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peek from this week's episode. I'm Scott.
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And I'm Melissa.
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And we are the Sunshine Travelers. Our passion is travel and sharing our experiences with those who enjoy it as much as we do, or those who want to learn more about travel, or even those that just want to live vicariously through our travel stories. No matter where you follow along that journey, get ready to hear about our first-hand experiences as we visit some of the most interesting and amazing places on earth. This week, we embark on a journey to explore the enchanting areas of Lisbon, Portugal. Nestled along the scenic coastline of the Atlantic Ocean, this is an area that seamlessly weaves together rich history, vibrant culture, and breathtaking landscapes. Join us as we meander narrow cobblestone streets, listen to the soul-stirring sounds of Fado music, and taste the wonderful culinary delights of this coastal area in Portugal's capital city. Grab your passport and pack a bag as we explore the areas surrounding Lisbon, Portugal. We've had a couple of opportunities to visit Lisbon when I was attending meetings for work. Lisbon is one of those areas that is easy to reach from all corners of the earth, and my company has historically held many of its leadership meetings here in the city of Cascais, just outside of Lisbon. This is an area that I'll admit we weren't very familiar with before we attended these meetings. We need to start
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by saying that the profile picture that we used for the podcast and on social media was actually taken in Cascais, Portugal. We felt like the sunshine and the bright colors that we both had on that day fit the vibe of what we wanted to create for the podcast. So that's the picture that
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talk about our first trip that we made. We were living in Atlanta, and so we flew from Atlanta to Madrid and then went from Madrid into Lisbon.
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Yeah. And so basically you were traveling for work, right? So then I was responsible for my own airfare. And so you would actually book that. So what I did was using points, I was able to fly to Madrid and then actually bought a ticket from Madrid to Lisbon, like on a European airline, because it was the same one that Scott had bought his through, right? Because it's just different when you book the corporate travel. But then when we left Lisbon, we actually went through Amsterdam and then back to Atlanta. So mine was actually like a multi-city, my like reward points ticket was actually a multi-city ticket. So I'll be sure to always check like what is the cheapest way to get to Europe and then figure out, okay, does it make sense to like use points and miles or whatever, or even to buy the ticket, right, the whole way? Or does it make sense to get there and then find a different, you know, cheaper flight to get somewhere else? Because I will say like for that particular one, you had already booked your ticket and then you were coming back through Charles de Gaulle. And for whatever reason, it was going to like 100,000 more miles. And I was like, you know what? That's fine. You've already booked it. Don't change it. I said, but Scott, I'm going to do something different on the way back because I can see here like that I can get a ticket. I can come home for 100,000 miles less. You ended up being able to like swap something around because I think it ended up saving you money too. So just like look at lots of different kinds of options. Second trip, you had business in Frankfurt, right? So we did like a round trip to Frankfurt and that ended up being cheapest. But moral of the story is usually you're not going to have a nonstop to Lisbon. And so just look at like the cheapest way, some different combinations of the cheapest way to do that.
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And let's go ahead and preface this episode to say that Portuguese is a very difficult language and we're going to do our best to pronounce some of these locations. We're going to butcher them. And so we apologize to any of our friends that speak Portuguese, but we'll do our best to get through it. And if you have any questions, always just reference the show notes because all the information will be there. reference the show notes
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will be there. But I do want to point out that while we were there, we didn't have issues. Like most people spoke English, right? Most people communicate. We could communicate with, we'll have one story. We'll tell you a minute when I was, you know, trying to communicate with the Uber driver and having, you know, Google translate, but we were actually like, I was able to understand what he was trying to tell me as well. So'll we'll tell that story in a second but yeah i haven't had any issues with a language barrier really we usually try to arrive at a destination early if we can when scott's traveling for work i just know it makes it easier on him to be adjusted before his meetings start and so the place so kesh kesh is the place where we were staying. And so one of the top attractions near Keshkesh that a lot of people go to is a town called Sentra. There you find a nature park with beautiful landscapes, historic castles. And from Keshkesh, it's only about half an hour. So we did not, we weren't renting a car this trip. And so we took an Uber from Keshkesh up to Sentra and we had him drop us off at the town area that's near shops and restaurants. And then we had lunch at a place called Cafe Sade. It just had, so this was Sunday. So we had like a brunch and then we went to several shops and sampled some port wine. So let's talk about the main attractions in Sentra, because if you are near Lisbon and can afford a day to do this, you definitely want to get out of the city and see Sentra. So the first one is the National Park and the National Palace of Pena. Number two would be the Castillo de Moros. Number three is the Cabo de Roca, which is a lighthouse and a viewpoint, which is actually the westernmost point on continental Europe. So that's pretty neat. And then number four is the Quinta de la Regularia. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site. And then the Centro National Palace. So on this particular day, since it was already after lunch and a Sunday, and we didn't have a lot of time, we opted to actually hire a guy that was doing a tuk-tuk tour of the area. And so he just took us by to see all the sites because we were really going to have like, if he, we really would only have time to like go in one, right. If we bought tickets and trying to do that. So he just recommended, okay, if this is how much time you have. So he took us to see all the sites and out to that cabo de roca which is a little bit further so it gives a little chance to you know ride further in the in the tuk-tuk and it's kind of the top
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kind of the top of a mountain if i remember correct
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yeah so all of that area or most of that area on the coast like besides where like it dips down and like you have a beach it it's like cliffside, even in the Keshkesh that we'll talk about too. Like you're up and then you have to kind of make your way down to a beach. So yeah, it was definitely up over the ocean as well. So he told us a lot about the cork trees in the area and gave a chance to take pictures of us in front of some of these things.
