Endless custard pastries, ornate tile murals, colorful buildings, and coastal vistas. This isn’t just the stuff of dreams (minus the stairs and hills it takes to access said coastal vistas), it’s Lisbon! Our first weekend trip of our semester abroad in London, this departure to Portugal was a much-needed escape from cloudy days and a few too many plates of fish and chips.
Touching down after a luxurious flight on our budget airline, we were enchanted just by the view out the window on the way to our hostel. We checked into the Lost Inn Lisbon, which I can’t recommend enough if you’re looking for a charming, affordable, social accommodation in Portugal. The receptionist quipped that this building was older than our home country…as if that isn’t the entire appeal of Europe?
Let’s hit the streets! We strolled over to Time Out Market for grub to soothe the stomachs of us weary travelers — and the selection of everything from sushi to pasta to barbeque certainly did the trick. My sweet tooth was magnetized toward the doughnut stand, Crush, for one of their cinnamon-sugar coated, nutella-stuffed offerings. Am I in the Good Place?
Walks along the cobblestone pathways and pastel-painted architecture brought us to this evening’s activity: a wine tasting. Not much of a sommelier myself, I faked my way through this by using the words dry, notes, full-bodied a lot and swishing my glass around, hoping no one saw through my lies. Be sure to try green wine if you’re ever in Portugal! I couldn’t tell one lick of a difference but according to our wine expert it’s tasty.
After picking up a to-go pizza (soooo cultured of us, I know), we met loads of fellow young travelers from all over the globe at our hostel’s free sangria social hour. We hit the town, specifically the Bairro Alto neighborhood, for an evening out with our newfound international pals, most importantly the one I was convinced was somehow related to Timothee Chalamet.
The next morning, we took advantage of a free walking tour of the city, where we saw Lisbon’s best lookout point, tried the most famous pastéis de nata bakery, sampled local cherry liquor in the kitchen of a local grandmother who makes it, learned history in the narrow, cobblestone paths of the medieval district, Alfama, and the Jewish quarter, and even visited the oldest house in the city. Side note, did you know Lisbon has a replica of both the Golden Gate Bridge in California and the Christ the Redeemer Statue in Rio de Janiero? Don’t worry though, the rest of the city makes it up with plenty of originality.
Several souvenir purchases later, we stumbled across Portugal’s most-photographed landmark (I’m making this statistic up, but hoping it’s true), the Praca de Comecio, which directly faces the ocean.
A seaside lunch at Vestigio was the perfect way to rest our legs from all that strutting around the city.
We Cinderella’d ourselves and got dressed up for the night’s festivities, and I felt like quite the Portugese Princess in this Free People frock I find any opportunity to wear.
Our evening itinerary included watching the sunset at a rooftop bar (Park), a contemporary, neon-lit seafood dinner on the coast (Le Chat), and a visit to a beach club (K Urban). A mini surprise of the trip was discovering a street carnival where we indulged in some stuffed churros. While we couldn’t ride the attractions due to a lack of cash euros (and poor bartering skills), the fluorescent atmosphere and fried food made us feel like the European spinoff cast of Euphoria.
Not to get too sentimental, but watching the sky blaze orange, red, and pink and bathe the buildings beneath it in the same shade, all while being next to my study abroad pals on our very first trip, made me incredibly grateful and excited for the adventure of a semester we had ahead.
For those looking to visit Lisbon themselves, there’s a few extra things I wish we’d had time for but couldn’t quite check off our list in our 32 hours, most notably Jerónimos Monastery, a day trip to Sintra and Cascais, and a sunset boat ride if you really want to see the city from a new perspective.
P.S… now that my semester is wrapping up I’ll finally be sharing my journeys throughout these past few months. Buckle up for the ride as we venture across Europe together. Until next trip, dear readers!
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