Lisbon, the San Francisco of Europe: An Annotated Itinerary
From Berlin, I flew to San Francisco for a quick trip home! Just kidding, that would be silly. I went to Lisbon, the San Francisco of Europe, instead. Lisbon a hilly port city, is the only other place to have trolleys that go up hills, and even has a replica of the Golden Gate Bridge, so it did feel like a little taste of home. There I met up with Sylvie, one of my best friends from SF, and her boyfriend João. In my brief three days there, we did plenty of site seeing and ate our way around town. Below is an overview of my time there:
TUESDAY, MARCH 6th
17:00- Landed at the airport!
18:30- Arrival at my hostel! I was staying at the Traveler's Hostel, a very cozy hostel right along one of the main walking streets in the heart of town. Sylvie was waiting for me in the lobby, a warm Pastel de Nata in hand. You know what they say, good friends greet you with open arms, best friends greet you with snacks in hand.
19:30- Walked through the Alfama district, which is said to be the oldest standing neighborhood in all of Europe.
21:00- Aperitif at Menina e Moça, an adorable bookstore-bar, named after a famous Portuguese book. The bar, the walls of which are lined with Portuguese novels, was founded as a tribute to the Portuguese language.
22:00- Delicious tapas dinner at Taberna Tosca
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7th
10:30- : Visited Fundacao Jose Saramago, dedicated to the work of author and nobel prize winner Jose Saramago. This space too was a celebration of Portuguese language.
13:00- Wandered up the city's small, tile covered streets.
14:00- Landeau Chocolate: We are their chocolate cake, which is said to be one of the reasons worth visiting Lisbon, and called the best cake in all of Europe. While it's hard to determine if it lives up to that title, it was absolutely delicious!
14:30- Time Out Market: We take the expression "Life is short, eat dessert first" seriously; so after dessert we then headed to lunch. The Time Out Market is a food hall where you can find all the best of Lisbon's food scene in one place. I had delicious local sardines from one of the cities oldest restaurants.
16:30- Toured the Tile Museum, which has an extensive collection of tiles of all kinds, from the 14th century onwards. Enough to make a tile-loving girl like me happy!
18:00- On the way back from the museum, we got caught in the rain storm and got quite drenched.
20:00- Portuguese mussels for dinner!
THURSDAY, MARCH 8th
10:30- Breakfast at the Confeitaria Nacional, said to be one of the best pastry shops in the city.
11:00- Took the regional train for a day-trip up to Sintra, the national park nearby known for its spectacular castles.
13:00- Took a tuk tuk up the hill to the Castle of the Moors, a fortress built in the 9th century by the Muslim kings.
15:00- Pena Palace: I was so excited to see this castle, famous for its bright colors and beautiful views. Sadly, it was a really foggy day so we could not see the views, and the colors were muted by the grey sky. But it was still worth the visit! And now I have a good reason to come back in warmer weather.
17:00- Tried a Pastel de Sintra from the most popular bakery in town.
18:00- Trained back into Lisbon.
21:00- I tried pica pau for dinner, one of Portugal's traditional dishes. The name means woodpecker, but its a form of steak, go figure. We then went to a cafe near the cathedral diner for desert and fado. Fado is a form of traditional Portuguese music, performed in cafes and restaurants throughout the city on Thursday nights. It was a lovely performance in a intimate space.
Sylvie and I then said our goodbyes in the light of the cathedral and went our separate ways to pack our bags and leave for the home the next morning.