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Yeah, I think he pulled over and showed us the cork trees and, you know, was telling us about them. And then, like you said, he took some pictures for us and stuff like that.
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Yeah. And so in Portugal, in Lisbon in particular, like you're going to see a whole lot of cork products like bags and purses and like anything you can think of really. So it was neat to like see them, you know, actually see the cork trees. And so we did this tour just spur of the moment. I guess, thankfully, we had had enough like cash on us to like to pay him. We had gotten some money out of the ATM when we arrived. And but you can book this online through Viator. We actually have a link on our website to this, but I'll put it in the show notes as well. So if you'd like to plan ahead and just make sure you're
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to be able to do it. So obviously arranging one ahead of time is the easiest and most secure way to do that. But this is a great chance to where we've mentioned this several times in different trips is if you get somewhere, find a driver like we did this tuk-tuk driver and say, how much for two or three hours to show us around and stuff like that. And if you get the right driver, that can turn out to be better than a tour sometimes.
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Yeah, absolutely. Cause he, yeah, he took us all around and told us some history and, you know, if you come back, you know, here's some things that you might want to do. So that was fun. And so these tuk-tuk tours have become very popular, you know, there in Lisbon and Barcelona even now is a place where they've started having those. So in the town, you also want to try one of the famous Portuguese custard tarts. So this is called the Pastel de Nata. In Central, you're going to want to stop by the Pastelaria Villa Velha. And so I'll link like their link to their Google so you can see their hours and stuff too. Most of these places are usually pretty popular and pretty busy. So at this particular one, you had to take a number, you know, at the counter and then wait till your number was called or if they had a screen, I think there it was like your number was called and then go order. And so they had a variety of things, but this is definitely one that you're going
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to want to try. And I think it was like, you know, 15, 20 minutes. Yeah. Wait, because they're just that popular and there's so many people. Yeah. We'll
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talk about a couple of more, but that's, that's the one in Sentra as well. So later that week I was able to Uber back to Sentra by myself a couple of times and well, I think one more time and visit the Pina Palace. And then from the Pina Palace, you can actually walk. There's like some hiking trails. They do have some shuttles and stuff too, but they have lots of hiking opportunities there over to the Castillo de Muro. So that's more of ruins, but you kind of walk on those walls. And then the Pina Palace, you can actually go in. It's the colorful palace, like the bright reds and yellows. So you may have seen pictures of that. And then one afternoon before we left Keskes to return to Lisbon, Scott and I actually got to go back together to the Quinta de la Regularia.
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de Regularia. Yes.
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so that is just a spectacular house and gardens. And they have these wells and like just all these things that they built. And so that's just a fascinating place to walk around yeah and this is quite popular too and can get busy so definitely recommend looking at this ahead of time i think if i remember correctly you go through the house kind of first right and then they just funnel you out and then you're free to go in the gardens and but the day we went even the afternoon during the week being quite quite busy because it's just a fascinating place. So this whole area, so especially if you're spending some time in Lisbon, right, which is very, you know, it's a city, right? Very urban. This is a great opportunity just right outside the city to enjoy nature and, you know, do some hiking and just really be outside because you'll spend a lot of time outside. Really, the only time you'd be inside be inside right is like going through that house or going through the the pina palace but other than that you're outside exploring these yeah
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you might want to pack in a lunch or something like that and then enjoy them out on the ground so the palace there was so many places to sit down and you know all these different gardens that had been set up and you know you could just sit there and maybe have your lunch or something like that if you had brought it with you.
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I also recommend. So for this particular part of the trip, Keshkesh was like our home base. But if you have time, come to Sentra for a day or two. You can take the train from Lisbon to Keshkesh and then get a car or an Uber to then drop you off at a hotel. That would be definitely a great idea to, you know, spend a couple of days here exploring as well.
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So let's talk a little bit about Quechua itself. This is a hidden gem in Portugal, I think. It's a coastal town. You know, you see a lot of people will pass through there that are, you know, maybe on a tour or something visiting from Lisbon. But this is a place where I think you would want to go and plant roots for a few days and enjoy this coastal town.
