We opted to catch a bus to Lisbon from Porto as it was much cheaper than the train. Using the Flixbus app is easy and keeps updating the trip details, so it will be useful for other travel around Europe. We caught the metro to the Campanha station and spent about 20 minutes trying to find the bus terminal. Signage for the bus station is minimal, but we got there in the end. Thankfully our rolling suitcases and medium backpacks make moving around relatively comfortable.
With a little bit of help from some locals, we made our way to the departure area…and shock horror, the bus was running late. After half an hour of confusion, we followed the crowd to the new departure gate and boarded. The first half hour or so was very slow with traffic overtaking us, and I began to worry that we had somehow got on the wrong bus as road signs pointing to Porto went by and we didn’t seem to be following them.
All was revealed when we pulled into what turned out to be a service area for buses – based on the whirring and clunking coming from the rear of the bus once we pulled into a service bay, we had a dodgy tire. Probably explains the slow driving. With the problem sorted, we got back on the road…and started traveling at the speed limit. Colin hurt his back a few days ago, so I had a transfer booked to pick us up in Lisbon to lessen the risk of further damage. I managed to get in touch to let them know we would be at least an hour late, and hope it would be passed on to the driver. About half an hour before we arrived, our driver messaged to say he was waiting – now that I had his contact details, I let him know we were still on the road, but he said he would wait. Loving these transfers and the ability to communicate.
We arrived into Oriente station and our driver let us know where we could find him as he wasn’t allowed into the taxi area. In hindsight, and with local knowledge, we could have just got off the bus and walked straight to a taxi with our address, but after 10 minutes of following the evil blue dot in circles, I finally managed to find the driver and we were on our way to our new home.
Lisbon looked just gorgeous as we drove from the newer part of town into the more historical area. The buildings are brightly coloured, painted every pastel colour and the streets are wider than in Porto. It gives the city a fresh feel, and already it looks much prettier than Porto. As we got closer to our residence, the streets narrowed and became cobbled. We had let our host, Helder, know that we would be arriving a little early, and he was already walking toward the front door when we arrived.
To be honest, the front of our new home looks very shabby, and our side of the street needs renovation. Across from us, the buildings are beautifully tiled and the apartments look like they have been modernised. As we entered our building, the ground floor and wooden staircase look like they haven’t had any work done on them in decades…but Airbnb reviews had mentioned this aspect of the accommodation. I admit to being a bit nervous about where we were staying for the next two weeks, but Lisbon accommodation is really expensive.
Helder showed us to our room which is on the first floor. The room is larger than I thought and the small bathroom looked very clean. The kitchen looked like something from the ‘50s, but clean and with everything we would need for some creative cooking. Although we have a single chair in our room, it would be perfect if there was a common sitting area, but we’ll make do.
We set off to discover the local area and found our local supermarket – gotta love Continente. Our wanderings led us to Sherpa Momo, a restaurant in a small street about seven minute’s walk from our new home. We order chicken lollipops, mutton Biryani and a pork chili dish – OMG! Along with their chilli paste, the food was to die for. Little did we know that this was to become our favourite restaurant. Great prices, lovely service, Indian Bollywood music videos and amazing food. We love our local area which has all the local conveniences for living on a budget. The nearby square is pretty and the views up into the hills include the castle, churches and green areas. Lisbon is looking (and tasting) good.
We are not far from the main tourist areas, and we quickly found La Praca de Figueira which is a large square with lots of bus options, and lovely streets filled with tourists, restaurants and cafes that lead through a triumphal arch to the river. Lisbon continues to impress with colourful buildings and walkable boulevards.
A little bit of research led us to Belem, an area that with the growth of the city has now become a suburb rather than a separate town. The Jeronimos Monastery is listed as a must see sight, so after catching a (wrong) bus, we eventually, with a couple of changes and walks, made our way to the monastery. The line-up to enter the monastery was frightening and when the ticket office closed at 1.30, we figured we would not get in today. We opted to head home and try again tomorrow.
With e-tickets booked and paid for, we set our alarm so that we could get the bus to Belem before the monastery opened. Even joining the queue at 8.45 for a 9.30 opening time, we were still about 80 people down the line. It was a great opportunity to meet and chat with other people – a lady who now lives in Switzerland, but is Taiwanese, and a couple from the Czech Republic. The system only lets a dozen or so people into the monastery at a time, so it was close to 10.30 before we got in…and the line behind us was into the hundreds.
