Portugal Trip - Part One

Kaylin M
May 29, 2018
11 min read

I’m back! I know that I’ve been internet silent for probably a month now (it's definitely been longer). Honestly, I’ve come to appreciate this outlet as a form of journaling my life and, although maybe nobody reads these, it is a way for me to document the events that occur in my life so that I can look back on them. Since I haven’t really been doing a whole lot of exciting activities, I haven’t really had much to blog about. I’ve also spent the last month or so planning Blake and I’s vacation, so that has been occupying my mind recently (Blake provided moral support). Now I’m back from that adventure and can’t wait to share all the details with you for the next couple of weeks. You excited? I am! So let’s dive right in!

Blake and I just got back from 9 days in central/southern Portugal. When we were planning the trip, we hadn't really settled on a particular destination. Blake wanted to go on vacation, but really didn’t have any preferences as to location, so the decision was up to me. I originally wanted to go to Spain, but we couldn't really afford it, so I chose the closest and next best thing … Portugal! I not only booked the flights and airbnb’s for the trip, but I also planned our day-to-day activities and packed both of our bags. Needless to say, you can see why I haven’t had time for anything else, especially blogging. This trip would be my first time in Europe, so I was a little nervous. I dealt with a lot of anxiety in the week prior to our trip. It was a difficult time for me, but I slowly pushed through it in order to get everything done in time.

On Saturday, May 12th, we departed from Canada on our 6 p.m. nonstop flight to Portugal. I have to take a moment to give a shout-out to Pearson Airport in Toronto. From the time we arrived at the airport to the time when we sat down at our gate, it was less than 30 minutes. I was worried because whenever I have gone on vacation in the past, our flights are usually at 3 a.m., but everything went incredibly smooth. It was amazing. When we arrived at our gate, it was close to a washroom and a Jays game was on the overhead television..in other words, it was perfect. I ended up having the most fun in an airport than I have ever had. I got a Valerian Nights tea from David's Tea in hopes that it would relax me and make me a little sleepy for the overnight flight. Blake got a Creemore Lager and ordered hummus with pita chips for us to snack on. While we waited for our flight to board, I filled Blake in on my life while he played poker on the available Ipads. We figured out that if we got enough points, we could order snacks for free. We got a water, a bag of chips, and a bag of peanuts (which ended up being a lifesaver later in the trip). I paid extra so that Blake and I could reserve the emergency exit row which provides extra leg room. Although we had to store everything in the overhead compartments, once the seatbelt sign came off, we were able to bring down all the stuff we needed to make ourselves comfortable. Since the seat that was next to the door wasn’t reserved, we were able to buckle in our backpack for easier access. We were on an airbus that was very nice and quite comfortable, which was important since we went through many areas of turbulence throughout the flight. I watched two movies, “The House” with Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler and “Home Again” with Reese Witherspoon. Then proceeded to try and sleep since it was a 7 hour overnight flight and we would be arriving at 6 a.m. Portugal local time (1 a.m. Toronto time). Also, the airplane food wasn’t awful, which I would say is always a bonus.

When we arrived, we had to wait for an hour in a customs line, which was a blessing and a curse since we were so tired. Luckily, it meant that our luggage was already waiting for us when we arrived at the luggage carousel. Then, finally, we had arrived in Portugal!

We started the trip off as inexperienced travelers and bought a “Lisboa card” which gives you free access to the Metro Subway Line and free access into all of the museums and monuments. It was 40 euros and was a waste of money. Since Monday is the day that the museums close, and we had no desire to visit any of them, we ended up spending 30 more euros than we needed for subway access … money down the toilet. Whoops! For future travelers, you can buy a pay-as-you-go card from the ticket machines. We headed to our first Airbnb spot and sat at a cafe for a bit until check in time. While we waited, Blake bought our first of many Pasteis de Nata, which are the famous Portuguese egg tarts. Afterwards, we proceeded to walk up and down the street aimlessly trying to find our Airbnb and decipher the exact address from my prior communications with the host. Nobody we asked knew where it was and, since neither one of us have data on our phones and the world is so obsessed with communicating solely through our devices, we eventually had to stop at a cafe and ask for their wifi password to contact the host. Finally, she was able to tell us the address and we realized that it was right across the street from where we were, so we headed up the 4 flights of stairs (no elevator in the building) with our luggage and headed inside.