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Yeah, especially if you just like you want to have a vacation that's like, OK, I want to go see a new place. Right. And you're going to be like super busy exploring, you know, Lisbon and lots of activity. This would be a place where you could really just relax, right? Like this would be a place where like you could do some slow travel, right? Like not maybe spend a month. I mean, you could spend a month, but you know, you could spend a few extra days and just have like a relaxing part to your vacation. It's just a neat little town and really glad that we had the opportunity to visit here. Yeah,
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got a beautiful coastline, sandy beaches, dramatic cliffs, so some wonderful views of the ocean. It was once a small fishing village and, you know, you can walk across along the coast there. They've got walking paths that meander along the coast. And you can walk for miles there along that coast and just take your time and relax and really enjoy the town.
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Yeah, it's a completely walkable town. So like when we've been in the town, I've never like taken an Uber like somewhere, right? Because you can give yourself enough time and go into the town for lunch or dinner or whatever. I mean, you could, obviously, but it's just completely walkable. Yeah,
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and when you get over into Keshkesh, the little town, there's a million places and restaurants that you can go to and eat that have a view of the harbor there. And inside that harbor, you're going to see all kinds of fishing vessels and sailboats that are moored out there and some fantastic pictures and scenery. Yeah,
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and then fantastic seafood as well.
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good seafood there. So our first visit was at the end of February in 2020. And so if you think back a little, you know, in history and you understand what was going on, we got there about the time that we were hearing of this thing called coronavirus that was spreading outside of Asia. And you so, right know, as we got there, you were starting to hear about a few cities in Europe that were now experiencing outbreaks. So this was the time that we were there. And I just remember, you know, we kind of enjoyed ourselves as normal, but that was going to be our last normal for quite a while.
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Yeah, there was one day when I was coming back from Lisbon, I had, I did a couple of tours that I'm going to tell you about in a second, but I was coming back in the Uber driver, you know, trying to make conversation and probably his English of all the people that I encountered, his was probably like not as good. Right. But he was trying to tell me about, and so eventually we got across that he was telling me like the people sick in Italy and there was lots of people that were, you know, and using Google Translate. And so then I was of course like, oh gosh, yeah. You know, like what's going on? And he was communicating to that. So enough to like, let him know, let me know, like, you know, even as close as in Europe, like stuff was going
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Yeah. So we, we might have spent a little more time there, but I think, you know, towards the end, there had been an outbreak in Italy. And so Europe was about to go into shutdown. And so, you know, we decided to make sure to get on out of there. But, you know, fortunately, that was not the last time that we've been to Keshe Keshe.
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Yes, that's true. So let's talk a little bit about Kesh Kesh because you've been able to explore it. You've been to some restaurants like as a group that I haven't been to. And then we've been able to do some stuff together as well. So the town center is just a maze of like narrow cobblestone streets. They do have like a main road that goes by the coast and then kind of into town by the marina. There's like a main beach there. But then you kind of go up into they have you would miss it if you didn't walk the side streets. But like almost like a piazza where there's lots of little, you know, tables that they bring out during the day and umbrellas and things like that. So lots of cobblestone streets lined with shops, cafes and restaurants. And very much like Lisbon, you end up going up hillsides and they've got all these colorful murals painted on the buildings and on the streets. It's just really, really great. The town is so good for just walking around. So if you like to just walk around and wander, because it is small, but yeah, it's just a neat place. And it's just mixed in with, you know, people's homes and shops and restaurants and the further away that you get. I mean, it's tiny. So when I say the further away you get from the main part, but you'll see like you'll start to see more of them are houses and different things like that. And then there's little grocery things and stuff like that to stop in. So where we have stayed is the Grand Rial Villa Italia Hotel and Spa. So this isn't like right directly in the town, but walkable to town. It's once you pass the marina and like the little lighthouse as you go out to the coast. And so it does have, even though it's across the street from it, has great views of the ocean. So then there's a pool deck that would have views of the ocean there. It's just been a great place to stay. They obviously have meeting facilities. They have a great breakfast there, fitness center, a spa, a pool. And like I said, it's just walking distance to everywhere. So a few things that's worth exploring here, as I have wand wandered around is definitely the park, which is the Parque Marichal Carmona. It has lots of little trails. I mean, you would just never know, but it has lots of little trails and lookouts. If you have kids, there's playgrounds for them to enjoy. And then there's lots of little small museums. But if you're interested in history and different museums, you can pop into some of those. There's a lighthouse. So the Santa Marta Lighthouse. They have a lighthouse museum. And then they have the Santa Maria House Museum. And then there's a Museo Condes de Gastro Guminares, which is an art museum that is near the park. So you'll see lots of things that you can do. But one thing that I would recommend that I got to do on the second trip, because in the second trip, I just, we weren't there quite as long and I just explored more of Keshe