A week in dreamy Portugal

First stop: Porto, Portugal

Hostel: Best Guest Hostel

Weather: Cloudy, Rainy, Sunny

Stop #2: (Lisboa) Lisbon, Portugal

Hostel: Avenue Room & Suites

Weather: SUN

I'm back! Traveling, that is. It's been 4 years, pre-COVID, since I've been to Europe and it's nice to be returning. Feels the same as always, and I'm exploring new places again this time around. So let's get right into it.

Arriving into Portugal was fairly easy, I flew Delta into Lisbon direct from JFK and after waiting in a short customs line, immediately made my way to the Oriente train station (7 mins from the airport) by metro, (I will also say the Lisbon metro is one of the easiest public transportation systems I've used. There's only 4 lines and things are pretty central, plus the ticket system is super easy, in my opinion, I bought a few 1.65 euro fares and 2 day passes for 6 euros and change. I enjoyed navigating this metro system around).

Anyway- to get to Porto, I hopped on a CP train. This was so easy to book ahead of time online, and I took the AP high-speed train because it was $30 ish but closer to 3 hours than the regional trains. The trains arrive at Campanha train station, which is a little out of the center of town but my ticket included a short, 3 minute ish, ride to São Bento, which was down the street to my hostel.

After checking into Best Guest Hostel, I walked around by the Dom Luís I Bridge that Gustave Eiffel built in the 1800s, but originally opened for car traffic only, now has tram lines running and a pedestrian foot path across both the top and bottom levels connecting Porto to Vila Nova de Gaia across the Douro River. The areas in front of the water near the bridge have been built up to have restaurants and shops and these areas are a bit touristy, but nice! I needed a bit of comfort food so right down from my hostel, I found Walk to Wok for some Pad Thai. And then to try some traditional Portuguese food.. I found pastel de nata :)

Day 2: I attempted to go on a free walking tour in the morning, but the first tour was only in Spanish. Although there was substantial construction on the main street due to them building a new metro stop near, Praça da Liberdade (Liberdade Square), that's where the tour met and I got to see a bit of that downtown area of Baxia. I walked around the beautiful and very very old Sé do Porto Cathedral (circa 1110). It only 5 euro for students to enter, and in addition to exploring the unique courtyard with many azulejos, you can climb to the top and have an incredible view of the city.

After exploring the Cathedral area, I walked across the bridge to Vila Novo de Gaia, where there's more touristy spots by the water, a cool park, Jardim do Morro, with a cafe for sunset drinks- which I didn't have time to do but was recommended. I did find a food hall market, Mercado Beira Rio, with lots of traditional food options at a reasonable price, and a small cafe with a Port wine tasting for 5 euros. I also tried a very typical, Ginjinha or simply Ginja liquer liqueur shot. Seriously, 90% of all that is produced is consumed in Portugal, per Wikipedia, but a local I met also mentioned this and how it's usually served in an edible chocolate cup...unfortunately, I didn't find one with that. I decided to do a boat tour on the Douro, so that was 45 minutes and they took us under 3 bridges up and down the river, very nice! These tours were everywhere on the shore. I had dinner with a hostel friend at a nearby vegan buffet, called deTerra Baxia, and had drinks at the bar under the bridge, called Ponte Pensil.

Day 3: Today was a work day because someone....still has to finish their thesis.. anyway.. I made it a fun day despite this because I wandered a bit then found a nice cafe called Santagloria Clerigos. More pastel de nata! of course! I will also say I did a lot of research on other things to do in Porto and while I didn't quite get to them, I thought they looked fun and interesting and would be worth doing, as well as some restaurants that were highly recommended by other bloggers and websites. I also tried some traditional food, like the fried codfish in hushpuppy style (bolinhos de bacalhau), and pernil com queijo (cheese and roasted pork shoulder) but didn't have a bifana, which is marinated pork on a sandwich and sounds delicious or the Francesinha which is a Porto staple. There's so many more to try!

