Michelle's Travel Adventures

April 3, 2024

This trip to Portugal was a long time coming.  We had originally booked this trip for October 2020 to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary.  But then COVID happened and the entire world shut down.  So we’re finally doing it, and we’re so excited to get there!

Our flight left Charlottetown at 6:30 in the evening. And in typical PEI fashion, we ended up knowing lots of people on this flight, including Stephen’s brother and sister in law and a few high school friends! (Hey Angele!)

We got upgraded to business class (thanks Aeroplan perks!). There was crazy turbulence on our flight. It was a a surprise that our flight attendant was able to serve us a meal. But it was great service despite the rocky conditions. We had generous amounts of wine. A green salad with quinoa. Chicken pasta and a brownie for dessert.

We got in to Toronto with time to relax at the Maple Leaf lounge. Our flight to Lisbon leaves at 10:50 pm.  We booked premium economy seats for the Lisbon leg of the trip.  We’d never flown in premium economy before and for an overnight flight, it sure beats regular economy.  There was still lots of turbulence on this flight as well.  But despite the rockiness I think I actually slept a little bit!

Lisbon Day 1.  April 4, 2024

We landed in Lisbon around mid morning.  We arranged for a private driver to pick us up at the airport through our hotel.  After a quick stop at the airport Starbucks for some coffee we headed to the hotel.  The Lisbon Airport is not far from the city center.  Apparently it down poured rain the last few weeks in Lisbon, but the weather had turned and it was a beautiful sunny day and the grounds were lush and vibrant green.

Luckily I pre-booked an early check in, so we could check in to our room right away.  We stayed at the Lumiares Hotel in the Bairro Alto district, and we absolutely loved it.  The hotel was once a grand palace which had fallen into disrepair, but then was purchased by this hotel group and refurbished into a 5 star boutique hotel.  Our room was a one bedroom apartment style suite.  It had a separate queen bedroom, a living room with a small balcony and a full kitchen.  The grand staircase had AMAZING lighting and quickly became my favourite place to take daily  OOTD pics!  The location of the hotel was great.  Right across the street is the Gloria Sao Pedro de Alcantara ascensor, great for photos.  And the Miradouro de Sao Pedro, which has some great views overlooking the city.

After we got settled in our room, we quickly realized that we were starving, so headed out to grab some lunch.  Of course I had researched the area around our hotel, so I knew exactly where I wanted to go for a quick lunch.  We went to Valdo Gatti for some delicious sourdough wood fired Italian pizzas.  It’s a small little spot, easy to miss, but nice inside, and the staff were great!  We got some house red wine (cheaper then bottled water!!!) For a starter we shared an order of  Ravioli Di Baccala.  A handmade ravioli stuffed with smoked cod and chickpeas with a lemon coriander sauce.  It was delicious and definitely unlike any other ravioli we’ve ever had.  And for our main we shared an order of the Capricciosa pizza, which had tomato sauce, mozzarella, artichoke, olives, mushrooms, prosciutto and spicy salami.  Yum!

After lunch we wandered down towards the waterfront.  The sidewalks are goregous!  I love the black and white patterns! So chic Lisbon!  We stopped so many times for photos!

We finally made it to the main square, Praca do Comercio.  This square is BIG!  At the centre of the square is the statue of King Jose.  Of course we also had to go straight down to check out the water too.  Stephen had to do some boat watching lol.  There is actually a decent amount of beach area here. And there were some adventurous people actually swimming in the water!   Hard pass for me!  And some very talented sand sculptures. 

After spending some time on the beach,  we headed over to giant archway, Arco da Rua Augusta.  We were pretty lucky that the area didn’t seem too crazy busy and we were able to get some decent photos.  And then strolled the ancient Rua Augusta, which is a wide beautiful cobblestone pedestrian strip lined with shops and restaurants.

Eventually we made it up to the Santa Justa Lift.  This is a century old iron Neo gothic elevator which is similar in appearance to the Eiffel Tower as it was built by a student of Gustave Eiffel.  However the lineups to go up the elevator are crazy long, especially since it can only take 15 people up at a time.  Luckily in my research I found a way to skip the line (and the cost) but still gets you to the top of the tower so you can get the same views, just not the ride up in the lift. (Google Travelling With Nikki for the shortcut).

We could barely keep our eyes open at this point, but we know that you have to soldier through that jet lag on the first day.  I booked our dinner up on the rooftop of our hotel for the first night.  So we didn’t have far to go (great travel tip for night one dinner at your hotel!). The Lumi Rooftop Bar is fantastic!  The views were awesome and some of the best food we had in our entire trip!  The menu is very shareable, which is how we like to order. We ordered Pica Pau – a delicious traditional Portuguese beef cube dish in a pickle sauce.  Roasted Codfish “A Bras” which is a traditional codfish dish from Bairro Alto on a bed of shredded potato and egg.  And Spicy garlic king prawns sautéed in garlic and herbs.  The entire meal was excellent!