Keshe. So there's the walking and bike path up the coast that Scott was talking about that starts at the lighthouse. It actually goes up the coast for about 7.8 kilometers. And so what I did was I just rented a bike from a bike shop in town, rented the helmet, all that stuff, and rode all the way up to one of the beaches that's really popular for wind surfing. It's just all the way at the end. So you keep going and then you go down this long boardwalk down and then the boardwalk ends and then down to the beach but it's very windy so dress appropriately for that but so it's eight kilometers one way but mostly flat so and then some of the sites that you'll see on the way from town down there is the boca de inferno which is the famous blowhole and that's very close to across from the hotel and so that's why we would see like the tour buses stop and people stop and look at it and they have like a little almost like little market, right? Like little like almost little pop up shop type of thing and like where people could, you know, buy souvenirs because so many people stop there. And then just past that is a neat little place that overlooks the ocean. It's restaurants and shops at this house, which is called the Casa de Guia. And so there's lots of little shops. There's a little garden center. Then all those restaurants just overlook the water, seafood restaurants and all kinds of things. So definitely we've eaten at several of those and I've eaten at more of them for like lunch, but we would go back for dinner in the afternoon to see the sunset and stuff like that. So that's definitely a place that's probably the closest place to the hotel walking distance wise, but just a neat place to stop. And then further on down, you'll pass a place called Monte Mar. And somebody had told us, trying to think who told us about this place, trying to, you know, ask in people. We always try to ask at, you know, the hotel and just all kinds of places, like, where do you recommend to eat? And he told us, oh, Montemar by far. It's a nicer restaurant, but fresh seafood. And so we ended up, I think we did call and make reservations. It wasn't really busy that particular day. Definitely if you're there in the high season like you'll want to get reservations and do that and that they have a fantastic view of the ocean there but my favorite place that I actually discovered on the last trip is called Mool's and Gin so it is mussels and gin just my absolute favorite I still think about this place all the time what they served was fresh mussels and then you either had it in the sauce with pasta, or they served it with French fries. And you could get it flavored like dozens of kinds of ways. And then they had gin and tonic. And so one side of the menu was the mussels and then how all the different ways that you could get them flavored. The other side was your gin selections. And that was it. So like, if you don't like mussels, it's not the place for you. But if you like mussels, this is the place for you. So and that's it, like just a simple menu. It's a tiny place too. I don't know if they I'm sure they probably take reservation. So I would recommend that. It was just me. And I think I went a little bit early and so was able to get a table. And so obviously, it's I mean, a pretty So obviously quick. it's, I mean, Oh, a pretty and quick. I guess I would say to like the mussels, and I guess I would say like the they also serve it with like the French bread for dipping and stuff too. Oh, too, mussels, But it's absolutely
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Yeah. So if you're not sure if you like mussels or this might be a good place to go and try them. not, Comes highly recommended from Melissa.
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Comes highly recommended from Melissa. yes. Oh, Very highly recommended. And it's an area where it is is, the place that's up kind of like at the top of the hill where the streets are the painted and the buildings are painted just all these colorful colors and so I just love that place so but there's lots of restaurants to eat at the marina de kesh kesh and so it's always nice to sit up by the water and because you're right there on the ocean like lots of seafood as well one
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the places that we ate was by a do Peixe. And that translates into fish bay, I think, something like that. But we ate here for lunch on the balcony. And that overlooks the beach and downtown Cache Cache area. Fresh seafood.
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the pulpo here, the octopus. Yes.
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Yes. That's something I always look for on the menu. Anytime we go near a beach location with fresh seafood and stuff like that, I always want to try the octopus. And they definitely did not disappoint. It was very good. But they also had mussels and I think oysters. And then lots of fresh fish to choose from. And so we sat out there. It was a gorgeous day. Got to sit on the patio overlooking that bay. And it's one of those places where you can just unwind and relax for a little bit.
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Yeah. So you go in on the bottom floor, but you actually go upstairs. And the restaurant is upstairs. So the patio, Scott's talking about it, it's actually like overlooking. So you're up to where you can see. And also you remember they had sangria too, like it was during the day and the weather's nice. So that's also very popular in Portugal. It's easy to find some good sangria as well. So, and then also if you want to try the pastel de nada, the famous pastries, the place there was called nada Lisboa. And so that's just like on the main street right there in, uh, in Keshe Keshe. And so that place though is not, wasn't busy. Right. So, because it's, we weren't there in high season, right. But it's just a little small cafe as well, but you get to sit outside by the street and just watch people pass And then by. also at the end by the street and just watch people pass by. And then also at the end of that street, there's an adorable carousel. It's a small carousel, but it's just neat to watch the kids enjoy in that little carousel that's just like looks vintagey and is all lit up and stuff. So that's neat as well. And then my favorite thing is there's plenty of little gelato shops to stop in and not the expensive kind either, right? Like two euros. You can go in and you just get your scoop on a cone. And that's the best when it's not like five or six euros or pounds or dollars or whatever when it's inexpensive. That's when it's fun.
