem, which is a neighborhood slightly outside the main center of Lisbon. Belem is home to many of the most iconic tourist attractions in Lisbon, the house of the President, and the origin point of the famous Portuguese pastry Pasteis de Belem (more on that below), so we decided that it was a good start to our time in Lisbon.
We took the train there which was, as I mentioned, pretty seamless — I’m always very excited when I can figure out a public transit system in another city AND another language. The tour started in front of the residence of the president (National Belem Palace), we then went by the bakery where we would find the famous pastry (I promise there is more on that soon), we learned a lot about the Age of Discoveries and the statues dedicated to Portuguese exploration, we walked around different exhibition buildings created in the Imperial Gardens all meant to be temporary and the Jeronimos Monastery. The tour was a short one but we got a good overview of the area and decided to venture over to the Tower of Belem (it was on all the tourist guides) and then we headed to the Escher Exhibit in the museum nearby. I’m not into a lot of art but Escher is very unique, he uses math and perspective to create really interesting pieces that trick the eye. It was a fun and interactive exhibit. The Grand Finale - we finished off our time in Belem back at the bakery known for creating the Pasteis Belem. Pasteis Belem are little custard pastries made with egg and cream. They are sweet treats that are light, fluffy and a bit bruleed all at once (I think my face shows how happy I was about the dessert). We were beginning to learn that the Portuguese liked their baked goods, and while this may seem odd, they were all a bit eggy.
We hopped the train back to the city center and made our way up many, many steps for lunch with a view at Noobai Cafe. I continued my cheese adventure (cheese-venture?) with a big bread bowl of, you guessed it, cheese, alongside some dumplings and a glass of sparkling wine.
The weather hadn’t been good all morning but it seemed to be holding out so we walked over to the Santa Justa Lift, an ornate elevator that was built in 1901, in the middle of town. It did look very pretty but we decided the money and line to go up wasn’t worth it. We did a little bit of shopping before heading back to the Airbnb to clean up for dinner. Our first stop for dinner was called Tapa Bucho, we got another amazing cheese board (a combo of hard and soft cheese complimented with nuts and pumpkin jam), peeled fried potatoes (something about their shape which looked like was done with a thick peeler was just so much better than normal fries) and a big pitcher of Sangria. After that we weren’t quite ready for bed so we hit up dinner place number two, El Clandestino. I just went with some wine here while Claire dug into a margherita and some tacos.
Another day, another walking tour, but this time is was absolutely downpouring. Luckily I had gotten an umbrella the day before, but Claire was completely soaked through by the end of our tour. After a quick coffee stop en route, we went to the nearby Camoes Monument to meet up for the Sandeman’s Walking Tour. Luis Vaz de Camoes is considered Portugal’s greatest poet, so much so that he’s got his own statue and square, which many tours in Lisbon like to use as their meeting point because of its central location. This tour dug way more into the history of Lisbon and Portugal — they love to talk about the humongous earthquake they had here in 1755. It is estimated to be one of the most deadly earthquakes in history. It happened on All Saints Day, so a majority of the population was in church with lit candles everywhere and all the buildings were made of wood, which meant that everything easily caught fire. Anyone that survived the earthquake ran down to the river for safety, when they got to the shore, they realized there was no water there because the earthquake was followed by a Tsunami. 85% of the buildings were destroyed and somewhere between 10,000 and 100,000 people were killed. As a result, most of the buildings aren’t that “old” because the city was all rebuilt after the earthquake. It’s actually really interesting how even before modern technology, Portugal was (theoretically) able to build a more earthquake-proof city, though it hasn’t been tested. This tour also covered the Rua Augusta Arch (built to commemorate the city’s reconstruction), the Sau Domingoa de Lisboa Convent (where hundreds of Jews were executed in 1506), the Santa Justa Lift (which we went to the top of without even paying!) and the Carmo Convent (where the walls are still standing after the earthquake). It was pouring the whole time but it was definitely one of the best tours we had during our trip. We went back to the Airbnb to change clothes before beginning our afternoon.
One of the benefits of having a friend like Claire who loves diving into Yelp reviews was finding the Pop Cereal Cafe. That was our first stop of the afternoon where we enjoyed a lunch that was decidedly dessert-y. They had a ton of premade combos which included 2-3 cereals, candy toppings, and flavored milk, or you could create your own… and there was the option to add ice cream. I went for something chocolate- and caramel-based with almond milk. I was trying to reduce the dairy after the cheese insanity the first 2 days. It was super fun inside, the seating was creative with even a bunk bed option and it was all decorated with cereal boxes.
