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| Lisbon- the sidewalk mosaics and monuments |
Lisbon May 2026- 5 nights
I have been to Portugal 3 times, and I keep returning. There is a good reason why this is trip #4-
the scenery, the food and the people. On my first trip my husband and I drove
the entire length of Portugal, but we stayed in Sintra rather than Lisbon. The
other two trips I walked The Camino de Santiago from Porto, once using the
coastal to central path and the other using the litoral path with the spiritual
variant. I have a blog on the Camino and a blog on Porto if you are interested.
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https://1960travelgirl.blogspot.com/2025/08/portuguese-camino-aprilmay-2024.html
https://1960travelgirl.blogspot.com/2023/09/porto-portugal.html
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This time my husband and I decided to see Lisbon. We flew from DFW to PHL to LIS. Our hotel, Lisbon Art Stay Hotel, arranged for a driver to meet us at the airport. (€30 - an UBER is about €24- but I didn’t want to think about the ride when I arrived)
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| Santa Justa Lift (elevator) was 1 block from our hotel but it was broken while we were there |
Check-in wasn’t for a few hours, so we dropped our bags and
headed out to explore! Our first stop was for a pastel de nata (nata for
short), a custard tart with a flaky pastry crust. YUMMM!- but not the best- stroll on to find out where the BEST nata is located!!
After the nata, we toured the Carmo Museum- all uphill to get there.
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| creepy details! |
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| and this statue survived the earthquake |
The parts of the church that were not destroyed have been turned into a museum. Worth the cost, €5 senior ticket €7 for adults, to get in and no waiting line. 1 hr to
We walked downhill to Placa Comercio and the Tagus River. Jet lag was setting in!
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| Hello, I am jet lagged. |
Not wanting to walk any further we succumbed to a touristy restaurant right on the Praca do Comercio for lunch. The €18 burger and €5 fries (we shared) were good, their €15 gin and tonics were great but not shared 😊 It was pretty expensive shared meal, €55- but we had to remember that we are in a capital city! (and a tourist trap area!)
After walking around for about an hour more, we could check into our hotel. After freshening up, we went to the hotel’s rooftop speakeasy bar for a before dinner cocktail.
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| cool speakeasy vibe |
Then out to dinner- the roasted peppers with sea salt were excellent, the rest of the meal was just okay, so I won’t share the restaurant’s name. They did give us a nice after dinner shot of Beiroa liquor, glad we could try it. Now we are ready for bed.
The next morning, we took our time getting up, had a nice included breakfast and headed uphill to Sao Jorge castle (€17). The castle had some great overlooks and castle things😊- so it was worth the 30 min walk up huge inclines to get there! We spent about 1.5 hrs touring the castle.
Then time for the walk downhill to the Lisbon Cathedral €7, which had a bunch of reliquaries (I love my reliquaries) and a few cool tombs. 30 min to visit
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| hand bone of a saint- the more reliquaries you have, the more important your church |
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| man and his dog tomb |
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| the baptistry |
Next was the tourist spot of Pink Street- just a stroll through the neighborhood. We were told not to stop for meals, they were a rip off, but people seemed to be enjoying themselves.
I thought we’d eat lunch at the Time-out Market, but it was crazy busy and seats were hard to come by. Lots of choices- but everything pretty pricey. We should not have come at lunch hour.
Instead, we walked one block away and ate in a nice courtyard at a Lebanese restaurant called Mankooche. I am sharing the name because this place was delicious. The manakesh with zaatar and olives was amazing. Lunch with the manakesh, grilled chicken breast, salad, sparkling water and a bottle of wine was €30. It pays to walk a block or 2 away from the tourist site.
Lots more walking along the river that afternoon as we made
our way back to the hotel for a nap. We walked about 10 miles that day- about
half of that was on the hills. We are loving all the purple jacaranda trees in bloom.
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| Tagus River and the “25th of April Bridge” (this date was when the Portuguese dictatorship ended and democracy was regained). |
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| so many beautiful pracas |
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| bouganvilla growing out of a restoration project |
Dinner was across the street from our hotel at Leitaria A
Camponeza. We had the grilled shrimp and octopus skewer (for one). It came with
potatoes and broccoli. Perfect amount of food. Skewer, bread, sparkling water,
and a glass each of house white wine was €45.
Evening stroll- time to relax...
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| Arco da Rua Augusta |
then a stop a bakery- Pau de Canela- their chocolate dipped coconut macaroons were memorable- the baker was memorable as well.
Day 3- I had watched the NETFLIX show, “Somebody Feed Phil”. We took the ferry across the Tagus River, from the Cais do Sodre dock to Cacilhas dock, to eat lunch at a restaurant called “Ponto Final’. We couldn’t get a reservation Ponto Final- Phil made it too popular, so we ate at the restaurant next door, Atira- te-so-Rio!!! (we made reservations for this one online) You must learn to pivot!
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| The walk from the ferry to the restaurant was about 17 minutes. |
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| You can see both restaurants are next to each other blue tables (Altira) vs yellow tables (Ponto Final) |
“Atira- te-so-Rio” had the same view and excellent food. The grilled octopus salad was one of the best salads I have had in years. We also shared a big bowl of cod and seafood stew- also yummy. Lunch- salad, stew and with 2 G&Ts was €60.
grilled octopus salad- amazing
The town of Cacilhas, where the ferry dropped us off, had a
few things to see. Then we took the ferry back and walked to our hotel.