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So you might notice that Melissa has a lot of the experiences in Lisbon and that she's talking about these. And it's mostly because we have two different experiences when we go there. It's not somewhere that I've hoping to get at some point where we can go and maybe do some slow travel and really spend time in these areas. So she's gone out, she's scouted the area for us. And so when we go back, I know that we're going to have a wonderful trip because she's going to be the ace tour guide on this trip.
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also in Portugal, a lot of people, you may have heard of like going to Porto and stuff like that. And that's a lot further. And so what I tried to do on the first trip, because we were there for a lot longer, and I did book a couple of days where I had to go back into Lisbon and then did like, I booked a group tour through Viator to go and do some of these experiences. Not too far away. So the first one, and we've got these linked on our website under tours and experiences, and then I'll link them here. But the first one is a day trip to explore the area that's just over the bridge and then southeast of Lisbon along the Arabita National Park. So this particular tour lets you see that national park, that area of the coastline, and then also pairs it with a couple of winery tours and wine tastings. And so that particular one stopped at a winery. And then we went to like a little beach town where you could explore a little bit and had lunch. And so that was interesting. So we had our tour guide. But then I was paired with another family. So it was a mom and her two daughters that were from Sweden. And so we just had a fun time. I had a fun time getting to know them, and it was just interesting having these two little kids, and she also was not afraid to travel on her own and bring the girls along for these winery tours. They were very well-behaved, and so the very first one, it was actually, we had two very different experiences, but so the first one was out on a farm winery, right? And so we had the tasting and they had a few little snacks that you could buy. So we just like, we split them up and shared those. And the girls enjoyed, they had a few animals and stuff like that. But the thing about the Portuguese wine, there may be a few, but like these small places are not going to distribute outside of Portugal. And so they only make enough to like service their customers and have their wine tours and stuff like that. But you guys, it was like five euros for a bottle, like ridiculously cheap. That explains
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why when I walked back into the hotel room that night and I saw the bottles of wine lined up on the counter. And I said, what in the world? What are we going to do with these?
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So and it was organic wine, but like five bucks, right? So because they're not having you're not paying for the distribution and, you know, all the middle cost and all that kind of stuff. So just incredible. So I got a variety and yeah, I ended up having to wrap those and pack those and all my clothes so that was just a that was a neat place we also stopped at like a palace and of course drove by the national park stopped at one of the oldest wine agrees in Portugal and did a tasting before heading back to Lisbon where we actually stopped at the famous statue there, which is the Sanctuary of Christ the King, which is inspired by the Christ the Redeemer in Rio in Brazil. So that's just a neat thing to see. And then you cross back over that. I think it's the longest bridge in Portugal too. It's like a really long bridge and then back into Lisbon. And then the second day or the second tour that I did, I don't think I did them two days in a row, but the second one I did went north of Lisbon up to Fatima, Baltahal, Nazare, and Obidos. And so just some quick highlights there. It visited the sanctuary at Fatima, which celebrates the 1917 apparition of the Virgin Mary. And then we went to the monastery in Baltaha, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site and had, you would have lunch on your own or so that one, I actually had more people in the group. I had several other couples from different places. I do remember one couple was headed to Egypt on a tour after this, which probably this was on the first trips got talked about in 2020. So I'm sure their plans got changed very quickly. They were from the U.S. as well. And so then, so we had time on those two towns on our own. And then the last two, so Nazare is a town that's famous for its surfing competitions. So he basically just took us and showed us the Nazare cliffs and see a little bit of the town. And then our final town was a town called Obidos, which is the cutest little romantic medieval village. And we stopped in for something else that they're famous for, which is the ginger liqueur, which is a Portuguese sour cherry liqueur in one of the little shops and then kind of wandered in that little medieval town and had time to see some of the shops and see the old wall and stuff like that. So that was a great trip. So I would say trips like that or tours like that are really good if you are a solo traveler, right? So I didn't have or wouldn't have really wanted to have transportation to like do all that on my own. Like you're with somebody and he's telling you about these places and taking you to them. I mean,
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there, right? Wouldn't you say, Scott? Like it feels like a weekend adventure, but literally I would, you could take the train back
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it feels
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that this met basically on the main avenue in Lisbon. But I had to be there by a certain time and wasn't sure about like train schedules and stuff like that. So I'd actually would take an Uber back into Lisbon. It wasn't super expensive back and forth to just make sure I got to these tours on time. But it can really be a great way as a solo traveler, you know, or as a group, like we would have enjoyed that. They weren't super expensive tours. And you'll see, like, if you click on these links, like they're less than a hundred dollars per person to do it for a day. They're not expensive tours. And so you have the transportation, of course, there's not really like mission to a couple of these places are included. You're on your own for, you know, lunch and stuff like that, but it just a great way to explore those areas. So I would highly, I would take you back to any of those places for sure. Okay. So that's two trips that you can do from Lisbon to see more of Portugal. And then on our first trip, we actually spent the weekend in Lisbon before heading back. I don't know if you remember that. Like we, we had planned to do that, right. And it was just a couple of more days. So we just continued on with those plans, but you had realized that we were super close to Morocco, right. And you really were like, maybe we should change our plans. Maybe we should go to Morocco. Like, and I guess maybe kind of knowing like this virus thing was, might be something. And then how long was it going to be to maybe get to Morocco or whatever? But it was
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really were
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going to be like last minute. I mean, yes, you could easily fly from Lisbon to Morocco, but like last minute, it would have been pretty expensive. And, you know, we already had a lot of this stuff booked. And then is it really enough time, you know, to get your bearings? I think we may have had like two nights there. So we decided to, as you can tell, Scott's the one who's like, let's do this. Let's do this. Let's do this. But
00:32:27 SPEAKER_00
I mean, this is twice now. We've been within earshot of Morocco and have not made it there. And that's such high thing on my bucket list.