After lunch was our third walking tour of Lisbon, this time to Alfama, the oldest district of Lisbon. Alfama is known for old, winding roads, its gossipy ladies out on the streets, and its Fado Bars, the area’s traditional music. This whole section of town looks generally stuck in a different time because it was mostly spared from the earthquake. We went back to Discover Walks this time with Joao Castelo. The tour started at the Sao Jorge Castle at the very top of a massive hill. We got very lucky with the weather in the afternoon; the rain ended up holding out for most of the tour. We also lucked out with it being a private tour since nobody else showed up! Joao took us all over Alfama, through the winding streets where you don’t think cars would be able to fit (they do… and it’s a terrifyingly tight squeeze). As I mentioned, since this part of the city wasn’t impacted by the earthquake, most of the buildings still standing (or leaning) were notably old. We didn’t see much of the “authentic” Alfama vibes out on the street because of the rain but we were told that it was very common for old ladies to be shouting to each other from window to window and just hanging out outside gossiping. One the Alfama traditions that we did get to experience was to knock on a window and try some Ginjah, a cherry liqueur that the area is known for. It was very tasty and we knew it was homemade since it was poured out of a pitcher and not a commercial bottle. The tour guide was very passionate about his views on tourism and its effect on the city of Lisbon. Tourism is always going to have its pros and cons for locals and his opinions on what the government could/should be doing to improve the situation for them were really interesting. I felt like he gave us a real honest view of the city.
After the tour we stopped off at Pois Cafe for some coffee and tea and came up with a game plan for the evening. We used the Wi-Fi there to buy tickets for a pub crawl so that we could experience some nightlife, meet some young people and have a night out without having to guess where to go. We grabbed dinner at Time Out Market which offered a huge selection of Portuguese restaurants (think Vanderbilt Hall in NYC). I took this time to try out some different croquettes since this is something that is very popular in Lisbon. I had Duck and Codfish fritters and a glass of wine recommended by the restaurant. There are SO many wine options in Portugal, I learned to not be afraid to ask for help. After dinner we went back to the apartment to get ready for our bar crawl. We blew a fuse in the apartment — not surprised with the hair dryer, space heater and phones charging all at the same time. The crawl met up at the statue of Camoes again and was also run by Sandeman’s. We started at a nearby spot with a 90-minute open bar of beer and sangria while the Americans dominated the beer pong table. Then we stopped at two more bars before finishing the night (early morning, really) at a club. We didn’t get home until 6am and we were dead tired. I haven’t had a night close to that in years and I danced my butt off… which I would pay for the next day.
Well, as you might have guessed by the way the last day ended, Day 3 started with a giant hangover. BUT there was finally some sun out so we couldn’t stay inside. Claire went out for breakfast while I recovered in the apartment for a little while. Then we went out to explore. We walked down to the river to take some photos. (See the pic below — isn’t it amazing that I can still model while hungover?) Sidenote: as annoying and weird as it may seem for Americans in Europe to pay to use the public toilets, let me tell you, much of the time it’s worth it. Because they are paid for, they have an attendant to clean it and keep it well stocked.
Anyway… we spent the next few hours just roaming around and I finally got to take out my camera which I’d been hiding for most of the time thus far due to the rain. It was so nice. We found our way to a rooftop to get some coffee and tea and a little snack at Hotel Solar Dos Mouros Lisboa. Then we went to meet up for our Tapas Tour. I was starting to feel better FINALLY which was good because tasting local food was what I was really looking forward to. The tapas tour was about 15 people (a lot of older couples, and a family/friend group from England that was really fun to talk soccer and vacations with) hosted by Ruthy. Airbnb recently began offering experiences and this caught our eye because both Claire and I love food and it had SO MANY good reviews. We started by walking the streets of Alfama where Claire and I had been the day before. Then we stopped at our first restaurant. The menu began with a big pint of beer and a very welcome basket of bread. Next was a Cod Fish Croquette — something I had tasted the night before at the market. This one was SO much better. The crust was so light and flakey, it was a far cry from most greasy fried food. Then was the canned sardine. Sardines were something Claire and I were super scared of but we tasted it because we figured we had to… when in Lisbon, right? The second stop was some Vinho Verde, wine that they make from the grapes that they pick while they are still green. Because of that (and, you know, science) it has some fizziness. I loved it! Next up was some local ham (I was given a mini pizza type of crostini and olives since I don’t eat pork), and cod on toast. This time the cod was raw and pickled, which was… kind of amazing! Apparently, white fish = good, and sardines… not my favorite. The third stop was a VERY tiny restaurant in the heart of Alfama. We were served cheese, bread, quince jam (my new favorite) and honey. We were also served chorizo that was grilled on an open fire inside the restaurant. Dessert was our last stop where we sampled some bean cake, tea, and coffee. The tour was great, the food was unbelievable, and I feel like we really lucked out with a fun group.
We headed back to our neighborhood for our final night in Lisbon. First was some wine at The Old Pharmacy, literally an old Pharmacy that had been turned into a bar. Then we inhaled some falafel and doner kebabs before heading back for an early night in to make up for the total lack of sleep the night before.
We woke up and hopped on the metro to the airport for our flight to Madrid!
