A Guide to Lisbon

I’m baccckkk! I hope you all got a break from the sweltering Saudi summer, and spent some time enjoying cooler weather on your vacation!

So if you were following along on my Instagram (@thedesignsouk), you probably noticed that I had an 8-day stint in Portugal this summer. I seriously can’t tell you how much I loved this country – the food, the shopping, the scenery, everything, was just incredible.

We visited Lisbon, Sintra (outside of Lisbon), and then drove to Porto, making sure to stop at some of Portugal’s stunning beaches as well. While we didn’t really spend as many days in Porto, we did manage to see Douro Valley (outside of Porto), which was gorgeous and was totally worth the trip. Anyways, so check out the rest of this post for the skinny on one of my favorite cities in Europe at the moment – Lisboa!

Douro Valley is just outside of Porto, and is the oldest wine region in Europe.  

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TO GET AROUND

If you enjoy walking and exploring, Lisbon is your city. Most places are within walking distance, BUT, if you plan on doing this make sure you do it in some comfortable sneakers – even if it doesn’t go with your outfit! Lisbon is completely tiled. No sidewalks are level, and it is VERY hilly. Even if you think you’re prepared for the hilliness, it’ll get to you eventually.

So then if you can’t walk somewhere, you could take the train… but honestly, it was so easy to get an Uber in the city, and it was so much cheaper than a taxi! A €10 ride in a taxi was about €3-4 in an Uber. It’s also a cheap way to get up a hill especially if you’re feeling lazy and are tired of walking!

There are also lots of really cute tuk tuks around the city, and they even offer tours, but since we never took one, I have no idea how much it costs…

We avoided taking the famous Tram 28 only because it was just too hot to be packed in like sardines, but I’ve heard it’s a great experience if you can get on one early in the morning! It stops at most of the major sites in the city, so it’s a great way of seeing everything while sitting down!

The entire city is tiled, and these beautiful black and white tiles were everywhere. It was not so fun to walk on after a while (and can be very slippery), but aesthetically, it was perfection.

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TO EXPLORE

WARNING: While many of the monuments are very pretty, it may not be worth paying for a ticket to go inside some of them. If you can pay online and get it over with, then great. But otherwise, the lines for the tickets are a little too long. But don’t worry, I’ll show you what’s worth it and what’s not!  

São Jorge Castle/St. George’s Castle

This Moorish castle was built in the mid-11th century and can be seen from many parts of the city as it sits atop a hill. It’s an interesting place to visit, and also has an amazing viewpoint of the city – you’ll get some great shots of Lisbon and the 25 de Abril bridge! The site consists mainly of the walls of the castle (not much inside), an archaeological site that has restricted access, and an exhibition of some of the objects that they found there. While I thought that there would be more to see, I still really enjoyed visiting this castle!

Tips: Make sure you go as early as you can as the lines can get very long later in the day. 

Alfama District

Just a short walk down from St. George’s Castle is Alfama District. There are quite a few sites to see here (cathedrals, museums, etc.), and while we didn’t have the patience to visit all of them, we made sure to walk around the neighborhood and admire all the pretty tiled buildings instead! If you’re interested in learning more about Portuguese tiles, you should stop by the National Tile Museum as well.

After a trip to St. George’s Castle, I also highly recommend walking down to the café under the Miradouro das Portas do Sol Observation Deck for a coffee and a pastry. It’s such a great place to enjoy beautiful views of the sea. The perfect way to enjoy the middle of the afternoon!

Time Out Market

This was my FAVORITE place to eat and just chill. We went here 3 times because we didn’t want to miss out on any of the food! They served small snacks, full meals, and desserts all around the building with a wine/beer bar down the middle. I even saw a space for cooking classes and a couple of stores where you can shop for homeware, spices, and cute little gifts to take with you. I seriously loved this place so much.

Cooking classes in full swing!

My favorite eateries were this little bakery with a whole bunch of pastel de nata’s (egg tarts) in the window (I can’t remember the name), and then Monte Mar, a seafood restaurant with the best grilled fish I’ve ever had. No joke. I ordered grilled sea bass drenched in garlic and butter two nights in a row!

The Portuguese pastel de nata (egg tart) is so freakin good. I should have had way more than I did!

