I was fortunate recently to receive a travel bursary to present at a conference in Rio de Janeiro. I flew with TAP airlines, who have one of the best stopover programmes in the world. For free I was able to edit my flights to include a stopover in Lisbon on the way to Rio and a stopover to Porto on the way back to London. Here is my roundup for the perfect extreme day trip to Lisbon.
On Friday 24 April we departed from London Heathrow at 6am for the 3h flight to take us into Lisbon LIS at 8:50am. We walked over to the subway stop within the airport and bought a 24h unlimited travel pass "Navegante Card" for €7.50pp. While we had to change lines, the subway was very easy to use and after just 35 minutes we were able to drop our bags off at our accommodation in the old town (Largo da Sé Guest House).
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| Image Credit: Largo da Sé Guest House |
Our first real stop of the itinerary was to get some beautiful views of the red tiled roofs of Lisbon over the sea. For these, we walked 10 minutes up the hill towards Miradouro das Portas do Sol.
A 2 minute walk away and it was time for a delicious treat, the most delicious pastéis de nata (Portuguese Tarts) I have ever tasted, from Manteigaria. I don’t even normally like them but I thought theses ones were delicious, flaky and tasty and warm! Manteigaria is widely considered one of the top two spots for authentic Portuguese Tarts (alongside the Pastéis de Belém). You could also watch the pastry chefs at work through a wall of glass but they said no to photos being taken of them.
After our treat, it was time for something a little more substantial. We wandered around the Alfama District, the small cute streets around Castelo de São Jorges, where free-roaming peacocks often scared us by popping up and making a racquet, beautiful as they are! In these streets, we headed to Bifana Lisboa for a lunch of bifana, a traditional sandwich crammed with thinly sliced pork that’s been marinated in garlic, white wine, and spices, then grilled and served in a crusty roll. It would make for a great hangover food!
We were then planning to ride the historic Tram 28 from Martim Moniz to Rua da Conceição on the Campo de Ourique loop. But the queues were really long, barely moving and it looked like people were all stood up inside. It didn’t look like the best experience so we just took some photos of the tram instead.
We stumbled across a market that was happening, Mercado Da Baixa, open from 10am to 9pm 23 April to 4 May, which had some delicious tasty treats on offer for very reasonable prices.
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| Image Credit: A Portuguese Affair |
A little pick me up pastry was enjoyed at Grand Café Lisboa, mostly because we needed the toilet! But the pastries were very cute.
We then headed to Ginginha do Carmo Kiosk for a shot of Lisbon’s official drink, Ginjinha (Ginja for short), a Morello cherry liqueur, served in a chocolate cup, followed by a quick walk along the pier.
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| Image Credit: Eating Europe |
After our self-guided tour of Lisbon (which would have included around 1h of actual walking time if we had gone directly from stop to stop), we headed back to the accommodation to actually check in, shower, have a cup of tea and a well deserved nap.
Refreshed from our sleep, we went to Leitaria A Camponeza for a romantic dinner of white Porto wine and hanging seafood and meats.
After our wonderful day in Lisbon, we headed back to the airport on Saturday 25 flight for our 11:45am flight. The perfect day long (27 hour) stopover!