Lisbon Day 2. April 5, 2024

We’re starting our day back up at the Lumi Rooftop for breakfast.  Fantastic hotel breakfasts by the way

Delicious coffees, eggs made your way, your pic of pastries and seasonal fruit.  

After breakfast we hopped in an uber and headed to the Belem Tower.  This is a really cool historical 16th century landmark.  It was a point of embarkation and disembarkation for Portuguese explorers.  The tower symbolizes Portugal’s maritime and colonial power in early modern Europe.  The line up was long to go inside so we opted to skip touring the inside.  

There are some little mobile shops lined up along the waterfront.  One in particular that I wanted to try was Wine With A View.  Unfortunately we were there too early and it hadn’t opened yet.

We strolled the waterfront to the Padrao Dos Descobrimentos, a monument to Portuguese explorers.  

Then walked around the Lisbon Yacht Club.  Stephen was searching for a new Beneteau boat but sadly he didn’t see any.

We did a quick walk by the Jeronimos monastary.  The grounds here were beautiful, but the sun was shining and Stephen wasn’t keen on being inside a monastery on a sunny day. (Plus line ups looked really long)  

So we continued on to Pasteis de Belem for our first Portuguese tart.  The lineup wasn’t too bad and we got seated in short order.  We ordered some coffee and a tart each.  I’ll be honest with you.  I was not expecting to like these, as I’m not a big fan of creamy treats.  BUT, holy frig these tarts are good!!! Pasteis de Belem claim to be the OG tart makers, beginning in 1837 following an ancient recipe from the Jeronimos Monastery.  The tart shell is flakey, the custard is warmish and not overly sweet with a slight cinnamon flavour.  I think it was the flaky tart shell that won me over.

We grabbed another uber to take us back into the city, and we decided to try taking the famous yellow tram 28 for a city spin.  Well.  I don’t know if we can blame the jet lag still or what.  But after repeating the number 28  tram in my head a hundred times….we ended up on the wrong tram (number 24), and instead of taking us around the city, we were headed OUT of the city.  Gahhh!!!! So we had to hop off and huff our way back to where we started from.  Hot and hungry, we grabbed a cold drink and a sandwich from the Miradouro park across from our hotel.  Only then, could we laugh about it lol.

After our lunch we walked to the Lisbon Cathedral, and took a tour around the inside.  And low and behold we saw plenty of yellow trams bustling along outside the cathedral!

And then we continued up to the Miradouro de Santa Luzia which is a very pretty lookout point 

On our way back to the hotel, we stumbled upon the Roman Teatro, an unearthed ruins of the ancient Roman theatre of the city of Olisipo.  Very cool to see!

Tonight we’re meeting up with Stephen’s cousin and her partner who travelled from London to spend some time with us in Lisbon.  We had quick little drink in our hotel room before heading to our dinner reservation at 100 Maneiras.  What a a unique spot.  Kind of eclectic and a bit out there.  Our server was great and the sommelier was awesome.  A bit pricey.  But the food was good. We had a beetroot tartare (delicious) and Spinach Burek and Yogurt Sauce (good).  For our mains Stephen had the mushroom pappardelle (he loved it) and I had the burger and truffled potato mille feuille. (Burger was good, I didn’t love the potatoes) 

After dinner we went to Raw Culture Bairro Alto Bar for post dinner drinks.  We had the BEST Basil Gin Smashes that I have ever tasted in my life.  I will make it my life’s mission to try and recreate this drink at home.  Wish me luck!

Lisbon Day 3.  April 6, 2024

OK. Moment of truth.  I had one too many gin smashes last night.  Felt like a great idea last night.  Felt like having a salad in a glass!  I was drinking healthy! Hahahahah  Nope.  No.  Not feeling like that so much this morning.  Thank you past me, who packed Liquid IV packets on this trip.  I swear these are a hangover miracle cure!

I’ve been begging Stephen for a trip on the yellow Gloria outside our hotel, so he finally caved this morning.  I’m not too proud to say that it was a very dumb idea.  It is crazy expensive for what it is.  The trip down is like 2 blocks.  And you are packed in like sardines.  Save yourself the euros and just stand outside along the route and take a photo.  Thank me later. Lol. And apparently I found out later that its a top pick pocket place so if you do it, watch your belongings!

