Once a year, my sister and I try to take our mum on a girly trip. This year, we chose to spend a weekend in Lisbon on that occasion. I had only been once for a day during a surf camp at the nearby Costa de Caparica and I was so enthused by this lovely place that I wanted to go again for longer. My mum and sister hadn’t been at all yet. So we set out to explore the lovely capital of Portugal at the start of spring.
Coordinating flights can sometimes be a bit tricky with the three of us flying in from different places, but this time around, flight arrival and departure times were exactly aligned. We landed around midday and headed straight to our accommodation. The apartment provided by LX4U Apartments was located right next to the buzzing Martim Moniz square, with several view points and sights in walking distance. Right next to our accommodation, we parked ourselves at Nata Fina while waiting for our check-in. This little café not only provides some truly delicious Portuguese treats such as the traditional Pastéis de Nata but also many options for breakfast and lunch. We had breakfast there every day, also because of the great service and a cheerful waiter who was always humming or singing while serving us. Upon checking us in, the friendly Diana from LX4U Apartments gave us plenty of tips from public transport to recommendations for restaurants and so, within only an hour of arriving to Lisbon, we already felt very much welcomed by the locals we had met, before we had even set out to explore the city.
View points and wine
In the most abundant sunshine, our walk took us to two viewpoints initially. Lisbon is very hilly, and climbing the plenty of stairs rewarded us with wonderful views in all directions. From the viewpoint Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara, visitors can see the castle Castelo de São Jorge and the town all the way to the Tagus river. The little market stalls up there were very busy and people were sitting on wooden benches, enjoying a Sagres beer or Sangria in the sun. The atmosphere at Miradouro de Santa Catarina was quite different. The market stalls and benches were missing, but the place was crammed with mostly younger people sitting on the floor or on the stones flanking the place, drinking and enjoying the live music coming from a happy group of buskers. After hanging around a little, we decided it was time to get a beverage ourselves and since we didn’t find a spot to sit comfortably, we went down to the river and to ViniPortugal, located on Praça do Comércio to taste some local wines.
A tram ride with Linea 12
For the next day, rain was in the forecast and the forecast proved to be right. Because it was a Sunday, we weren’t the only ones thinking of taking that opportunity to take the tram and explore the city that way. The famous Linea 28 is the most popular tourist tram, running with historic trains, but the queue for it was so long that we diverted to Linea 12, which had actually been recommended to us by Diana anyway as the less busy and nicer option. We stayed on it for one entire loop from Martim Moniz, climbing a steep and narrow street up to the castle and back, which took around 20 minutes. We stayed on board once again to save ourselves the steep ascent to the castle.
Castelo de São Jorge and Mercado Da Ribeira
Castelo de São Jorge on the hill is an amazing relict of medieval times. For 8.50 EUR, you can spend quite a bit of time meandering about the thick walls surrounding the castle and inside the ruins, while enjoying views of Lisbon. Underneath us, we could hear the music from Martim Moniz right next to our accommodation. When our feet became too heavy on the way, one of the many tuktuks pulled in and asked us if we wanted a ride, and before we knew it, we were speedily cruising through the town, from the castle towards the Mercado Da Ribeira Nova right next to the river.
This huge market consists of many stalls cooking up foods from Lisbon and all over the world. We sampled fish cakes, sardines on tomato bread, and of course delicious ham, all of it complemented by more amazing local red wine. Then it was time to hit Barrio Alto, the old part of town, with its many little bars and cafés.
Torre de Belém and Cascais
With the sun coming out again on day 3 of our stay in Lisbon, we decided to leave the city and head over to the beach. Cascais is a beach suburb of Lisbon, only around 40 minutes by train. On the way there, we stopped in Belém, home to the pastry shop that invented the famous Pastéis de Nata, Jerónimos monastery and the Torre de Belém, or Tower of St. Vincent. The monastery is one of the most prominent examples of the beautiful Portuguese Late Gothic Manueline style of architecture in Lisbon. It became a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with the tower, in 1983.
If the train ride towards Cascais in itself was already really rewarding, we almost couldn’t believe it when we got to Cascais. Although it’s so close to the beautiful city of Lisbon, it has a completely different atmosphere. The little streets around the beaches are flocked with souvenir shops selling beach accessories. Lots of cafes and rooftop bars add even more holiday feel to it. For the first time this year, I dipped my feet into the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean and meandered along the beach. The obligatory ice cream in hand, we continued along the esplanade enjoying the ocean views in the fading day light until we got to another train station from which we boarded the train back to Lisbon, to end an amazing weekend in a beautiful city.
