In Lisboa (Lisbon for us English speaking heathens) there is a mural of Saint Lucy. When a man told her he wanted to marry her because of her beautiful eyes, Saint Lucy ripped them out. Amongst other things, she is the patron saint of the blind. The eyeballs in a martini glass is a nice touch.
Of course, thanks to the clear skies and over enthusiasitc sun, I couldn’t actually see the mural in person, but I was in its presence!
What I knew about Portugal before getting there was limited to its general location (south west Europe) and that port wine originated there.
I should probably do more research before I go somewhere…I won’t, but I probably should.
The food
If I had done even a cursory search on Portugal, I would have had time to prepare myself for the local cuisine. Cod! Cod everywhere! Seafood is gross (this is an indisputable fact, and if you disagree you are wrong) yet for some bizarre reason this coastal country loves their seafood, especially cod.
Luckily for me, the Portuguese have specialties other than cod, such as scrambled eggs with chorizo (a dinner food, not breakfast), bifanas (pork sandwich) and pastel de nata (a pastry gifted to mortals by the gods).
My favourite food in this part of the world are the fresh peaches. They are amazing! I remember this from when I did the Camino de Santiago too. I have never had fruit that tasted so good as the peaches in this part of the world at this time of year. Delicious! Worth a the twenty four hours of flying just to eat some fresh peaches.
I got places to do and things to be
Thanks to a delayed flight, I got to my hostel at sunset. It was a beautiful introduction to the city. I was starving, so as soon as I checked into my hostel I went foraging for food. It is very important to me that I try the local cuisine, so for dinner I had tortellini – Italian food counts as local, right?
I spent four nights in Lisbon, which gave me enough time to wander around the city, make plenty of hostel friends and do a day trip. I didn’t do a waling tour until my last day in Lisbon, and it definitely would have been more useful if I’d done it on day one. Ah, well, lesson learnt.
It helped that the part time locals I met at Stansted Airport, V & M, gave me some good tips.
I decided to start with the Santa Justa lift, a big lift that gets you from the lower neighbourhoods to the upper neighbourhoods. It used to be that I would just stroll around a city and stumble onto all the tourist attractions because I could read signs. Nowadays, if I don’t use maps with a specific destination in mind, the chances of me finding something interesting are about as likely as my finding the AirPod I dropped.
This time, Google maps took me around downtown and up a massive hill. I arrived behind the lift about half way up. It turned out this was entirely unnecessary because, as I discovered the next day, the lift was about 200m down the road from the hostel – no hills required. My fellow travellers could pretty much see the lift from the hostel.
I shelled out the €6 to ride the lift to the top. It was designed by the same people who designed the Eiffel Tower, and you can definitely see the influence. The ride was a very smooth to the top, especially considering it was built in 1902 – I’ve been in much more modern lifts that felt much less safe.
It was worth the red-roof view of the city – it was a super sunny day so in person I mostly just got vague vibes, but I got some pretty good photos! If you don’t want to spend the money, you can walk up or get the tram around. Either way, hold onto your hat, the wind will do its best to steal it. There’s a lovely terrace area with a couple of small outdoor bars at the top to have a break and a drink.
A lot of Lisbon was rebuilt after the 1755 earthquake. This gave the government of the time the chance to plan the city layout and choose an aesthetic. This is where the pretty tiled streets and reed roofed buildings come in. Also the square blocks and very uniform architecture, I liked the tiles, But every street corner looking pretty much the same meant I had to use maps to get back to my hsotel every time because there just weren’t any landmarks I ocould use to orient myself.
I didn’t realise that a lot of the buildings, especially in Alfama (the oldest surviving neighbourhood) were decorated with tiles until I did the walking tour.
Sometimes it’s a geometric pattern, sometimes it’s images. It’s a shame I couldn’t appreciate any of it.The tour guide explained that traditionally, one tile in the image or pattern is turned upside down to avoid offending God – because only God can be perfect. I love that the artists of Lisbon considered themselves so talented and their art so perfect that they had to intentionally introduce a flaw to appease God. If I was that confident I’d be a published author by now.
