Lisboa & the Algarve

Outside of travel days, we had 3 full days in Lisbon to explore this beautiful and abundant city. Across the 3 days, these are the things we did that we LOVED the most:

• - Walking Tour of Lisbon - its FREE! We did Sandemans walking tour of Lisbon, and it was truly amazing. Our tour guide was so knowledgeable, funny, interesting. The tour gave us a new way to experience the city as we walked around on our own afterwards. Highly recommend this.

• - Visited / Roamed around Alfama - the historic district. Lisbon. This is the only full part of the city to survive the earthquake as it was built on solid rock. This part of the city is truly what Lisbon looked like back then, which can clearly be seen by the narrow, cobbled streets and tall, clustered buildings. Bring your walking shoes - these are HILLS we are talking about here. You can find every traditional part of Portugal here, and it is often less traficked than the city center. We actually stayed in Alfama and absolutely loved the quieter, more genuine glance into historical Lisbon.

• - Eat as many Pateis de Nata as you can! Especially at Pateis de Belem - where the pastel de nata was invented! Truly the best (and original) pastel de nata you will have. Get there early if you can, order yourself 6, or 16, and be on your merry way! We actually sat down for coffee here as well, but its not necessary to sit in. But don’t stop with the pasteis here. Get them everywhere - as often as possible!

• - LX Factory. If you love art, or street culture, this is. your place. The food is great, the art and shops are unique and incredible, and it is a fun experience. It is by no means a must go, but we had a lovely time here. Make sure to visit the bookshop that is in an old industrial warehouse!

• - Museu Arqueologico do Carmo, this is the musuem that is built within the ruins of the old church Carmo that was destroyed in the earthquake, with hundreds of churchgoers inside. It documents the earthquake and how it changed Lisbon.

• - Jemonimos Monastery & Tower of Belem; these are 2 other sites that miraculously survived the 1755 earthquake that destroyed 99 percent of Lisbon. They are phenomenal feats of architechture and culture. You need to book both in advance, or else you will be waiting in line for hours and may not even get in.

• - Free Fado Performances - whatever you do, don't pay for one unless you are looking for a very specific experience! You can find free performances almost anywhere in Lisbon.

• -Miraduourous, catch the sunset at one of the many "designated" spots around Lisbon to do so. They are always crowded, but always gorgeous, and often lively with musicians or food trucks.

• - Cristo el Rey statue; you can walk along the harbor to it after you ferry to Cahilcas

• - Explore downtown and shop. Lisbon is amazing for shopping, and just such a fun city to explore.

If you are a surfer, Lisbon can be a paradise for you. One of these days, we rented a car to drive up to Ericeira, a World Surf Reserve in Portugal. We rented boards and surfed for the day up there, but there are countless spots you can find to do so, even closer to Lisbon and accessible by train or bus.

Here are a few things you can skip in Lisbon that we did (or were told not to do) that were not worth the hype:

-Castelo de San Jorge - this castle is fake. It was built in the 40s after being torn down from its original 11th century state by the Portuguese dictator at the time. So, you are spending 30 euro to see a castle built in 1940 that has no resemblance to the true one. You can walk up to the castle for free to catch the views though.

-Tram 28 - crowded, expensive, known for pickpockets, and not the best way to see the city. You will get better pictures watching the tram go up the hills!

-Santa Justa Lift - overpriced elevator. You can go up the other side for free near the steps of the Carmo church ruins and see the same view.

Lisbon has such incredible food. Here are some fo the spots we went for food:

• - at LX Factory we went to a Thai Fusion place called Machamamma

• - One evening, we took the 2 euro ferry across to Cacilhas to a recommended seafood restaurant called Farol de Cacilhas one of the oldest fish houses in Lisobon. It was INCREDIBLE and very low trafficked. It is a commuter ferry rather than a toursited one.

• - The Coffee in Alfama is GREAT for coffee and breakfast, and even turns into a wine bar at night. Also amazing.

• - Sobrio in Barrio Alto was our favorite bar - 90s inspired and so cool

• - Any bakery - get all the pasteis you can

• - grocery shop! we cooked a lot as groceries are cheap and so fresh.

Mix and match these in any order, and you have an amazing itinerary to fill up at least 3 days in Lisbon!

Sintra

On one of our days in Lisbon, we took a day trip to Sintra. You can read my FULL blog about Sintra here, because it really is a doozy: https://substack.com/@abbykienledufrane/p-193899885

Make sure you get the train EARLY, arriving in Sintra before 9 to beat the crowds. And yes, whatever time of year, there will be crowds. You will have to go into Sintra with a plan of what you want to see, as there are so many beautiful and historical palaces, castles, and gardens to see in Sintra. We did not even get to see all we wanted to, due to the horrific crowds, transport unreliability in Sintra, and lack of time.

But, we did get to see some amazing stuff.

1. - Pena Palce - colorful, 19th century palace on top of a mountain, overlooking Sintra. By far its most popular.

2. - Monserratte Palace - Whimsical, blended architectural palace built in 1863, with stunning gardens including chapel ruins, waterfalls, and themes garden areas. Sintra’s least popular, but most unique in my opinion.

3. - Old Town Sintra / Sintra National Palace

We did not get to see:

• Quinta de Regaleria (We really tried, but they were sold out so far in advance and wouldnt take walk ins)

• The Moorish castle (we saw it from afar)

• National Palace of Sintra (inside)

In my opinion, 2 sites are doable, while 3 are doable if everything goes perfect. So choose 2 you REALLY want to see, and 1 you can live without.