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| submarine |
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| frigate |
In the evening we strolled to the National Pantheon of Lisbon- open until 6pm-10 euro- online tickets
Then we ate dinner at the tiny tiny five table Basbousa Cafe- run by one woman, by herself! We had a shrimp pastry called hawawshi served with hummus- made to order- my husband got spice on the side. Many of the things on their menu have to be pre-ordered the day before, due to cooking time! Our meal took about 20 minutes to cook. Every table was taken!! She was a busy woman, cooking, cleaning and taking the money! We were still mostly full from lunch, so splitting this incredible pastry was perfect!
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We took a plane the next day from the Lisbon airport to
Madeira for 8 nights. Madeira is a Portuguese protectorate island off the coast
of Africa. I will have a blog about Madeira soon! But here are 2 of my favorite photos of Madeira.
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| This is Madeira on a Levada Trail- |
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| This is a lagoon at Porto Moniz - Madeira |
After 8 fab nights in Madeira, we were back in Lisbon AGAIN to explore everything on the west side of the “25th of April Bridge” (this date was when the Portuguese dictatorship ended and democracy was regained). “Wine and Books Hotel” was where we stayed- fabulous.
Sunday afternoon dinner, was eaten 3 blocks from our hotel, at a
family restaurant called “Churrasqueira do Marques”. It was so fun to see all the
families gathering- and everyone thinks Americans are loud- lol- the Portuguese
will give us a run for our money!!. GRILLED CHICKEN- that is what they are
famous for and with good reason! Crispy skin- juicy meat- YES! A whole flame roasted chicken, French fries,
rice, salad, bread and a bottle of house red- €26
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| the grill at the front of the restaurant |
We needed to walk off lunch. We headed to Sao Jeronimo’s Monastery -€18. We had advanced timed tickets- but so did everyone else ☹. The wait time was about 40 minutes in the hot sun- 80 degrees. If you get the Lisboa card validated , it is a shorter wait. The inside was ornately carved and worth the wait. We did not go into the chapel next door- the line was too long. We headed back to the hotel and relaxed- we were tired from our flight back from Madeira. Touring time at Sao Jeronimos- 50 min.
Our last full day in Lisbon. So much to see. First stop was the MAAT Museum- Museum of Art, Architecture, and Technology- €8 seniors, €10 adults. Doing the art and technology part took 1.5 hours…
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We didn’t know that the "architecture part" of the MAAT was around the other side of the building up the river- lol.. Learn from my mistake! We missed this cool building- pic taken from the internet.
Walking west along the Tagus River we viewed, but didn't go inside, “The Monument of Discoveries” featuring Henry the Navigator. As King John I’s son, Henry financed many sailing expeditions. He opened a navigation school. He became a keen cartographer who mapped many of the expeditions he paid for. It is sad he didn’t live long enough to see his sailors round the cape of Africa and open the spice routes (peppercorns and cinnamon)
Time for an early afternoon G&T followed by a mile+ of walking, led to a hasty decision for lunch :-) ....a hotdog and a shrimp dog- a big nope- our bellies were full- but a poor choice. :-(
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| good choice |
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| bad choice |
On to the Tower of Belem, where the explorer Vasco da Gama started his journey to round the tip of Africa in 1497...you cannot go inside this building.
Walking back
towards the hotel, we went through the Empire Square Garden – nice
and then on to our last major site, was the Maritime Museum- €8 We were there for almost 3 hours.
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| this is the entrance- being restored! |
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| so many model ships |
I loved the exploration maps the best.
And I loved the display warehouse displaying original boats- some they were still restoring.
The place is huge with so many displays- leave enough time to enjoy them.
Last stop was the official Pateis de Nata custard tarts from the restaurant Pasteis de Belem. Go to the line that has seating- not the take out line. This nata place is also a restaurant that is HUGE…once inside, wind your way around. We sat on the patio. The natas were served WARM out of the oven. We were hungry again because the nasty lunch had worn off, so we got a great big sandwich-. We took half the big sandwich home and had it later for dinner with fruit and Pringles (don’t judge).
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| I have eaten natas the length of Portugal and THESE WERE THE BEST !!!! |
The last travel morning, before heading home, was upon us. The UBER came and got us at 7 am – we headed to the airport to do the dreaded
EES exit system at LIS. It was awful- give yourself 3 hours at the Lisbon airport…DO
NOT STOP and shop and relax until you are on the other side of the EES. TRUST
ME!! This is what the EES looked like. (even if the first 2 points of security are fine- this third point, EES, is a total disaster!
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Things that we missed doing/seeing/tasting in Lisbon- Museu Nacional do Azulejo (tile museum) which was closed for renovations, Fonte Luminosa, Our Lady of Grace Church, Sao Vincente de Fora. We didn't get to drink Ginjinha at the original store A Ginjinha, Basilica da Estrela, LX Factory, Palacio Nacional da Ajuda, EmbaiXada--- many of these things were just too far out of town. We didn't take any funiculars or public transport- most were super crowded. We just walked to everything. This was possible because we stayed in 2 different sections of town in 2 different hotels.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SIDE NOTE-
****If you happen to
be in Lisbon, take the train to Sintra. It is such a cool town. Here are some pics from our trip years ago! Besides the 3 places below there is also Quinta da Regaleira, Park and Palace of Monserrate.
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| Pena Palace |
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| Moorish Castle |
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| village of Sintra |
