Lisbon in April — Records of Roam

We left Japan and spent the month of April in Lisbon, Portugal. Jeff had been to Lisbon once before, on a trip with friends back in 2012. I was SO excited to visit Lisbon; when we were planning for our trip, it was one of the places I was most looking forward to.

Unfortunately, Lisbon did not make it easy for us to love her; within a day I was struck with a vicious sinus infection, and later in the month we were both hit HARD with a brutal bout of food poisoning. It’s a reminder that while traveling the world for a year you’re bound to experience the same annoyances you would back home. The downside, though, is that you don’t have the comforts of home when traveling. When my sinuses were under attack, Jeff struggled to find good medicine; he went to the pharmacy multiple times and they continued to try to give him ibuprofen as he pleaded for stronger drugs. As frustrating and crappy as we felt, we were grateful to have each other, and we relished the days when we felt better (and it wasn’t raining!). We were also so thankful when our mid-month guests brought us a pack of dayquil/nyquil for our next cold!

I loved Portugal. It was beautiful, colorful, vibrant, and full of history. I loved the cobblestone streets and the colorful buildings covered in unique tiles. The wine was amazing, the food was great, and the people were genuine and friendly. They have fantastic seafood, but also great meat dishes and delicious pastries. With its old cable car trams and doppelgänger Golden Gate Bridge, it sometimes felt like an alternate version of San Francisco!

Here are our highlights of Lisbon!

ALFAMA

Alfama is a beautiful area in Lisbon, known for being an old neighborhood full of narrow, hilly, cobblestone streets, mostly inhabited by older Portuguese. It was a neighborhood we both were eager to explore and ended up being our favorite place to wander.

Alfama’s labyrinth of streets felt like Alice in Wonderland; many of the narrow, steep streets are closed off to cars, which creates a quiet magic for exploring its charm. Then suddenly, you round a corner and you’re dropped out of fantasyland and back onto the noise of traffic on a main street, with a cruise ship hovering in the distance.

MIRADOUROS

Lisbon is known as the “city of seven hills” (another San Francisco similarity!), which means there are plenty of peaks to enjoy good views from. These lookout points are known as miradouros. Our favorite was Miradouro de Nossa Senhora do Monte, where we sat on the ledge and enjoyed a beer overlooking the city.

AZULEJOS

In Lisbon, many buildings are adorned with beautiful, unique ceramic tiles. These tiles, known as azulejos, are found throughout Portugal.

We never of tired wandering the streets to gaze at new tiles, snapping photos of each unique design we encountered.

Jeff created a lovely little collage of some of my favorite tile snaps!

One day, we picked up the most amazing souvenir from a store called Cortico & Netos, which sells authentic, original old tiles. We were lucky enough to be the sole visitors in the store on a Monday, allowing us to have a great conservation with the owner about the history and motivation of the tiles/store. Cortico & Netos was founded by the grandson of a man who amassed a collection of “leftover” tiles and other housing goods from manufacturers over the years, and he now sells these discontinued tiles to lucky customers like us. We’re looking forward to displaying this tile in our home once we’re back from our trip!

WINE & GINJINHA

After a month in Japan, it was great to be back in the land of wine. Neither of us knew much about Portuguese wine, so it was fun to try and learn more about them! We enjoyed tasting reds, whites, and rosé from Douro Valley and Alentejo.

We also loved ginjinha, a cherry liqueur. Ginjinha is found throughout Lisbon's bars and restaurants, as well as at dedicated stands. In Alfama, old ladies with missing teeth would shout at passersby, attempting to lure them into buying their homemade ginja; we called them “ginja trolls." Our favorite stop for ginjinha was at a place appropriately called A Ginjinha.

SIGHTSEEING WITH FRIENDS

During our month in Lisbon, our friends Brendan & Megan came to visit, which was such a treat! It was great to spend time with friends while traveling, catching up on each other's lives and experiencing a new place together. Hours vanished while we sat at a bar we discovered with them (which we nicknamed "Narnia"), chatting over drinks and tapas.

We saved our sightseeing checklist to enjoy with them. During their visit, we saw Jerónimos Monastery, Padrão dos Descobrimentos, Belém Tower, São Jorge Castle, and LX Factory.

The Jerónimos Monastery was stunning, inside and out. The inside cloister featured detailed design, reminding me of a marshmallow fantasyland castle. Jeff nerded out when we found Vasco da Gama’s tomb inside the church.

The Padrão dos Descobrimentos was an impressive, super cool statue along the river that was built to honor the explorers of the Age of Discovery. It’s a statue that honors a unique aspect of Portugal’s history.

One night, we also had the good fortune of getting to hear fado music together. Fado is a type of music unique to Portugal which features a sad, slow, soulful vocalist singing over an acoustic guitar.

On the last day of their visit, we took a day trip to Sintra together. While there, we visited the Pena Palace and Castle of the Moors. Pena Palace was a whimsical, colorful castle, stripped from a cartoon fairytale! The palace had bright, primary colors and so many unique shapes; it was a Willy Wonka wonderland.

After admiring the inside and exterior of the palace, we walked down to the nearby Castle of the Moors. The castle was super cool, with an old wall snaking up and down the hills; it made us think of the Great Wall of China! The views from the wall were amazing; we could see the Sintra town center below, as well as the ocean in the distance.

Thanks for visiting, Brendan & Meghan!

BIFANAS & PREGOS

Portugal is home to two very tasty sandwiches: the bifana (pork) and prego (steak). We loved them both and happily had the opportunity to try a few different versions, both casual (at O Trevo) and fancy (at Gambrinus). They were best when topped with mustard and queijo (cheese).