Other things on the to-do list:

Food:

Casa Guedes Tradicional

Rooftop Flores

Lareira-Baxia

Conga

Fabrica de Nata

Manteigaria- which supposedly has the best pastel de nata and is a chain in Portugal

Activities:

Jardins do Palacio

Climb Clerigos Church and Tower

Sandeman tour (Port caves in Vila Nova de Gaia

Day 4: Today I left Porto for Lisbon, leisurely. There was the FlixBus option, but I wanted to work and I thought the train would be better, even though it was 15 euros more (35). I also considered a day trip on the way back to Aveiro or Coimbra but I didn't quite have the energy or leave early enough but this would have been very easy on the train and definitely seemed worth it. I also considered a Douro wine valley or National Park day trip but I decided pacing myself during the first few days of travel was a wiser choice-- but there seemed like some great 10-12 hour day trips for $100+ USD from Porto.

After another 3 hours on the train, I arrived in Lisbon to the station and navigated myself to the Avenue Room+Suites, a super nice hostel with reasonably priced private rooms. Quick note, I thought this was a nice, quiet hostel, very central and easy to get around from, I joined a pubcrawl that they promoted but I think the hostel scene in Lisbon is very good and there's a lot of options. This was nice for the price and the private room was a huge plus, but it wasn't the most social with other visitors- although the staff was very nice and chatted. Anyway- after arrival I walked around the huge, 64 acre Eduardo VII Park, Parque Eduardo VII, and found the also huge Lisbon Book Fair, which started in the 1930s. I saw a sign they had like 240,000 books there or something wild like that. So cool! I had dinner, a beer and watched the sunset from the top.

Day 5: Had to get out and sightsee! So I started with an e-bike tour through Boost on Get Your Guide, awesome 2.5 hours, just me and an old Italian couple. I recommend this as a very easy and nice way to get oriented in Lisbon. Plus the electric bikes make traveling around the hills so much easier. We started at the Praça do Comércio, which faces the Tagus River and was the Royal Palace until destroyed with most of Lisbon in the devastating 1755 earthquake. Then we made our way to the National Patheon, or Church of Santa Engrácia, there are many famous and important figures buried here. One I thought was interesting was the first woman, Amália Rodrigues, a famous fado singer who died in 1999. We went to a few miradouros (viewpoints), Sun Gates, Lady of the Hill.... and ate more pastel de nata at these. After the tour, I walked around Alfama, the oldest neighborhood, which was so amazing. All the streets were so beautiful and you really just had to wander around because it was like a labyrinth, which was done intentionally when they built the city to allow for royalty at the Castelo de S. Jorge to prepare for incomers as they made their way up the hill. I tried to go to a brunch place called Audrey's, but it was busy. I found a nice thrift store called Humana. For dinner, after my afternoon nap..yes I know it's not Spain, but it's hot here too, I went to dinner at the Time Out Market. This was super cool and had such a huge variety of traditional food, and it was all delicious.

Day 6: All the jacaranda is blooming and I LOVE the purple blooms everywhere...so pretty.

Went on an adventure through the Príncipe Real district, which is an artsy and very LGBTQ+ friendly neighborhood and found a 19th century palace, EmbaiXada, that is now a shopping and art center. I loved Simpli coffee for a small breakfast. Then, my main event of the day, to Belém, to see the Belém Tower, the Padrão dos Descobrimentos, Monument to the Discoveries, and the Jerónimos Monastery. And try the pastel de Belém. Very interesting district, on the water, and religious history for Lisbon. The monastery is a UNESCO

World Heritage Site, which I loved, it was beautiful.

I will also say I'm loving Portugal because it feels very safe and easy to navigate as a solo traveler and that's something I saw reflected on other blogs and websites discussing that it's a good beginner spot for solo travel, although I haven't seen the whole country or every district in each city, I thought it was a good experience overall, and hostels are a great way to meet people easily as well.

Day 7: Travel day to...Helsinki, Finland! More to come. Sneak Peak below.