About two weeks ago, I took an impromptu weekend trip to Lisbon, Portugal with my friend Caroline. It was the cheapest EasyJet flight we could find and neither of us gave much thought to the location. And.... it turned out to be one of the best decisions I've made this entire trip! What a weekend, what a weekend.
The city itself is wildly underrated - Lisbon is a known vacation spot among Europeans, but I think it gets overlooked by Americans. Maybe this is what makes Lisbon such a great place to visit: it's not completely overrun with tourists.
We didn't have the typical beachy Portuguese weather you'd expect. In fact, it was mostly overcast with a little rain. But that didn't matter at all - the city's beauty could not be dampened.
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Libson's trolleys are one of its trademarks
The city is very hilly - a lot like San Francisco actually |
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| The Santa Justa lift - an elevator from the turn of the century |
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| View from the top of the Santa Justa lift |
Because the weather wasn't ideal, Caroline and I decided not to take the excursion we had originally planned to Lagos, a beach town four hours away. Instead, we stayed local. But there was so much to do in Lisbon itself, we hardly missed out!
One day, we took the train 40 minutes out to Belém, a neighborhood known for its incredible architecture. Even in the drizzle, it was absolutely beautiful - and well worth the mere 5 euro train fair! Since Lisbon is not as inundated with tourists, it is amazing how cheap the prices are by European standards.
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| Jerónimos Monastery |
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| Tomb of Vasco de Gama, the explorer |
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| Jerónimos Monastery |
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| New friends from the hostel |
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| Padrão des Descobrimentos - monument celebrating Portuguese explorers |
The highlight of our daytrip though was the food! For lunch, we copped out and ordered some cheap Chinese food. Now, I know that this sounds pretty pathetic when you're studying abroad in Europe, but you have to understand - Chinese food does not
exist in Switzerland. The few places that sell it do so so ridiculously high prices and all the entrées are super healthy (no oils, fats, MSG, etc). Caroline and I had been craving real, American-style crappy Chinese food for five months. So let me tell you: it was worth it.
However, we did experience some more authentic Portuguese fare afterwards. Belém is famous for its "pastéis de Belém" - creamy custard cups wrapped in flaky pastry. They don't sound spectacular from the description, but when you order them fresh out of the oven and pour a packet of sugar and cinnamon on top, then
whoa. I'm a chocolate girl at heart and even I had to admit that these were amazing. It would be far too easy to wolf down a dozen or two of these babies in one sitting.
When we got back to Lisbon that night, the city was in full preparation for the Festival of Santo Antonio. It turns out, by complete coincidence, that we had arrived just in time for the city's biggest festival of the year!
It was such incredible luck and that night, we ventured out into the heart of the festivities. Every narrow side street was overflowing with people; there were bars and food stands on every corner. Music pounded from speakers; colorful streamers and lights illuminated the streets. It was utter insanity. And this wasn't even the biggest night of the festival! We went on a Saturday night and festivities were expected to hit a fever pitch on Wednesday.
One of the best parts of social life in Lisbon was the complete openness of it all. Caroline and I found a spectacular hostel, which took all of its guests in like family. We befriended Australian, Canadian, British, and Scottish tourists who all came from diverse backgrounds - from high schoolers to med school graduates on vacation.
Our hostel had free "family dinners" every night and free pancake breakfasts every morning, which only brought us together more. My roommates in our 6-man room became my new best friends for the weekend. We ordered beers together, double dared each other to eat sardine heads like real Portuguese natives, and created some awesome memories.
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| New friends |
For our final day in Lisbon, we took another daytrip out of the city - this time to Sintra. This hilly district, home to the Sintra Mountains and Sintra National Park, is speckled with royal retreats, estates, castles and palaces. Some even date back to the 8th Century.
Again, our weather was not ideal. But the fog shrouding the castle turrets made the experience all the more magical. I wouldn't have changed a thing - except maybe the fact that I wore shorts all day (I only brought one pair of pants for my "sunny" Portugal vacation, whoops!)
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| Pena National Palace from behind the trees |
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| Colorful Pena Palace |
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| Merman? |
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| Pena Palace - interior |
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| Castle of the Moors, built during Arab occupation in the 8th Century |
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| View of Pena Palace from the Castle of the Moors |
It's hard to play favorites when I have traveled so much, but Lisbon may have been my favorite trip to date. The combination of beautiful architecture, breathtaking landscapes, and a wonderful hostel experience make this trip the one to beat. And it was such a pleasant surprise, considering this was a spur-of-the-moment trip of convenience!
I would love to go back to Portugal someday - hopefully in nicer weather, since I never even tapped into the amazing beaches! My Swiss parents vacationed in Lisbon last year and my host mom often tells me that it is her dream retirement place. After this trip, I would have to agree.
