Weekend in Portugal

After arriving in Lisbon late Thursday night, I was convinced by some friends to go to their favorite nightclub "KUrban" which is right on the water. It was super fun, I recommend, but I was very tired the next morning.

Friday morning my two friends and I went to breakfast at this restaurant called Olivia's (they serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner) and I could not love it more. I walked in and felt like I was in Morocco-- the food was amazing (all sorts of cuisine) and it was very aesthetically pleasing (and not too much $$).

We then took the subway and ventured to Rossio square where we went inside the "Time out Market" and took the famous "Ginjinha" shots in little chocolate glasses.

We also visited the famous Pink Street with the rainbow umbrellas. We walked up to the Miradouro Da Senhora Du Monte lookout where we could see the entire city, and got a drink at a rooftop bar on the way down. That evening, we decided the best way to get to Sintra was by Uber and so we made our way to our Airbnb. We had some issues finding our Airbnb since it was tucked away in the winding alleyways, but as soon as we did (around 9:30pm), we were starving.

We found Fatto da Claudio Coelho Italian restaurant on a beautiful narrow street on our way to the downtown and knew it was what we were craving. They still took us even though they were about to close in a half an hour. I ordered the "Di Capra" pizza and it was genuinely the best pizza I've ever had in my entire life.

We woke up in majestic Sintra and walked to the downtown to a breakfast place called "Fábrica de Nata" and ate some delicious pasteles de nata, a famous Portuguese egg custard tart pastry.

Then we continued to our 10am ticket into the Quinta da Regaliera where we saw the historic ruins of castles, bridges, nature trails, and lookout points. Sintra is fairly small so we felt like we got to experience its charm, so after a quick lunch at Lawrence's Restaurant (close to the Quinta and delicious sandwhiches) we Ubered to the Sitio de Nazaré.

It was cool because there is a little museum of the famous surfers of Nazaré and the geographical format of the ground under the waves. We got to learn the science behind it all and see the beauty of it all. It was about a two hour Uber, so not bad split between three girls, and we got to experience the breathtaking surf waves first hand.

We stayed and watched the sunset on the beach and then had dinner at PortoBello restaurant, where I ate the most amazing shrimp in garlic sauce with salad and potatoes. After dinner we Ubered back to our Airbnb in Sintra; however, just a warning, it is extremely difficult and expensive to Uber from the sitio de Nazaré to other places, so we first got a taxi to a nearby town that was bigger so that the Uber could get us there.

Our last day, Sunday, we went back to Fabrica da Nata in Sintra and Ubered back to Lisbon from there. My flight was late in the day and so I got to explore the sites of Lisbon. I went vintage shopping at a few different places, then had lunch at Green Café where I had a delicious poke bowl. Getting to the airport was fairly easy-- I just Ubered about a half an hour there from my friend's apartment.