00:32:37 SPEAKER_01
Yeah, we'll get there. So we did spend those couple of days in Lisbon before returning to home in 2020. So let's talk about what we did in Lisbon.
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so many things to do here. And we're not going to even pretend that we scratched the surface of exploring everything there. We mainly spent a lot of time walking around. But one thing that we would say is be aware there's a lot of steep inclines in Lisbon. You do have trams, which you can think of as like streetcars. So we use those a couple of times. But you can always get an Uber as well. It's one of those places that you can easily call an Uber. We highly recommend exploring by walking around.
00:33:22 SPEAKER_01
I would say, though, Lisbon is such a big city that a hop on hop off might be a really good option for two though, because of the steep inclines and just to kind of be able to see everything and get you from one place to another. So it definitely could be, you know, any of those would be great options here. I do remember like using Google maps and being like, Oh, it's just like right there. But what you couldn't tell is like, oh, that part is like up, you know, like up a steep incline for one mile. And so you're like, oh, okay, it's not as close as it felt like it was on the map, right? So where we stayed was called Hotel Portugal. It was a boutique hotel that was near a train station in the middle of town. It was a very affordable place, but that was very nice and just in a very accessible area to everything. And I do remember one thing that was really cool is that the TV was inside the mirror, like the mirror was a TV. So they have a TV, but it didn't disturb the look of their aesthetic as well. So there was a neat outdoor market nearby that we wandered around. And so we highly would recommend that Hotel Portugal. I'm not really sure why we didn't use like a Marriott or whatever. I don't know if we didn't, you know, have anything available or they didn't have anything available or whatever, but we really liked that one and it wasn't super expensive. So here's some of the main attractions that we were able to explore. And like Scott mentioned, like we don't think we even scratched the surface, but here's like the main ones that you want to do. So the first one is the St. George's Castle. It's an 11th century Moorish castle up on top of the hill. So you get like stunning views of the city. And so, so when you think of Lisbon, you think of that classic terracotta roofs, right? That just spread out all over the city. And so that's basically what you're going to see when you look out the walls of this castle. And so that was just incredible. So amazing views. They also have a lot of peacocks there that you'll see. And here you can wander the walls. They also had a wine truck that you couldn't, you know, it's like food truck, but for wine, right? So that you can enjoy like the views and have a glass of wine. So that would be one where certain times of the year, you might definitely want to check into tickets ahead of time. The second place, and this is one that we had actually booked ahead of time, the Geronimus Monastery. This is a late Gothic monastery. It has both archaeology and maritime museums. Somebody had given us the tip to go ahead and book a ticket, a time ticket ahead of time. And I remember when we got there for our tour, there was a long line of people waiting to get in. So I highly recommend you doing that in advance. It's very popular. So I'll link that in the show notes. And that was one case where we like had a specific time to be there. And so I remember us like taking an Uber from one part of the city to another. We got lucky. So if you could do this, like in the late afternoon, get that late afternoon light because of the stone and just catching that at that golden hour, it's just absolutely beautiful on the stone and makes just some spectacular photographs as well. And so the nearby, so while you are there, you're going to want to go to the famous place in Lisbon to get those pastilles de nata. And that's the pastilles de boulim. They have been making them there since 1837. Now you're not going to be able to miss this place because there is going to be a line down the street, but it moves pretty fast. Right. I think if I remember correctly, like that's what they had. I don't remember. They probably had some beverages, but that like, that's what they sell there. So it wasn't like a lot of choices if I remember correctly. And you just tell them like, this is how many I want, you know, and they have this certain little sleeves that they package them in and stuff like that so while you're there go ahead and instead of having to make a special trip okay so then on that particular afternoon we went to the Bajo Alto and Bajo means neighborhood so we went to the Bajo Alto neighborhood area to get dinner. But that's also the place that you will find the Fado shows. Most of the Fado shows that are traditional and in the bars and restaurants. And so I had actually read about this in one of Rick Steves' books about Lisbon. So kind of knowing where to go on that. And so we just saw some people lining up for the next show. So they basically would like have a show, take a break, but people would wait to get in. And that's where you could also like have, you know, have like a, have a beverage, eat a little bit while you were there. And so we saw some people lining up for the next show. So we got lucky and there was enough room for us to be able to get in and have a seat for that for the next show that they were they were doing. So highly recommend that you do that photo show. So let's talk about what is what is then. So photo
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is a type of Portuguese singing traditionally associated with like pubs and cafes. It's very renowned for being expressive and melancholic in its character. We did take some videos and we'll post those and links to the videos in our show notes. So you can kind of get a feel for what Fado is like. I didn't know what to expect going into it, to be honest.