A fun place to get local cuisine is the LX Factory. I went there with V & M and that’s where I tried both the cod and the scrambled eggs. It’s very funky and vibey. I’m also told there’s an awesome bookshop. It was closed when we went, and these days bookshops aren’t of much interest to me, but more than one person told me it’s worth a visit.
Another really fun spot is Pink Street. They’ve painted the street such an alarming shad of pink, even I could see the colour! Its a much shorter street than I was led to believe, but worth swinging by for a drink. Very vibey.
Side quest: Sintra
When you visit Lisbon, you absolutely must make time for a day trip to Sintra – I’m pretty sure it’s a condition of entry.
Sintra is a small town where all the old-timey rich people including the Portuguese royals built their summer palaces.
I booked a day trip through my hostel for €35. There were eight of us on the tour, I was the only person from my hostel.
The tour started by taking us to Hell’s Mouth. When I was there, the skies were clear and the water was calm. But, when the sea is feeling a bit tetchy, the waves come all the way the cliffs to the viewing point and Hell’s Mouth itself earns its name – look up the YouTube videos, its impressive.
Our next stop was the most western point of mainland Europe. It felt like a completely different climate. Lisbon had been stifling hot and humid. The western point was a little bit drizzly and a lot windy. I very nearly lost my hat…again.
We stopped for lunch by the beach, I put my feet in the Atlantic Ocean – it was cold. No one on the tour was willing to brave the chill for a swim.
After lunch we finally headed to Sintra itself. The plan had originally been to go to the Pena Palace, the most famous palace, known for its bright colours. Our tour guide, however suggested we go to a different palace instead, because the Pena Palace was shrouded in fog and we wouldn’t be able to appreciate the colours or the view. So we voted to go to the Quinta da Regaleira, which apparently has an impressive well. However, when we got there, a massive line was waiting to get in. Rather than waiting we elected to go to the third most popular palace, known for its gardens. €12 entry fee later, we finally got to see a palace. The palace was nice. I know nothing about gardens or gardening but there were some absolutely massive aloe vera plants. We definitely didn’t go into any restricted areas.
We finished the tour itself in the town of Sintra. It’s built on the side of a hill so the roads are mostly stairs. Unfortunately, we only spent about an hour in the town, and most of that was a stop to try pastries made from goat cheese. The pastry was very nice but I would have liked to spend more time exploring the town itself.
Overall, I don’t feel I got my money’s worth out of this tour. It’s fun to say I’ve seen Hell’s Mouth and been to the most western point, but I also wouldn’t have noticed not seeing those. I would have preferred to spend the entire day in Sintra, learning about its history and walking up all the stairs to [[Palace]], even with the fog – not like I can see the view anyway. If I were to do it again, I would just get a bus or train there on my own time.
Lay your head down to sleep..
My hostel was in a building from the 1800s, which once again meant no lift. But unlike in London, I didn’t have a big suitcase so the staircase was no problem. With it being an old building, there wasn’t air conditioning, so the three hundred degree weather outside turned into a five hundred degree interior. By morning, the dorm room reeked of humanity. Ahhhhh, hostel life.
What I did really enjoy about this hostel was the free sangrias from 7 – 9 every evening. I don’t usually drink, but who am I to turn down free sangrias in Europe?
The sangrias made for a really good social environment, with loads of the travellers congregating and getting to know each other. I made quite a few hostel friends – my mission to get out of my comfort zone and actually talk to people was off to a great start!
Three days wrapped up
Lisbon was so, so hot and humid. I could feel the summer sinking into my skin while I was there, and I loved it.
Just….watch out for the stairs. They are everywhere and can sneak up on you. Entire streets are just massive staircases. There are lifts (other than the San Justa) that are free to use but I don’t know where they are or how to find them.
Read here about my experience navigating the Lisbon metro.
My little mid-youth crises is off to a great start, with (mostly) good food, fun people and awesome summer vibes.
