LISBON

After a short flight from London to Lisbon, we arrived at the airport at a modest 9pm. Once we were on the wife, we messaged our Airbnb host that we were on our way, and how to get into the apartment. Hours passed without a response. Stuck at the airport with nowhere to go, we ended up getting a hotel for the night at around 2 am. Fortunately (?) for us, since it was so late we only had to pay half the nightly rate! We woke up after what was basically a short nap and took advantage of the free breakfast. Here, we experienced our first Pastéis de Nata, a Portuguese custard tart that is basically just crème brûlée that has been improved by pastry. I think we had at least one of these every day for the rest of our stay in Portugal, and I regret nothing.

We headed over to the Airbnb (a different one) we would be staying at for the rest of our week in Lisbon. After a restless 24 hours, we crashed immediately. The next day, we decided to stay in and binge watch all of The Witcher, as it had been heavily advertised to us in the Lisbon subways.

We ventured out into the city and were amazed that after already visiting a few dozen European cities, we could still feel how unique each one was. Lisbon is filled with pastel buildings, intricate tile-work, and hills upon hills. We first headed to Praça do Comércio, the main square of the city, with its yellow buildings and buzzing plazas. We found some fun shops, including a sardine store with special flavors for each of the past hundred years, a sardine throne, and a sardine ferris wheel. We then ventured up the hill to one of their more spectacular cathedrals and spotted one of the infamous yellow trams behind us.

Continuing through the hills of Lisbon, we found so many beautiful tiles that I couldn’t resist taking selfies in front of every single one. They were all so pretty and unique! We even found some street art for Marcus to pose in front of.

As the day grew to a close, we hiked up to one of the best vantage points of the city, where we could look over red-roofed buildings to the Atlantic Ocean. Although the area was pretty packed, we were able to get some good photos and sit for a moment to admire the scenery. We are so lucky that we have been able to visit so many incredible places and see some of the most stunning sights in the world!

To finish off the night, we grabbed some kebabs and then found some Pastéis de Nata for dessert. We strolled through the surprisingly busy city at night and crashed hard at home.

The next day was New Year’s Eve! We headed back to Praça do Comércio for the big party in the city. There was a live show with a popular Portuguese band and the best fireworks show we have ever seen. The show started with green fireworks and the theme from Shrek – so really how could any other show ever compete?? We kissed to ring in the New Year and then were pushed by the wave of people going every which way as we were smashed through and somehow made our way back home.

On our last day in Lisbon, we explored an area called Belém. We took a train out, and explored from there on foot. The area is beautiful, with a very quaint park and some of the prettiest little pastel buildings. We grabbed some lunch in the park and people watched for a while, then headed over to the Jerónimos Monastery. This building was gorgeous, the intricate white stone was very striking and the inside was impressive as well. We strolled around the building for a while, and then moved on to the Belém Tower.

The Belém Tower is a 16th century fortification that was used to send off and welcome home Portuguese explorers. The tower itself is stunning, but with the backdrop of the sun setting it was truly magnificent! We explored the area, full of young families and artists, and also discovered a monument to Vasco da Gama and a bridge that looked like it belonged in San Francisco. We walked around, soaking up the ambience, and said our goodbyes to Lisbon.