00:38:43 SPEAKER_01
Yeah. So you definitely want to try to find one of those in the neighborhood i i would try to do you know one of those in one of the bars and cafes if you can but again if you like to plan ahead there is a place that does like a show where you can buy a ticket and that's the photo to shadow and i'll put a link to that where it's more of like a you buy a ticket and they have a performance per se you know outside of like the restaurant scene so I also recommend that you take a walk on the Avenida de Liberade towards the large roundabout then takes you to the Parque Eduardo the second big park that then like goes up this hillside as well so on one end of this avenue was where i had to meet the tours both days so like i had seen this part of lisbon a couple of times even though i hadn't been anywhere else and so i wanted i wanted scott to be able to go back and and just see that so it reminds me of obviously it's a shorter and smaller version of like in Paris the Champs-Élysées it's like tree lines and so high-end shops on both sides some restaurants and stuff like that so fun to window shop and just walk around okay so let's talk about where to eat and so I don't even remember all the places that we ate but will say, I don't remember eating anywhere in Lisbon, in Keshkesh, in Sentra that I did not enjoy. Like I don't remember having a bad meal. And so I think that you are, you know, safe to just like pick places. We do like to do some research. So like if you, you know, ask people for recommendations or like look at blogs as well and stuff like that, but you can also use TripAdvisor, right? So TripAdvisor, that's like the first way that they started out going on there and sorting the restaurants. You can sort it by near me. You can sort it by best in the city. Look at what people have to say. And then cross-reference that then with like on Google, right? You'll find lots of good reviews on Google. It's just hard to tell like this is the, you know, the number one one or the number five one, which is what TripAdvisor gives you. And then kind of cross-reference that on Google, like what are their hours, if they're open and kind of use those tools to find good places if you're concerned. Between those two tools, like that'll usually take you to the best places.
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And this is one of those places where we would highly recommend that when you're in the restaurant and you're having dinner, ask for their house wine.
00:41:11 SPEAKER_01
Yeah, for sure. Yes. Because, again, you're not going to find. Yes, there are places where you can get exported like Portuguese wine, but it's just not as common. Right. So it's going to be good and it's going to be a lot cheaper. So, yeah, that's a great suggestion so of course we mentioned the pastis de belim to get your pastels de nada so one of the days after we went to up to the castle we stopped at a place called bejher on autentico autentico. Autentico. Okay. So if you like fresh sliced jamon, like we do with fresh bread, like this place was amazing and you could get, so like the way they age this meat and what they feed it, right? So if they feed it, those like super rich acorns and stuff like that, it can be like really expensive. And then they have every kind of grade of the
00:42:05 SPEAKER_00
jamon in between. So this area where Portugal is, is known as Iberia. And so when you hear of the Iberico jamon or the Iberian, you know, ham, this is where it comes from.
00:42:19 SPEAKER_01
Yeah. That's a good point to point that out for if you're not familiar. And if you're not familiar, you need to get familiar and you're going to just like fall in love with it because it is something that you're going to experience like throughout Spain too. And sweet, buttery
00:42:31 SPEAKER_00
too. And sweet, buttery meat is how I would describe it.
00:42:38 SPEAKER_01
Yeah. So here, like I know that we had sandwiches here and you can also just get it and have it sliced. So we had a couple of sandwiches with a couple of glasses of wine here. And this was in the area where there's lots of shops where you'll see lots of shops that had the cork and just lots of restaurants. And we didn't do this, but I wish that we would have. So I wanted to mention it here. It's right near where the Santa Justa lift connects the lower streets to the Carmona Square and offers views of the city. Now, it used to be free. Years ago, this used to be free. It was just a means of like transporting people. But obviously, as people travel more and things like that, they started charging for this. But I think definitely worth doing. And then one other place that we always like to check out in cities like this is like food hall type markets. So this particular one is called the Time Out Market. And if you're not familiar, like Time Out is a publication that in different cities publishes like what there is to do and where to eat and things to see. Like, so there's like a Time Out London. And so there's a Time Out Lisbon where they publish all this and so they basically have this like sponsored timeout market and so you're just going to find dozens of food stalls and so that's just kind of neat because then you can go in and you go get what you like and then it's just communal seating and you know those are around the outside it's just communal seating
00:44:03 SPEAKER_00
in the middle. Yeah, you're going to walk around to these markets and you're going to see these ham legs hanging from the ceiling. You know, they also have sheep and other things, all kinds of meats and sausages and stuff like that there. You're going to find places that have cheeses, you know, lots of fresh fruit and vegetables and things like that. Places to get salads and freshly made salads and just all kinds of things that you can think of here in this timeout market.