The Airbnb that we stayed in was a cute two bedroom apartment. It was on the 5th floor with no elevator, so it was quite the hike up with our heavy luggage, but we managed and it was great for working off all of the delicious food that we ate while we were there. The apartment had a 4 piece bathroom and a full kitchen; as well as a living room and dining room, plus a full laundry room. It was exactly what we wanted and needed for the 5 days that we spent in Lisbon. It also had an adorable balcony that I enjoyed sitting on to unwind after our long days filled with adventure.

Day 1: After taking a 4 hour nap, we woke up with enough energy to have our first adventure in Portugal. We headed to the Cais do Sodre area. My goal was the visit the Time Out Market that we saw on the Netflix show “Somebody Feed Phil”, but the directions that I printed out prior to the trip weren’t quite right and we ended up getting very very lost. Getting lost was a good thing because we got to walk through Portugal’s beautiful streets and walked along the infamous Pink Street which used to be Portugal’s version of a “Red Light District”. We also discovered an incredibly cute gelato place called Gelataria Fiori, that sits right on the waterfront of the Tagus River which is the river that travels from Spain through Portugal. After asking a few people for directions, we were finally pointed in the general direction of the Time Out Market, which happened to be across the street and slightly left from the subway station (we had turned right). The Time Out Market is a gourmet food court that has family-style tables. So you end up rubbing elbows with the person sitting next to you, but we didn’t mind because it gave the overall feeling of community, which was nice. We tried a few delicious dishes (which I’ll talk about on a later post) and then headed home for some much needed sleep.

Day 2: On Day 2, I had planned for us was a 3 hour food tour through the Alfama District in Lisbon. The food tour started at 3 p.m., so we had a lot of time to walk around and explore. I woke Blake up early and we headed to the Rossio area and started walking. I had wanted to go to Av. Dom Carlos, which is a street in Lisbon that is known to have jacaranda trees. If you don’t know what jacaranda trees are, they are trees that are covered in beautiful lavender petals that blossom in mid-May. I was so excited to witness their beauty and take lots of beautiful pictures. It was about a 20 minute steep downhill walk from the subway station and when we got there all of the trees were dead. I was so disappointed. I guess since spring didn’t really happen this year, they didn’t get a chance to bloom; very sad. We had a quick lunch at a pizzeria before heading back to the station to wander the area before walking over to our meeting spot for the tour. On the way, we visited a breathtaking church and we stopped by Amorino which is a gelato place that makes the gelato into flowers on your cones. Definitely Instagram-worthy! As well, we visited Bertrand bookstore which is the oldest bookstore in the world. It was disappointing because it had been modernized so the store had lost it's charm. We also stopped at a bar called Delirium that claims to be “elected best beer in the world”. After Blake had a quick beer, we continued our walk to the Alfama District. On the way, we also saw the Rua Augusta Arch which was something that Blake really wanted to see. Finally, just before 3 p.m. we made it to our meeting point and waited for our tour group. The tour was amazing and we had even better food from many family-owned restaurants in the area. Our tour guide Ruthy was very charming and informative; I would definitely recommend her tours (the company is called Treasures of Lisboa). Once we had filled our bellies with delicious food, we walked some of it off as we headed home for the night. It was quite the busy day for us!

Day 3: We visited Sintra for the day which about an hour west of Lisbon. It was a jam-packed day, so I’m going to write a separate blog post for this day. Here's a sneak peek!

