Lisboa <3 The city has charm, character, fresh air, friendly people and has so much to do. They call it the “San Francisco of Europe”, with its quaint, winding streets, classic cable cars and stacked hills. I felt right at home.
Here's a run-through of our weekend, which sold us on the city. Full recommendations list can be found here.
Friday: we arrived, got into our Airbnb and got settled. Headed up to the castle the Castelo de St Jorge, which has the cutest hills to walk through surrounding it, and then headed down the mountain through a path of beautiful abandoned ruins (Graffiti Ruine) to a lookout point called Portas do Sol overlooking the sea.
That night we had an incredible dinner at a restaurant across the bay called Restaurante Atira-te ao rio. Highly , highly recommend it. It felt locals-only and was family-run and right on the water. It has a quaint ambiance, great wines, fresh seafood and a beautiful view. They accommodated all 12 of us and let us each pay separately. *Edit, this was pre-Venmo so this was huge.
Saturday: off to Sintra for the day! For €3 you can take a train an hour and a half away to a small mountain town east of Lisbon. It was one of the highlights of my Europe trip overall - definitely a must.
Sintra Must- Do’s: Quinta da Regaliera, Palacio National de Sintra, Palace of Pena.
After a day of exploring, we ate amazing seafood pasta, risotto and tasted Portuguese wines at Caldo Entornado.
Sunday was our last day, and we still hadn't been through the "old town" area (Alfama). So glad we squeezed it in because it may have just sold me on Lisbon as a whole. We climbed up and down the tiny cobblestone streets, painted with bright colors and lined with classic Portuguese women out hanging their linens in the sun.
We stopped for a gelato at the famous Giallo in old town by the water. It has more obscure, homemade flavors like Lavender Rosemary Vanilla and Local Honey Pecan that were unreal!
We continued our walk back along the water towards the Portas do Sol to have a drink at the bar terrace we had seen earlier overlooking the ocean, Bar Terraço de Santa Lucia.
The Portas do Sol is the area above old town known for being best for sunsets, sunrises, and enjoying the view of the colorful cliffs and hills of houses. Below us, a local musician was playing the guitar and smoking a cigarette while visitors and locals alike danced and enjoyed the music.
I don't know if it was the people, the beautiful views, the good food, or the combination of cable cars, hills and the ocean that reminded me of home in San Francisco, but Lisbon, you got me.
Until next time!
