I’ve been procrastinating on writing about Lisbon. We were there for 10 days and we did a ton, the typical sightseeing, day trips, an overnight, “life” errands and lots of hills. I was trying to keep this one quick and dirty but I’ve not succeeded, alas, I hope you still find it interesting.
What we loved
City size, its smaller than Madrid, bigger than Porto with some of the beauty of Madrid.
Neighborhoods, lots of different ones in a smallish city center with great variety
Day trips were plentiful
Culture was everywhere
What we didn’t love
Hills were UNEXPECTED! 7 of them, lots of steps and inclines. Why didn’t anyone warn us about this!?!?!
Who knew cruise ships were everywhere?
While in Lisbon we took care of a few “life” errands. We had worked towards getting Japanese Encephalitis vaccines ahead of our Asia leg come January, along with visiting a Dentist. The research and work ahead of Lisbon paid off. We’d had a video consult with a Portuguese travel doctor from Hospital Luz while in San Sebastián and were set-up for two visits to a hospital in a suburb of Lisbon's for J.E. and Rabies (two jabs each, at least a week apart). We had waited to do this as the J.E. Vaccines at home was $700 for each of us! In Lisbon we paid half that and got to experience a bit of the medical system. We also visited a local dentist for a cleaning and I got my hair cut and colored… thanks Paulo for the salon recommendation!
Here are some of the experiences we really enjoyed in and around Lisbon.
Miradouros were everywhere - with all the hills in this city the public viewpoints were plentiful. We got lucky with one of them just a block from where we stayed on the edge of Principé Real and Bairro Alto. I enjoyed seeing the city from so many different vantage points.
We hadn’t heard of Fado until our visit to Coimbra on the drive south from Porto to Lisbon. Historically Fado was music sung by students to the women they loved, literally meaning ‘destiny’ or ‘fate’. While in Lisbon we had to make sure to understand this more. So dinner at O Faia, Casa de Fado was in order. Between meal courses we enjoyed three different Fado artists in the dining room. The food and accompanying wine was very good and though a bit pricey a worthy experience. And, at the next table, the little old woman and her husband were a joy to watch as they clearly understood every word and probably could have sung along. The menu was also accommodating for gluten free and vegan and the waiters were knowledgeable.
On our way from Porto to Lisbon we had stopped in Coimbra, a university town. It’s about 1.5 hours from Porto and 2-ish from Lisbon, so the stop helped to break up the drive as well. Coimbra is one of the oldest European Universities established in 1290. The city is built on a hill with the university on the top and a complex of buildings that also includes a palace, and a stunning library with books dating to the 15th to 18th century. Unfortunately no photos are allowed inside, but maybe check in with my guest writer. We took a walking tour and loved seeing this city. I would have enjoyed having a bit more time here even.
As we’d hoped in a university town, there were some great vegan /plant-based and gluten free options for lunch, unfortunately shoulder season caught us off-guard and many were closed. Nonetheless, hope someone finds these useful: Restaurante Fangas Veg and Sete Restaurante. Fortunately our guide suggested a place near the end of our tour that worked out well, Papa. And we found a gelato spot, COSI, that had some delicious vegan /dairy free /gluten free choices as well!
After settling in Lisbon and since we had a car we had the opportunity for a few day trips/ overnights. One day we made our way to Belem (barely outside the city) and Cascais for the day. Belem has a couple of sights worth a visit (and you could bike to them or take the bus, they are that close). The Jerónimos Monastery and Belem Tower which are both UNESCO sights and worthy of a visit. Hindsight 20/20, we should have started at the Belem Tower as that line got long quickly and we should have bought the combo ticket for both the Monastery and Tower together (see Mom, not everything goes perfectly!) David also dove into a Pastel de nata (or Pastel de Belem in this case), as this was the place they originated.
Cascais is a beach town past the mouth of the Tagus River and on the Atlantic Ocean. We got to town pretty late and quickly found a place to eat, I was getting hangry. Gluten free pizza with vegan cheese saved me at Pizzeria Il Siciliano. They were a bit slow with the pizzas and apologized with a gluten free (tho not lactose free) tiramisu, one I couldn’t refuse.
And thus we needed a walk. Fortunately this seaside town was made for beautiful ocean walks. From lunch we walked by the local light house (Forte de Santa Marta), and onto Boca do Inferno. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves, it was an amazing site. On the walk back we stepped into the Citadel of Cascais, which has been turned into a retail, museum and cafe space. Not much there in our opinion.
Sintra was another day trip, this time by train (about 1 hour each way) and a long day but wow what an amazing place. Again, will let the photos speak for themselves. I will just say, don’t miss Palace of Pena, the Moorish Castle or Quinta da Regaleira with the crazy winding decent through the seven layers of hell, historically used for Mason initiation ceremonies. Knowing it was going to be a long day we had packed some picnic food to enjoy along the way. There are plenty of restaurants in the historic town of Sintra, but in the end we enjoyed the picnic as it gave us some flexibility during the day.
And then the Algarve region, which like Sintra deserves a post all its own, but for now… we stayed in Lagos, visited Farol do Cabo de São Vicente (lighthouse and cliffs at the end of the world it seemed). We had a picnic on the stunning cliffs, with no one around, truly breathtaking. We drove towards Lagos and strolled more seaside cliffs at Ponta da Piedade. And more walks/hikes further east the next day along the Seven hanging Valleys trail. The beaches there are beautiful, the cliffs well, stunning is the only word I can come up with right now. Our hotel, Dom Manuel had an amazing breakfast buffet and plenty for both David and I to enjoy. They had clearly read my pre-arrival note about gluten free and plant-based /vegan and made some items just for us, at least it felt that way. Dinner was a bit more challenging with many places closed during the off-season. We eventually found a spot where a clean grilled piece of fish with potatoes did the trick.
Lisbon restaurant experiences of note and a few on the list we didn’t get to:
26 Vegan Food Project - this was our first night dinner in Lisbon and to say it impressed us doesn’t say enough. A must visit for plant-based / vegan and /or gluten free.
Organi Chiado, also fantastic, in the Chiado neighborhood
Manjerica, another great stop
Dispensary N.6 is a gluten free cafe and bakery, a bit outside the city center, but not by much and worth a visit. We picked up some GF bread and a few sweets to take back to our apartment.
Places we didn’t get to but were well researched for gluten free and vegan / plant-based:
Zenith - a favorite from Madrid
Comments