SEAFOOD & PETISCOS

When our friends visited, we went to Cervejaria Ramiro, a popular seafood restaurant. Jeff had been there on his previous trip to Lisbon after seeing Anthony Bourdain visit during an episode of No Reservations. It was an awesome experience with incredible seafood, friendly staff, and a lively mix of tourists and locals. We must have spent hours there devouring lobster, oysters, crab, and prawns. The tradition at Ramiro is to have a prego for dessert, which we couldn’t resist!

Spain has tapas and Portugal has petiscos. It was fun to dine on these small plates, and our favorite spot for them was Taberna at Bairro de Avillez. Taberna was one of the many restaurants owned by local chef Jose Avillez; we had the opportunity to dine at a couple of his spots, and we loved them.

Tuna melts are one of our go-to easy meals to make at home while on the road. We can easily say that our tuna melts in Lisbon were the best I’ve made all year, due to Portugal’s history of and fondness for canned fish. We treated ourselves to three different fancy canned tunas to try, and they were all delicious!

LX FACTORY & MAAT

One day, we visited the MAAT (Museum of Art, Architecture, and Technology), which is located along the river near the Ponte 25 de Abril (the Golden Gate copycat bridge).

The MAAT has two buildings, one of which features a public space on its roof which offers a great viewing platform of the bridge and river.

Jeff had seen online that one of his favorite graphic designers had an exhibit called “The Happy Show” at the MAAT, so we went on on a rainy day. The exhibit was fantastic; it was created by Stefan Sagmeister, an Austrian-born designer who lives in New York and worked in advertising in his past life. It was a fun and quirky exhibit, but also insightful and thought-provoking; it featured pieces/installations representing snippets from Stefan’s diary over the years, focused on happiness.

After finishing at the MAAT, we walked to LX Factory, which we visited a few times during our time in Lisbon. LX Factory is a hip area located under the bridge, full of former factories converted into shops, restaurants, and bars, filled with street art and unique spaces.

PASTRIES & DESSERT

Portugal loves their pastries! Our favorite was pastel de nata, a tasty egg custard tart that is found in every bakery and cafe in Lisbon. This ubiquitous pastry actually has a fascinating origin story; the recipe was created by monks at nearby Jerónimos Monastery, who sold the recipe to a sugar refinery which opened a shop called Pasteis de Belém (that still exists!) and started selling them.

We lost track of how many pasteis de nata we ate; it was always too easy to grab one for a snack from Manteigaria, which was located just down the street from our Airbnb.

We also loved pão de deus, a dense coconut brioche bread which translates to “bread of the gods.” Every time we passed an A Padaria Portuguesa, a popular local bakery chain, we were tempted to pick one up!

When we visited Sintra with friends, we tried another pastry called travesseiro (which translates to “pillow”), a delightful treat made with egg and almond cream.

Our favorite dessert in Lisbon, though, wasn’t a pastry; it was a slice of cake. Landeau Chocolate serves the most amazing chocolate cake, which we enjoyed on more than one occasion! It tasted just as good paired with an espresso as a glass of port.

ARCADE FIRE

While in Lisbon, we went to see Arcade Fire, a band we both like. I had never seen Arcade Fire before, but had always wanted to!

The show was held at Campo Pequeno, a circular stadium that was built in 1892 for bull fights! The stage was in the center but every seat was a good one because the stage rotated! We were on the floor, and we were happy to be there, able to wander around and find a good spot on whatever side of the stage we wanted.

I am so grateful we had the chance to see them - it was an incredible show! The crowd was amazing; they knew every word, and were so joyful, energetic, and excited to be there...and this was on a Monday night! English isn’t even their language, but they knew all the words and sounded better than an American crowd would. I suppose if you don’t get the luxury of seeing bands often, you appreciate when you do.

I couldn’t contain my excitement when they played “Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels),” which holds a special place in my heart - it was the first song I ever played on the radio back in college! At the end of the last song, the crowd kept singing, and Preservation Hall Jazz Band (who had opened the show), picked it up as a second line as they escorted Arcade Fire off the stage. This show was a highlight for us and made its way into our Top 5 all-time concerts!

OUR AIRBNB & NEW FRIENDS

We loved our Airbnb, which sat on a charming street filled with old grandmas peeking out of windows. It was cozy and comfortable; there was plenty of space, and it gave us the feeling of home. From our balcony, we could see the Bica funicular cruise up and down the hill.

The Portuguese people were genuine and friendly, and our Airbnb host Ida and her boyfriend Diego were no exception. They were kind and welcoming from the moment we met them (when we showed up for check in exhausted from a long travel day from Japan!). They were helpful with recommendations and took us out in Lisbon on a few fun nights. Diego, who is from Porto, even bought us a round of our first port wine!

PHOTO SESSION

While in Lisbon, we scheduled a photo session with a local photographer. Our moms are always asking for more photos of both of us, which inspired us to have our photos taken by someone else. They’re right; most of our travel photos only feature one of us, with the other behind the camera (we’re not big fans of selfies).

We were fortunate to find Emanuele, who took us for a walk around Lisbon, taking photos along the way. I feel awkward when having my photo taken, but Emanuele made it as comfortable as possible for us. We had a great time and are happy to have photos featuring both of us to send to our moms!

I was so in love with the eye treats of Lisbon streets! The colors of the city were inspiring, and the addition of tiles was so unique to Portugal. Thanks for a great month, Lisbon!