Michelle's Travel Adventures

Day 1 April 12, 2024

We were up early this morning and on the road to Lagos by 8:30 AM.  We stopped for gas at about hour 4 and then popped into a grocery store for some pastries and fruit to eat on the road.  Once we arrived in Lagos we stopped again for groceries at the large supermarket to stock up for our stay and then headed to our Airbnb located in the old town of Lagos for check in at 3pm.  

Our Airbnb is on the top floor of an older building, and has a lovely outdoor terrace with amazing views of the beach.  There’s also a common garden and pool area with lots of lemon and orange trees that we were told we can help our selves to. 

After getting settled we  took a quick stroll around the centre of the old town and then headed to our dinner reservations at Don Henrique which was a recommendation from our Airbnb host.  I’m going to come right out and say that this place was not the vibe for us.  At all.  We were the youngest there by far…and that’s saying something! Lol. And the food…I suppose it suited the clientele, but it reminded me of food from a nursing home.  We both ordered the salmon, which came with overly boiled vegetables and a chocolate lava cake for dessert.  Enough said.

Day 2, April 13, 2024

Good morning Lagos!  We started our day off with some coffee outside on our terrace.  Today is Macy’s 21st birthday so we sipped our coffee while trying to figure out how we could send a birthday surprise to her in Antigonish.  

This morning we walked the Lagos promenade to the marina.  Stephen was in HEAVEN!  He’s continuing his search for the elusive new Beneteau that he’s been lusting over online for the last two years.

After determining his boat search was unsuccessful yet again, we headed for a walk along the boardwalks to the beach.  And the beaches here are so pretty!  the sand is so beautiful and soft!

For lunch we headed back into the old town and found Beats and Burritos.  I missed the spelling and assumed that this was a vegan place.  But it’s beats with an “a” not 2 “e’s”.  We actually met the owner who told us her business story and how she created the most amazing playlists for the restaurant.  So it’s all about the music and burritos here! (Not beets! Dwight Schrute would be so disappointed lol) It’s a very cool vibe and the walls are covered with drawings from customers.  The burritos were delicious too with house made local hot sauces.  So good!  And that’s coming from a hot sauce hater!

This afternoon we spent hiking along a portion of the Fisherman’s Trail from Lagos to Ponta da Piedade.  This first sight on this trail is Forte da Ponta da Bandeira, which is free to enter. And then Praia da Batata

Praia Estudantes and the Pinhao Fort Bridge

The boardwalk is beautifully done, it’s a very easy walking trail and the views and sights are truly outstanding!

Someone’s dainty little footsies were hurting from all the walking (and I don’t mean mine).  I “made” Stephen switch out of his ugly blue squash sneakers to a cooler looking white sneaker which aren’t broken in yet…. so we ubered back to Lagos from here.

Dinner tonight is at Ciuccio, it’s an Italian restaurant in old Lagos.  It’s a cozy and intimate spot with fantastic service.  The chef came out to say hello.  We loved it here. My only complaint is that it’s mostly hightop seating, and this shorty’s legs usually don’t reach the foot rests on bar stools and my legs go numb. But other than that, it’s perfecto!

We ordered bruschetta and a beet carpaccio for our starters.  And I ordered the pasta alla norma and Stephen had the daily special which was a ragu di salsiccia.  Both pastas were delicious.

Day 3, April 14, 2024

Today we are off to Sagres and visit the Sagres Fortress.  The fortress was, ya know…kind of typical fortress- lots of walls and canons.  But very Cool view points.  

Probably the most interesting part was the daredevil local fisherman who were standing on the cliffs edge fishing!!! These cliffs are about 200 feet high!!!  It’s crazy!!!  And the fish they are reeling in are just these small fish, about the size of a hand.  WHY!?!?!

It is soooooo windy here!  Don’t bother trying to look cute, because you’re just going to end up looking like this!

After our visit to Sagres, we were ready for lunch so we headed to Salema and decided to get all you can eat sushi at My Sushi Salema.  I have never eaten at an all you can eat sushi place before.  It kind of seems a bit sketch to me.  But the sushi was fine and no one got food poisoning! So I guess it’s a win – Ha!

After lunch we walked the Salema beachfront and posed with some fishing boats!

On our way back to Lagos we stopped in Luz, which is another cute seaside resort town with a beautiful beach.  We decided to stop at one of the beachfront restaurants and get an affogato for a mid afternoon pick me up.

Dinner tonight was at Casa do Prego which is a fun spot with modern take on Portuguese foods.  For starters we got the Picatum (seared tuna chunks) and Pica Pau (stir fried beef with garlic and mustard sauce).  The Pica Pau was our favourite out of the 2 dishes.  For mains I ordered the Guia (grilled chicken breast marinated in coriander and lime, served with grilled peppers and sweet chilli mayo). And Stephen ordered Evora (grilled pork tenderloin with chorizo, caramelized onions and mustard sauce).  Both came with fries, and both were absolutely delicious!  We actually couldn’t finish even half of our meal tonight so we asked for doggie bags and plan on having it for our lunch tomorrow!

