Did you ever read my post on Copenhagen where I mentioned that certain cities around the world are great for certain zodiacs. While I, a libra, wasn’t all that crazy over Copenhagen, I still had a good time and thought the city was just lovely. Yeah, that’s it. Lovely. Lisbon happened to be another Libra city that I was excited to get to but was hoping it wouldn’t be an underwhelming experience like Thailand. It was anything but. It was probably the architecture or the scenery or the people, but I sorta kinda maybe fell in love with Portugal. And as a libra I just love being in love.
Day 1
I landed in Portugal after an overnight flight at around 11:30am and hopped in an overpriced taxi (take an uber, they’re super cheap) to head to my airbnb in the city center and only hit a little morning traffic. I already had somewhere to be at 3pm and really just wanted to sit my things down, shower, and brush my gums. Afterwards I went for a walk around the city center and ended up at the Commercial Square, right on the water. From there I could see a bridge that yes, looked exactly like the San Francisco Bay Bridge, but it wasn’t until the next day that I learned it was designed by the same person. I ended up walking around a bit more to gauge my surroundings and ended up running into the very person I needed to meet up with later.
I was most excited about finally being able to meet up with people abroad! One of the travel groups I’m a part of had sub group for a flight sale to Lisbon that had a lot of people in the city at the same time as me, over Thanksgiving. Although we came and went at different times, most of us were there during a few common days and planned meet-ups. The first woman I met suggested a food tour and because I’m greedy and had never been on one, I immediately booked it for my first day there.
Read all about my food tour and see why it should be the first thing you book, if anything, as well. Spending four hours roaming neighborhoods I might have missed and learning the history of the area was an added bonus. The delicious local eats where why I opted in.
When the tour was over Rosa, our lovely guide, recommended that we go back to a food market we’d passed previously. It shows up for days at a time, twice a month. We headed over and got some snacks. I specifically got a ham sandwich for the next morning as I was sure I wouldn’t have time for breakfast. I was right.
Day 2
I had planned nothing for this entire trip and didn’t plan on planning anything. I hate planing if you can’t tell. That’s why it was perfect when my newfound friend abroad mentioned that she would be going on a tour with a company named “We Hate Tourism.” Me too! The name alone had me sold and immediately scheduled a tour for this particular day. We jumped in the van with another woman from our travel group and our guide Marcos and set off toward Sintra. Since I’d already expected to take the train to Sintra during my trip (it’s recommended) this tour was right on time. Sintra/Cascais were knocked off in one seven hour tour and I didn’t have to lift a finger.
Once we arrived back in Lisbon we headed to an ice cream shop with the best ice cream ever (Marcos’ words, not mine). Next it was time for a nap pre-dinner. Naps for me during this trip usually meant one of two things, I was either 1. getting work done or 2. getting lost in youtube videos. In this case I had a deadline I needed to meet so it was the former.
When I met back up with one of my “buddies abroad” we had dinner at a popular local spot that not only was recommended by our food tour guide the day before, but it was popular on trip advisor as well. My steal, fries, rice, and salad at Super Mario wasn’t complete without a carafe of sangria. It was actually my friend that got me on a sangria kick in Portugal. Every time she mentioned having some awesome sangria when she arrived it made me want some. Once we were done with dinner, and we sat there for hours chatting, I walked back across Rossio Square and down about four side streets before making it up the hill to my indiscreet apartment. Another day in Lisbon on the books.
Day 3
Day 3 in Lisbon was magic! I had no tours planned and after two sleepless nights I finally got some shuteye. I literally only woke up around 11am because my airbnb host knocked on my door. I’m assuming he didn’t know I was in there and was double checking. However, I’m glad he woke me up. I would’ve slept the day away.
During my tour to Sintra/Cascais we drove past a huge museum on our way back. On this particular day i decided to walk back the way we drove and ended up stumbling upon some cool street art that we passed as well. The walk turned out to be well over an hour but that was okay because I’m anti-transportation as just knew it was the way to one of the best free museums in Europe.
The Museu Coleção Berardo (Berardo Collection Museum) was AMAZEBALLS!!! The only reason I didn’t set up a sleeping bag was because I couldn’t figure out how to get to certain exhibits. There were times I was roaming the halls and could see below me, but didn’t know how to get to those areas. I actually ended up accidentally leaving and decided to keep going since I’d already exited. It was more than tempting to go back in and just marvel at the artwork, sculptures, and films I had just seen. If you ever make it to Lisbon, promise me you’ll visit this museum.
Sincerely,
Still In Love <3
Later this day I met up with the girls once more for a farewell dinner and we even had a fourth fellow traveler. While the original restaurant we’d chosen to dine at was closed until later (for some reason this side of the world won’t dine until 9/9:30 pm) we were in an area chockfull of good eats. We settled on an Ta’ska, an African restaurant just minutes from busy Rossio Square. I ordered a HUGE pitcher of sangria for myself and the beef an okra. We say for hours laughing, talking, and enjoying simply each others company. I couldn’t have asked for a better last day in Lisboa.
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