The system means a long wait, but with limited numbers allowed in at a time, it does mean you get to see the monastery without hundreds of people blocking photo opportunities. The Cloister is just spectacular. We didn’t go into the church, but we did get a happy-snap. Highly recommend this as a visit, but you do need to be clever about it, otherwise the line up time is close to 3 – 4 hours.
From the monastery, we walked to the Tower of Belem – various websites, suggest going inside is not worth the price or the wait, so we just checked it out from the outside. By the time we got there, the line-up was over an hour long. It’s rather impressive from the outside anyway.
With our sightseeing completed, we bussed our way back home and headed back to Sherpa Momo for dinner. Starting to become a habit.
Lisbon is shaping up to be a very likeable city – pretty, clean, friendly and walkable. We wandered up the main avenue near our little apartment and discovered lovely pastry cafes, comic bookstores and outdoor cafes where good beer and empanadas made for yummy lunches. Colin’s back seems to be getting worse, so we researched nearby physiotherapists, and explored the Portuguese medical system. To top it off, he also came down with a cold…which would eventually lead to a visit to the doctor.
Overlooking Lisbon are the walls of the Sao Jorge Castle, so we jumped aboard Tram 28 to get as close to the entrance as we could, too lazy (or too smart) to walk all the way uphill. Even so, we still had a good, healthy hike through narrow cobblestone streets. The castle walls and the remains are in good repair. Human occupation of the castle hill dates to at least the 8th century BC, with the oldest fortifications going back to the 2nd century BC. The Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans and Moors have all been in the area until the Portuguese won in the 1147 Siege of Lisbon. The fortifications were built by the Berbers in the 10th century, so it’s a grand place of historical significance.
Undaunted, and with pressure from me, we set off to explore the nearby tourist trap of Sintra a few days later. A lot of royal and wealthy families established summer homes (and palaces) in Sintra to get away from the heat of Lisbon. There are several places and a Moorish castle to check out, so with e-tickets and a night’s accommodation booked, we set off by train. It was an easy trip, with only one change from the metro to the train, and, being the end of the line, we had no trouble knowing which stop to get off. We made our way to our accommodation, Lanui Guesthouse and were shown around by the welcoming staff. It looks lovely, with a shared lounge and kitchen, and pretty gardens. Sintra town is beautiful, but swarming with tourists. This is going to be a challenging couple of days if our experience in Belem is anything to go by.
We left our overnight packs and set off to find the best way to get to Pena Palace, one of the key points of interest. Wandering around Sintra is just beautiful, but it is crowded with tourists and the restaurants and cafes are all busy. We found a cheap place for lunch (which came with its own weird old guy) and eventually decided to get the 24 hour bus pass for $euro12.50 which loops around to all of the major sights. When we boarded the 434 bus to the palace it was standing room only, and the road to the palace switches back on itself many times as it winds up the hill through gorgeous forests.
On arrival, we joined the masses, thankful that we didn’t have to queue for tickets – the line for ticket holders was already about 200 people long without adding to the wait by lining up to buy tickets. The line moved quickly as you just need to show you had a ticket and then it was another 500 meter walk to get to the palace. The palace grounds are huge, and the shady forest made for a lovely walk.
Pena Palace is brightly coloured, and you can wander around the palace and the ramparts – our ticket, set for 2.30pm, allowed us entry to the inside of the palace so we checked out the various levels of the palace while we waited our turn. It’s rather impressive, if gaudy, and built in 1850. The lines for everything are massive – we would love a coffee, but the café line is about 200 hundred people, so we found some shade and waited until our turn to go inside the palace.
Once again, only smaller groups (about 100 people) are allowed into the palace at a time, and there is a set route to follow. It was a rather unimpressive peek inside, so in hindsight, we should have just purchased the cheaper ticket to go into the grounds and wander the outside of the palace. Oh well…live and learn, and we can say we did it. We contemplated walking around the grounds, but temperatures (and tempers) were a bit hot so we joined the queue for the bus and headed back into town.