Day 4: I didn't have anything specific planned for this day. I had really wanted to go up to the Sophia Andersen viewpoint. Lisbon is well known for their numerous viewpoints throughout the city, but this was the one that I really wanted to visit. It was a very steep uphill walk, but it was totally worth it when we got up to the top and saw the beautiful, expansive views of Lisbon. In the distance, we could see Sao Jorge Castle, so we walked over to it, but ultimately chose not to pay the 9 euros to go inside. Afterwards, I had heard about a bookstore that was so tiny that the owner would have to leave when you wanted to go in. Sounded right up my alley, but unfortunately we couldn't find it. We decided to just spend the rest of the afternoon back in the Cais do Sodre area eating gelato and drinking along the Tagas River waterfront. When we ordered our gelato at Fiori, the woman remembered me ... which just shows you how much time we spent there. Then, we walked along the Pink Street strip again before heading back to the Time Out Market to try some more delicious food! I also crushed Blake at cribbage a few times while we were there ... I'm just saying.

Day 5: We visited Obidos. Again, I’m going to write about this day separately or I may combine it with the Sintra post.

Day 6: We were moving! We packed up our stuff and rushed like maniacs to the Entrecampos train station to make our way to Lagos. Lagos is about 3-4 hours south of Lisbon, so it was quite the journey. Again, I had paid extra and reserved our tickets in the Comfort Class of the Alfa Pendular train. It was definitely worth it. They served complimentary refreshments and the seats were very comfortable. The train didn't take us all the way to Lagos, so we had to get off in Tunes and wait for another train. While we were there we met an incredibly nice Ottawa couple that had just come down from Porto. It's always great to meet fellow Canadians! When the train from Tunes to Lagos arrived, it was the smallest train I had ever seen. It only had two train cars, with the second one being 50% standing room only. The ride was about an hour long and was definitely not as nice as the ride from Lisbon to Tunes. Finally, once we arrived in Lagos ... and got lost for an hour trying to find our next Airbnb ... we got to begin the relaxing part of our vacation. Our Airbnb was sort of like a mini resort. We had to check in and there were multiple mini bachelor-style apartments. Each room had a kitchenette and a small bathroom. After I unpacked our things, I quickly got into my swimsuit and laid by the pool with my book. I was obviously exhausted, because I ended up falling asleep in the sun. Good thing I had put on sunscreen prior to going outside and that I'm half Sri Lankan, so that probably helped protect me. After a good tanning session, we showered and went out for dinner.

Day 7: Today was the Royal Wedding and I wasn't going to miss it! Lucky me for, the time change worked out perfectly, so I didn't have to wake up at 4 a.m. to watch it. It was about 10:30 a.m. in Lagos when I started watching it and it was beautiful! Everyone looked great and the bride was breathtaking. I didn't watch until the end because, well, we were on vacation after all. We had a picnic lunch at Ponta da Piedade, which is a viewpoint along the Algarve coastline. After walking along the cliffs, we went home for another pool/tanning session before walking over the Camilo Beach for dinner. We didn't make reservations, so we had to wait over an hour, but it was a blessing because we spent the time walking along the quiet beach. I got to dip my toes in the ocean and have a romantic walk on the beach. What more can a girl ask for?

Day 8: I spent the morning slowly packing up our stuff before we checked out and headed back to Lisbon for our final night. We didn't really do anything for the rest of the trip besides travel and await traveling.

Day 9: We woke up early and took the subway to the airport. Good thing we followed the 3 hour rule and arrived early because we needed every minute. We checked in, then headed through security and customs before going through Duty Free. We bought a few items to bring pack (including alcohol) and took our time walking around. We were getting hungry, but I wanted to find our gate before getting something to eat. It was a good thing we didn't stop to eat because we had to go through ANOTHER lineup. This line took about 30 minutes to go through before we were finally able to find our gate which happened to be at the very end of the airport. Unfortunately, all of the restaurants were before that final lineup, so we could only get pastries from the mini cafes. We had brought along meats and cheese to keep us from starving and it kept our bellies quiet. We boarded early and had to wait in yet ANOTHER line for a shuttle bus to take us to the tarmac to board the plane. They had changed the plane at the last second, so we didn't get our reserved seats, but they offered to give us our money back which is what matters most. We had a layover in Montreal before our final trip back home.

Overall this trip was quite the adventure, but I have to say ... It's good to be home!

(There are only about 30 pictures here, but there are definitely more to come!)