Old town Sintra was actually such a lovely place to spend the afternoon, have amazing food, and even see the National Palace from the outside. Cafe Piriquita is famous for its pastries. Take a ticket and get the traditional cheese tarts. You won't regret! Pena palace was like nothing we had ever seen. We paid to go inside, but in hindsight, I don't think that was necessary. You can get really cool views of the Moorish castle from Pena Palace as well. The estate / gardens around Pena are also massive, so you can spend hours there if you wanted to. Monserratte Palace gardens and the palace itself were actually my favorite, although it was covered in scaffolding. This was super disappointing, so make sure to lookup any unfavorable conditions before you book tickets / transport to sites around Sintra.

Our main tips:
- Don't pay for the tourist bus day pass, as the buses can be really unreliable. We ended up having to use Uber a couple of times becuase busses never showed up, were super late, etc.

-Plan one site spot in the morning, and one in the afternoon, leaving your midday open to see a 3rd if you have time or can get in.

- Book in ADVANCE, especially for Pena and Quinta. The others can be booked on site.

-Check for road closures, palace constuction, train closures, or anything that might affect your day in Sintra

Overall, Sintra honestly feels like a fairytale land. It used to be the playground for the Royal Family of Portugal, and it feels like it. Well worth the trip, but have real expectations of how mobbed it will be no matter what you do.

THE ALGARVE. This is where Portugal really shined for us. We loved Lisbon, but as surfers, and those who really enjoy a slower holiday to get to know the country properly, the Algarve was brilliant.

You will need a car to freely move through the Algarve, as there is not really a local bus system. But, if you plan to just stick around Lagos or another small town, you can make it work.

Lagos

Lagos is absolutely delightful. Small, surfy beach town with good vibes and lovely people. Great food, a lively nightlife scene, and decent to good surf if you time it right. Some of the things we highly recommend and loved about Lagos:

• -Surfing Meia Praia (we rented from Jack's surf shop)

• - Watching sunset downtown on the beach.

• - Ponte de Piedra: Lagos is home to unique rock and cliff formations, broadly called Ponte de Piedra. You can walk for miles along it, and even go down into some sea caves and mini harbors. It is absolutely gorgeous.

• - Drinking wine and eating anywhere that looked good, sitting on patios, and taking in the atmosphere. We drank so much wine in Lagos! So cheap, and so good.

• - We attempted to Kayak to the coves / caves on a tour but it was cancelled due to bad whether, but it is consistently rated very highly.

• - Shopping and exploring downtown shops and bars

• - Time on the beach!

The Algarve

We rented a car for one day and drove up the south and west coast in search of more remote beaches, amazing surf, and some quiet. We found all of those things! Some of the beaches that are definitely worth the visit:

• - Praia de Arrifana

• - Praia de Amado

• - Sagres beaches

Food:

Food in this region of Portugal was to die for. Here are some places we absolutely loved:

• - Angithi Indian - we went here TWICE it was so good. We got to know the owner on each occasion and he treated us like family. Home-cooked Indian food fresh that day.

• - Potato'S - this place sounds unassuming but it is DELICIOUS. This was one of our favorite meals.

• - Beats and Burritos, super fun place, casual vibes, and great 'mexican' food (as mexican as Europe can do!)

• - Any Portuguese Restaraunt you see on the main drag. Every one we tried was amazing. Make sure to try: Green wines, Port wines, Octopus, and seafood.

We honestly spent so much time exploring, eating, and drinking our way through Lagos and the Algarve. The endless coastline of stunning beaches, amazing food, and outdoor activities make for an easygoing vacation. Make it as action packed as you want!

Faro, Portugal

We really only had 1.5 days in Faro, as it was where we were flying out of to get home, so our trip was winding down. We took the train down from Lagos (cheap and easy, and about 2.5 hours), and spent the first evening exploring the downtown area and shopping a bit. We stopped for few pints at the Irish Salt Bar as it was just next to our airbnb, and took an evening stroll to see the old part of town, and the old city wall.

On our only full day in Faro, we first popped into take a look at the Chapel of Bones (Capela de Osos), which is a small chapel made out of the skulls of monks inside the Igreja da Ordem Terceira de Nossa Senhora do Monte do Carmo. It was an eerie, but amazing sight and you can see the whole rest of the Church and a small museum for your 2 euro ticket price.

We then took the bus 20 mins to Praia de Faro. Faro is surrounded by little rivers that let out into the ocean, and there is plenty of options to kayak, take boat tours, etc throught this maze of rivers. We found them to be pretty expensive, and at the end of our trip, weren't looking to throw around so much money anymore.

We went to the beavh and ended up doing the Ludo Trail in the Natural de Ria Formosa (a famous natural reserve right on the lagoons that lead to the ocean). You can see a ton of wildlife there - birds, fish, etc. and the landscape changes every 10 minutes or so. You can do the full loop, which is something like 6 miles, but we only did 3. its very popular with the locals as well. We walked all the way down to Praia de Quinto de Lago and walked back to Praia de Faro on the beach, and it was EMPTY. Just open ocean and sand for what seemed like miles. Eventually you end up back in Praia de Faro. We went for lunch and drinks at Wax Restobar (INCREDIBLE drinks - so refreshing after our long walk) and then snagged gelato before hopping on the bus back to Faro.

There we just wound down, packed up to leave the next day, and ended up going to one of the best meals we had had yet at Mani's mo:mo Nepalese Restaraunt. Do yourself a favor and just GO there. It was the most authentic Nepalese food and experience I have ever had, food that you would not find at any generic Nepalese and Indian spot, and was honeslty to die for.

Faro seems to have decent nightlife as well as access to tons of nature around as well.

Food we loved:

• Mani's

• Vanilla Faro for breakfast

• Wax Restobar for drinks

• Alef Burger Bar

Faro felt like the perfect place to chill and wind our trip down before it was finally time to head home.