We purchased some chips and a bottle of wine and found a shady spot in the guesthouse garden, letting our sore feet rest before hitting the street again to hunt down dinner. We found a little café and ate a really yummy pizza – the chicken had a distinct Indian spices flavour and was a great end to a big day.
The guesthouse was great for an overnight stop – the shared bathroom was clean and we didn’t have any problems with queues. Breakfast was very good in the morning and included fruit, cereal, toast, meats and cheese, yoghurt, tea and coffee, so we were well set up for another big waking day. I had bought tickets to visit the Moorish Castle which looks impressive on the hilltop, as well as Quinta de Regaleira. We decided to go to the Moorish Castle first and even managed to get seats on the bus. We had a lovely chat with a couple from California who are starting to enjoy some travel now that their children have grown. We got off at the wrong stop, but it was only a five-minute walk to get to the castle entrance…which led to another kilometre to get to the actual castle. Getting our steps up again today!
The castle was awesome! It’s not the most popular sight in Sintra, so the crowds were small, but walking around the walls and climbing the towers was loads of fun, and the views were just spectacular. It was built by the Moors in the 8th and 9th century when Portugal was a Muslin territory. After wandering around for an hour or so, we were unsuccessful in getting water as the café was closed due to staff shortages. As we left the castle grounds, signposts indicated it was only about 600 metres to get back to Sintra…so we decided to skip the bus and enjoyed a lovely walk (all downhill) through the forest. Next stop – Quinta de Regaleira.
Colin did a marvellous job considering his back is really sore and he struggled to breathe with his cold. Following the evil blue dot, we made our way to the Quinta (which just means estate in Portuguese), the highlight of which is the Initiation Wells. There are two on the property, which has extensive gardens, a chapel and the Palace. The largest of the wells, which were never used as water sources, but rather for ceremonial purposes, has a 27 metre spiral staircase with 23 niches on the sides and could possibly be linked to the Knights Templar. We made our way through the gardens to the well, but by the time we got there the line-up was easily 800 people long, so we kept wandering. We eventually found the second, smaller well, so we got a feel for what the bigger one would be like – and no line-up to contend with.
We did a quick walk through the Palace, but the highlight again was the grounds and the various pretty spots round the Palace. Feeling stunned by the sheer number of tourists, we found a coffee spot and decided to head back to Lisbon, hopeful that an earlier train would have seats available.
We took it easy for the next few days – Colin’s back and his cold, rapidly turning into a nasty chesty event making exploring somewhat painful. The physio assured us that his spine is in great shape during his followup visit, so that’s a relief. With his cough getting worse, we found a doctor, hoping antibiotics would help. Apparently there was no infection, so no antibiotics – in fact, both the physio and doctor say there is nothing wrong and he will live forever!
Leaving Colin to rest and recover, I headed out to find the ‘prettiest’ street in Lisbon – Green Street. The evil blue dot really gave me a hard time, turning me around in circles a number of times and changing the route (blame the tool). Temperatures were in the mid 30s so less than happy, I swore a little but kept marching on. Eventually, I made my way to the street for a hugely disappointing experience. There are some pretty streets, but this was just a tacky, plastic streamer festooned trap. A few pot plants and restaurants don’t make a tourist must-see!
I decided to treat myself to blueberry pancakes and coffee for lunch…batting three for three, they were also a disappointment. Sighing and disgruntled, I was making my way back home when I stumbled across the Museu do Dinheiro (the Money Museum) which we had tried to get to in our first week, but it had been closed. Open today, and free of charge (!), I took advantage and had a wonderful experience. It’s a really interesting, well-set-up museum and much better than I thought it would be including a fragment of King Dinis’ Wall, built in the 13th Century. The museum also explores the history of money, going back to 8000 BC to current, and has some interactive activities to entertain visitors. My feeling of an unsuccessful excursion turned around with this fun visit, so my steps were much bouncier as I headed home.
With our time in Lisbon coming to an end, we headed to Sherpa Momo for dinner. We both love Lisbon – it’s cosmopolitan, lively, very pretty, and even with the health issues, have had a marvellous stay. Our little accommodation place has been fun and we’ve enjoyed having chats with other residents. Thanks Helder and thank you Lisbon. We’re off to Evora next and looking forward to checking out another part of this beautiful country.