We made our way to Praca dos Restauradores and decided to take a tuktuk tour of the Alfama area.  My advice when selecting a tuktuk, is find someone with good English, who has good local knowledge, and that they are able to explain to you what you are looking at.  Our guide is on Instagram at @tuktuking22 , you can book in advance and he was super knowledgeable in the city.  His tuktuk was not super fancy like some of the others you might see around, but his English is really good and we learned loads about Lisbon and Portugal.

This afternoon we met up with Stephen’s cousin and partner and we headed to LX Factory.  We explored the famous book shop, and all the little shops. I was a bit disappointed, I did think there would be more of a local artisan vibe to the place, but we mostly only saw typical gift shops.

We grabbed a salt cod fish cake for lunch and then headed back to the city centre to A Brasileira, a beautiful cafe for a pastel de nada and some coffee.

For dinner tonight we went to Bono Lisboa, which is now tied for my top 2 Lisbon restaurants (the other is the Lumi Rooftop Bar on our first night). And you know how some times you order and you just don’t make the mark, and other times you order and it’s like you won the lottery.  I won the order lottery tonight!  So this restaurant is owned by Brazilian immigrants.  So it has more of a Brazilian flare to it I guess you could say.  So first of all the restaurant, is on the smaller side, with an open kitchen that also blends into the bar.  Not a ton of tables but the place feels intimate and chill.  Again we had great service.  For a starter I had the Grilled Brazilian Shrimp. Stephen had the Pork Croquette.  We both loved our starters.  For mains, I had beef and for dessert I had the chocolate cube.  OMG!  It was all delicious.  And we had a bottle of local red wine for the table that was perfect and not expensive.

Lisbon Day 4.  April 7, 2024

Today we booked a private tour through our hotel.  Our driver picked us up at the hotel and drove us to Cascais and we spent the morning exploring this beautiful seaside resort town that we instantly fell in love with.  

We popped into this ice cream shop that our driver told us about for a little mid morning ice cream treat!  Hey why not?! We’re on vacation!  One scoop of strawberry and one scoop of almond

After Cascais our driver took us to Boca do Inferno (Hell’s Mouth), an amazing cliffside spot that a natural chasm in the cliffs has been carved out by the sea.

Then we drove along the coast line to Praia do Guincho.  We absolutely loved this area so much.  It really reminded us of the North Shore of PEI. 

We stopped for lunch at Mar Do Guincho.  The views from this restaurant dining room are incredible.  Like amazing!  It is literally on the edge of the beach. This place is like old school European Seafood Restaurant. The servers are all grouchy old men.  You order your fish, they bring out the actual fish to present to you before they go ahead and cook it.  When you sit down they bring you this local cheese that has the top cut off and some bread and you spread the soft cheese on your bread like butter.  It’s delicious.  We ordered the sea bass, done Portuguese style.  One of the best meals ever!

Topped off with a crisp glass of vino verde.  Chef’s kiss!

Next we drove to the most westerly point in Europe, Cabo da Roca.  Cool little spot that feels like a bucket list item checked off! Haha!

Next up is the town of Sintra, the hotspot for Portuguese Royals back in the day.We walked around the town.  I tried a ginja shot (a sour cherry liqueur) in a chocolate cup. It was actually delicious.  And then on our guides recommendation we went to Casa Piriquita for their pillow pastry (travesseiros), which was also a delight.

Finally our last stop of the day, was the Pena Palace.  I still don’t know how exactly to sort out my feelings on this place.  I’m glad I saw it.  However…  We went on a day that was free to Portuguese families.  We had one of the last time slots of the day.  Lineups here are crazy.  Once you get into the palace it is one long line snaking through the entire palace.  We were sandwiched between 2 families with young babies who were crying their little eyes out.  It was not fun for the parents, and it was not fun for anyone within earshot.  Anyways.  It was a long day, We saw a lot.  I have a tipping point and my point was tipped.  This girl needs some space.  So basically I think I’d recommend not going on a free for family day.  Try and pick a time when its less busy if that’s possible.  And don’t book it as the last spot to visit in a long day of activities.  For me exploring the exterior was way better then being squished together in a long queue inside the palace.

For dinner tonight we’re back in Lisbon and went to Bahr Terrace.  I loved it here.  Stephen was still a bit grumpy from our long touring day so he didn’t enjoy his night as much as I did.  For starters we shared piri piri chicken with remoulade sauce and an order of  tuna sashimi.  And for mains I ordered a beautiful green salad and an order of grilled squid with runner beans, turnip tops and seaweed.  (Sounds disgusting but I loved it) Stephen ordered a pumpkin risotto.  

After dinner we went back to the hotel to pack up.  Stephen grabbed us some cocktails from the rooftop bar and brought them down to our room to help make the process more fun lol.  Tomorrow we head to Porto!