Day 4, April 15, 2024

Today we booked a boat tour to see dolphins and the Benagil Caves.  This tour is on a larger style boat called a Hurricane, and the unfortunate part was that you get called onboard by name, and we were the last to be called on, and because of this, there were no seats left together so we had to sit separately, which sucked.  The other sucky part was that my feet couldn’t touch the floor and so my legs were dangling the whole time which I find super annoying #shortpeopleproblems

We headed out to an area where dolphin sightings are common and we lucked out today because there was a really large pod of dolphins swimming and playing and we could get an amazing view of them swimming around our boat!

Next up the boat zipped over, back along the shore line and headed to caves.  We popped in and out of some of the caves along the shore line and eventually we made it to THE cave.  The cave we’ve all been dreaming out!  It was sooooo cool!!!!

We got back into the marina around noonish, so we went back to our Airbnb and had our leftovers for lunch and then went to Estudantes Beach and chilled on the beach with a book on a towel for the rest of the afternoon.  We also got entertained watching the cutest pup playing on the beach too.  It was a blissful afternoon!

After spending the afternoon on the beach we realized we hadn’t had a post beach drink on this trip yet, so of course we had to make that right.  And there just happened to be a beach bar at the top of the stairs from Estudantes beach.  It was fate.  And I’m pretty sure I’ve read in the guide books that you have to have an Aperol spritz after spending an afternoon on any beach in Europe.  So when in Europe …..

We decided to make it a bit of post beach drink crawl…because there was a rooftop terrace we were wanting to check out too, and our time is getting short, so what the heck, we’re on vacation! Sangria time!  And octopus salad with some olives because we also haven’t had octopus on the trip yet either.  Mar d’Estorias is a beautiful rooftop terrace in old town Lagos.

Dinner tonight is at Restaurante Artistas.  We decided to split the Thai Green Curry Soup for our starter.  I know it’s weird to split a soup.  But we both wanted to try it and we didn’t want to over eat, so this is what we do.

For mains I ordered the turbot fish with pistachio crust and Stephen ordered the suckling pig.  We both really enjoyed our meals 

Day 5, April 16, 2024

This morning we are on a big adventure! We’re hiking the Seven Hanging Valleys Trail.  The Seven Hanging Valleys Trail follows the winding outlines of the cliffs, offering walkers unique views of the coastal landscape.  We were up at sunrise and drove to Praia da Marinha.  We were the only car in the parking lot at this early hour!  We chose to start at this location because we read that there is good parking here.  Which there was.  And off we go!  It was a little chilly initially, but we got warmed up pretty fast!  The nice part about starting the hike early in the morning was that we felt like we had the trail to ourselves for most of it.

We kept saying that this lookout had to be the most beautiful, but then we’d come along to the next lookout and we’d be like, ok this is equally stunning!

We saw the Benagil Cave from the top view too!

And how cool is this beach that is only accessible on land by going through a cave?!

And the wildflowers were on full display too!

We finished the 6 km hike in about 2 hours and 40 minutes.  We stopped for a bathroom break once in Benagil.  But we were in a bit of a time crunch since we had to uber back to our car, drive back to Lagos and make it to the marina for our afternoon sailing tour!  But not to worry, we got it all done!

This afternoon we booked a sailing tour which took us from the Lagos marina and sailed us out off Ponta da Piedade.  Once we anchored, we got into a second smaller boat which then took us in and around all the caves and rock formations in the area.  This was absolutely fantastic!  We enjoyed our selves so much!  This day was truly amazing!

After our sailing and boat adventure we went for drinks at the Avenida rooftop terrace with a fellow that was on our tour with us.  Rooftop Aperols!

It’s our last dinner in Lagos and we went for super laid back and relaxed vibes at Pie Lagos.  Its a rooftop restaurant that specializes in pot pies!  

Day 6, April 17

Our last morning in Lagos, and we’re so sad!  

We decided to check out the Slave Market museum this morning before we leave and head back to Lisbon.  Very eye opening, and I do recommend learning about the beginnings of the slave trade and how it started in Lagos.  

After the museum we had a quick lunch at Kohinoor for some of the best butter chicken I’ve ever tasted in my life!

Then we drove straight to the Lisbon Airport.  Stephen was stressed about making it on time for the scheduled drop off time.  But it all worked out, as it always does.  We booked our last night at the Melia Lisbon Airport hotel.  It was still a hot and sunny day so we grabbed some lounge chairs by the pool and a drink from the bar and stayed until the sun went down!

We ate dinner at the hotel restaurant.  Service was slow, but the food was decent.

Day 7, April 18

We’re heading on the long journey home this morning.  Our room included breakfast at the hotel which was a really nice breakfast buffet.  Our flight kept getting delayed but we had to check out at 12, so after check out we were literally so close to the airport terminal we could actually walk, even with all our bags in tow!

Check in was easy breezy.  We were able to get into one of the airport lounges through our Visa Dragon pass program.  Which was a nice perk.  And by the time we headed to the gate we found out our upgrade bid was successful so we would be sitting in business class for the Lisbon to Toronto portion of the flight!  Sweet! What a fabulous way to end an epic European vacation!