2018 brought us to Lisbon, Portugal, and we fell in love with it. The vibe is relaxed and authentic. The narrow cobblestones streets are lined with tile-faced buildings and the city is full of hills, wonderful Portuguese seafood, beautiful weather and lots to do. Our apartment was perfect – centrally located with a beautiful view of St. George’s Castle, and lively street music every evening right outside our living room window. An added bonus was the famous Santini’s ice cream shop just downstairs from our apartment – we ate it 4 of the 4 days we were in Lisbon.
After not much sleep on the overnight flight, we had to power through the first day so we explored around our apartment, caught some views of the city, and listened to music while the kids played deliriously at an outdoor bar with some Brazilian kids that had also just arrived. We headed back to the apartment after an early dinner and tried out the ice cream shop.
Day 2 took us to St. George’s Castle, a Moorish castle overlooking the city. The views were amazing and the ride there via a tuk tuk was quite the adventure. After the castle we visited the Gulbenkian museum, housing one of the greatest private art collections in the world. The museum itself was great but the philanthropic efforts of Calouste Gulbenkian to Portugal’s arts and education and his life story provided to us by a random stranger in the museum were fascinating. We finished the day wandering the streets at night and taking the famous Tram 28 through the city and back. And then ice cream.
The following day we took a day trip to Sintra, a 40 minute train ride from Lisbon. The weather was not great – chilly, cloudy and rainy. But we enjoyed the day nonetheless. Our first stop was the Pena Palace. The line to the palace was long, and while the palace was beautiful and its history interesting, the hikes through the surrounding grounds thick with fog and drizzle proved to be more exciting for all of us. We walked up a steep hill for what seemed like miles to reach the “High Cross,” a 16th century cross on the highest point on the mountain. It was too foggy to see the amazing view of the palace that apparently exists, but it was an adventure on its own and probably because of the weather we were nearly the only ones there.
We had to skip the Castle of the Moors because it was too foggy to see anything, but that just meant we had more time to explore Quinta da Regaleira, a palace with a beautiful park containing lots of hidden paths, grottos and wells the kids could wander through. The cloudy weather was perfect for this since it added to the mystery of the place. It was definitely one of the highlights. We capped off the day with an amazing traditional Portuguese dinner. And ice cream.
Our last day in Lisbon we spent in the historic Belém district. We tried to bicycle there but sadly (especially for Taylor), there were no kid sized bikes available. Belém is right on the river and is the home of Jerónimos Monastery, Belém Tower, the Monument to the Discoveries (dedicated to those who contributed to exploration), and many museums. It is also home to a famous and very very crowded pastry shop, Pasteis de Belém. Well worth the line to try a recipe that has remained unchanged since 1837. Because we were there at the end of the day, their pastry selection outside of the infamous Belém pastry was limited so the kids were unable to order anything they loved. That was ok though – they had some ice cream when we got back home.
Our next stop… Benalmadena, on southern Spain’s Costa del Sol.
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