San Jeronimos Monastery

The architecture in this place was absolutely stunning, and it really made me feel like I was in a Harry Potter movie. It’s a small monastery, but it was definitely worth seeing if you can skip the big line. Luckily, I have the most perfect tip for you below…

To avoid the large tickets lines, just walk over to the Museu Nacional De Arqueologia next door and purchase your ticket there! It’s literally the same building, but just a little further down, and there were two people in line. And if you still really feel like going inside Belém Tower, after reading my review, you can purchase that ticket at the same museum too.

Tips: I suggest visiting San Jeronimos Monastery, Belém Tower and Pastéis de Belém together as they’re all in Belém District. You won’t be able to walk there, but it’s very easy to take a taxi or an Uber to get there (it’s about 10-15 minutes away). Uber is probably your best bet only because it’s hard to hail a taxi from this area.  

Belém Tower

This is so pretty and “Game of Thrones” from the outside, and so not worth it from the inside. I was seriously underwhelmed and grateful that I did not have to wait in the super long line outside of this tower (thanks to to the museum next to the Monastery). They really had nothing inside the building, and the views from the top were fine. So skip the lines and just take a picture from the outside.

Sintra 

Sintra is outside of Lisbon, and you will need to take a train to get there, but it’s such a great day trip that it totally counts as a “Lisbon attraction” for me. I actually loved it so much that I wrote a whole post for you about it – Visiting Sintra & Cabo da Roca! We visited Castelo dos Mouros (my favorite historical site), the Peña Palace (my least favorite), the Palace of Monserrate (gorgeous gardens), and Quinta da Regaleira (very interesting, in a good way!). We also stopped at some of the beaches just outside of Sintra in Cabo da Roca,, so check the post out!

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TO EAT

Hubs and I are totally the type of people where food can make or break our trips. Portugal did not disappoint at all. I can’t believe how much we enjoyed the food there! I think it’s because the three foundational ingredients in every recipe were butter, garlic and chili. Yeah. Perfection. While you’re there, I definitely suggest that you try specific dishes as they are very Portuguese: pasteis de bacalhau (codfish croquette), any local grilled fish, pastel de nata (egg tart), and Piri Piri chicken. I’m sorry if you’re a fan, but I can never have Nando’s again after having chicken in Portugal. It doesn’t even come close!   And if you’re interested in trying out some of our favorite restaurants from this trip, these are the spots that I highly recommend:

A Valenciana

This place feels like a local hang out spot, but service is not really high on the priority list. It’s a very simple restaurant with absolutely no bells and whistles, but if you love a less oily Piri Piri chicken, this is the place to go. Make sure you get fries and sprinkle the chicken with their local chili oil too. Yum.

Bonjardim

I also really liked this spot for Piri Piri chicken. Again, service is not really the best, but when the chicken is the star of the show, there’s no need! This was definitely a greasier and much spicier chicken than A Valenciana’s as well, but I was fine with that. If you’re not a fan of spice, I’d ask them to give you a less spicy chicken especially when ordering the Piri Piri sauce.

K.O.B. by Oliver

This was a steak restaurant that we went to one night (a total date night spot), and I just loved the ambiance and the food. Not only were our steaks cooked perfectly, but I kinda loved how they served it family style – it just felt so intimate! I also couldn’t stop eating their Padrón Peppers.

Forno D’Oro

So we’re a little weird. We always try to find a good pizza place in whatever city we’re in, and this was an awesome spot for Neapolitan pizzas! We totally went twice…

A Cultura do Hamburguer

And we (mainly me) also have an unhealthy obsession with burgers. This was deeeelish! After a week of eating Portuguese food, I was craving a burger, and this totally hit the spot. They also have black and red buns on the menu, and they looked beautiful, but I so desperately wanted a classic burger that I didn’t experiment. But you should if you go!

The Tarte de Lima was so yum!!

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TO SHOP

So I’m totally doing a post about this as well, but I’ll give you a little teaser so that you’re super psyched for next week! First off, I have to say that the ceramics in Portugal are insanely gorgeous and so reasonably priced. I seriously should have left an entire empty suitcase (or two) for my shopping. I’ll probably go back for more ceramic shopping actually. Anyways, here’s a little preview of what Lisbon had to offer…

  [line] Have I convinced you to visit yet? If you’re from there, or have visited, let me know what you loved about the city! Have a great rest of the week 🙂 [line]