00:44:36 SPEAKER_01
Yeah. And then just other cuisines too, right? So it's just like literally a good place to go when, okay, nobody knows what they want to eat. You don't know where to go, right? Because then you can just pick and that's fairly convenient. It's again, a good location as well.
00:44:49 SPEAKER_00
well. And everybody's hangry. So just disperse, go get what you want and let's meet back over here at the
00:44:53 SPEAKER_01
table. Yes. Good
00:44:56 SPEAKER_00
all destination episodes, we like to wind up the time by asking Melissa, what do you need to pack for this journey?
00:45:03 SPEAKER_01
All right. So our first trip, as we mentioned, was in February, early March. And then our second trip was late April to early May. And so the temperature was definitely different. So just keep that in mind. I mentioned that a couple of times, but you're definitely going to want good walking shoes for any of these places. You're going to want to have the ability to walk the cobblestone streets. Okay. So flats for sure. Not high heels. You will see locals wearing them, you know, out to dinner and stuff like that. But if you're a traveler, it's really just not, you know, unless you just have something really fancy to plan for, it's just not worth the trouble to take those. In the warmer, you could bring like flat sandals. I know I always mentioned my Birkenstocks. We always say bring along a bathing suit because you never know. Even in the wintertime, right, you could you could take advantage of the spa or the you know, the whirlpools or stuff like that. So then for our trip in February, early March, we mostly needed, you know, pants and then warmer layers, light sweaters. I know I had both like a denim jacket and a packable jacket. I remember it definitely being windier, bring along a scarf for the wind. I personally like to do like leggings or black travel pants. As always, we talk about jeans are just heavy to pack. So if you bring them, bring dark colored ones that you can wear several times. And that would be fun too. Pants because then that way you and not just jeans because that way you can like be more flexible for like a nicer restaurant like you could get away with that for sure. And then if you do like have some kind of pair of shoes that is comfortable for walking but also like a little dressier. So be thinking about that as you like maybe invest in like travel clothing like so like like a darker color tennis shoes that maybe look a little bit So be dressier. thinking about that as you like maybe invest in like travel clothing, like so like like a darker color tennis shoes that maybe look a little bit dressier, but that are comfortable. And then for our trip in late April, we definitely needed short sleeves, but it also gets windy along the water. So always having a jacket handy and a scarf that helpful to have lighter pants. Now, I will point out is that in Europe, you're not going to find as many people wearing shorts as people do in the US, even in the summer months. And you also want to be mindful that if you want to go into churches and places of worship like that, they expect you to have your knees covered and your shoulders covered. So a lot of times just having a smart pair of travel pants or leggings that you can like style a bunch of different ways is more helpful. And then of course, you know, if it's really a lot warmer, like a longer, you know, you can use sundresses and then layer those, but just keep that in mind about shorts. It's just not as common as it is here in the U.S. And then if you plan to rent a bike, of course, bring along, you know, or, you know, work out or use the gym, that kind of thing. Bring in your athletic clothes, leggings and layers, tennis shoes. But definitely bring along some sunglasses. We did need those on both trips and your camera because Lisbon is beautiful with those terracotta roofs and the stone of the old buildings. The coast is beautiful, so definitely bring along your camera gear. There's
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no way we could cover everything in a single episode, so be sure to check out like, you know, Rick Steves Lisbon or Portugal, and that would be a great resource to plan your trip as well.
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that we'd like to slow travel. There is so much that we haven't seen or done yet. Since most of my time in Portugal has been spent inside conference center meeting rooms, I'd love to experience the winding streets of these cities and venture further north towards the border of Spain and Portugal. What else should we see or do while we're in Portugal? Send us a note and let us know what you would think. We're always inspired by your travel journeys. We hope
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this episode and we'll find some inspiration to help you with your travel journeys. Please consider going on your favorite podcast platform and leave us a review. The more five-star reviews we have, the more likely we are to be featured and discovered by others. Make sure to follow or subscribe to our podcast to be notified of new episodes as they are released every Tuesday. You can find us on Instagram at Sunshine Travelers Podcast. And remember that's travelers with one L. And most importantly, share it with your friends to help them catch the travel bug. You never know, they may become your greatest travel companion.
