Lisbon and Porto in Photos

Sunset over the River Tagus

I just got back from a ten day trip to Portugal - okay, it was actually eight days in Portugal and 2 days in Paris. I did things a little differently this time as I was taking my big sister with me to experience Europe for the first time and didn't want to be a slave to my notes. I was there in 2014 so I wanted to let her kind of set the tone and let's be honest, I will be back another time. Or two. Or three

the view from the São Jorge Castle 

This time, although I still had my lists and my custom made Google map which was basically my google map from 2014 with a whack of new and exciting places to eat and shops to check out, we ended up just kind of wandering around and everything worked out just fine.

The intrepid adventurers

I booked one activity in Lisbon and one in Porto, pre-booked all of our airbnbs and a train ticket to get us from Lisbon to Porto but, other than that, we just showed up.

the magical Quinta de Regaliera 

We ended up just eating when we were hungry, for the most part. I did take her to El Trevo for bifanas and to Belem for pasteis de natas but other than that, we never made it to most of the restaurants I had planned to try.
some of the delicious things we ate on the fly in Lisbon

By taking away my full focus on what we are going to eat and where we are going to eat it, we ended up discovering some lovely little spots. There was the patio we sat down at close to the Castelo de Jorge that ended up serving us THE best pasteis de bacalhau of the entire trip and the restaurant that was right below our apartment that delivered the best clams. It was, I realized on our last night right before bed, one door down from a much hipper, newer place that I had given a black star to on my google map - A BLACK STAR MEANS ITS A MUST PEOPLE. I kind of didn't really care, mainly because I love Portugal so much that this, my second trip, will absolutely not be my last visit so I'll try it another time.

the iconic view of Porto's waterfront from the water

the Palace of Pena, Sintra

For eight days, four days in Lisbon and what ended up being three days in Porto due to a fabulous cooking class in Lisbon that delayed our travel to Porto and a 24 hour bug, we just walked and walked and walked and I took tons of photos and that was A Okay. Our planned trip to Douro Valley had to be cancelled at the last minute due to a pesky train strike but, again, another time.

In the coming days, I will devote a few posts to some of the things that we did that deserve a spotlight.


Oh and check out my recommendations for Lisbon here and here from 2014 - except for longer lineups for the Jeronimos Monestary and Pena, it all still stands.





Matosinhos Beach Porto

Marche Bastille in Paris

Paris because although only there a day and half, we can't ignore this right?

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