It’s been a long time since I have posted or even been able to travel somewhere to post about BUT I am finally vaccinated and felt the precautions set in place in Portugal provided an environment I would be able to feel safe enough traveling.
PANDEMIC
For anyone who was curious about how Portugal is handling the pandemic or would be interested in traveling during the pandemic and wants to know how safe it is, here is some information:
VACCINATIONS: To dine inside in the three cities I visited in Portugal you had to show proof of vaccination, it was a little confusing whether or not they accept U.S. vaccination cards because I heard mixed information but at the two restaurants i did dine inside of they did accept our vaccination cards.
The vaccine is kind of a touchy subject from what i experienced, the people of Portugal had no problem sharing their feelings toward the United States and certain individuals choice not to be vaccinated when other countries are struggling to find vaccines. The pharmacist who was testing us to go back home even made a comment “In this country we don’t really have as many “anti-vaxxers as your country, I do not understand it, they think they are so smart.” *face palm of embarassment*
MASKS: Literally 85% of people were wearing masks, EVEN OUTSIDE, if they could not socially distance. Obviously if you went somewhere outside to eat people had their masks off but there were no large gatherings of unmasked people anywhere that I had been around (even outside, which made me feel much safer than if I was home in Chicago *Cough cough* Lollapalooza).
TESTS: In order to fly into Portugal and to fly back home to the United States I had to provide a negative Covid test taken within 48-hours of departure. These can be obtained at a pharmacy (abroad) for like 35 Euro.
LISBON
Transportation: A taxi to the city center is around twenty to twenty five Euro, I would recommend taking an Uber if any are available. The entire time we were in Portugal Ubers seemed to be the best route, an average uber for a fifteen minute drive was around four euro! Can’t beat those prices. However, due to Covid-19 Uber’s can only take three passengers- max.
We did take a tuk tuk ride around for two hours that cost about fifty euro, which was very reasonable for four people, the driver/guide was great and showed us every site and knew a lot about every spot. It was also way more fun than a bus or an uber.
FIRST thing you must do is grab yourself a coffee and a pastel de nato (egg custard tart, I loved these and I usually don’t like sweets/pastries)
Accommodation:
In no way, shape or form would I recommend the place I stayed at in Lisbon, the air conditioning did not work, like no joke I did not sleep three of the nights we stayed here because the room was just so hot… the room was cute but overpriced and after the stay the hotel charged an extra twenty euro because i had wiped my eyeliner off on a towel. (I would have been better off pocketing the towel) I would recommend doing some research on hotels or even hostels in the area, i would not recommend staying at “Boutique Chiado apartments” however.
Restaurants
El Rei D. Frango: Didn’t get a chance to eat here but it was on my list! The food looked great and the prices are reasonable. I would recommend checking it out if someone has the chance and let me know if it was as good as it looked!
Beira Gare: This was a decent, inexpensive place, probably better for lunch than dinner. We got a few croquettes and codfish snacks before trying the Prego (steak sandwich) and the Bifana (pork sandwich).
Cervejaria Ramiro: This was a really good and well-known seafood restaurant (a little expensive) Anthony Bourdain visited this restaurant when he was in Lisbon! We ordered the crab, shrimp, clams, some bread, and my dad had a steak sandwich. The food was good but in my honest opinion it was just okay for the price.
O Faia: I personally think this was a tourist trap…. BUT we had a three course dinner accompanied by Fado music. It’s a really nice experience and super fun, I just think that it was overpriced at 50 Euro per person. The food was great though!
Cucurico: We stopped here after walking through the market LX Factory, i was a little skeptical that it may be just a fast food type restaurant but I honestly had the BEST peri peri chicken that I tasted the entire trip. My sister and I shared a pitcher of sangria, two side salads and a plate of chicken. It was so good!
Things to Do/See
Cascais: My family and I stayed in Cascais for two nights before departing Lisbon. You can get to Cascais from Lisbon for like fifteen Euros, even though its like a 30 to 40 minutes. It’s a more posh beach area. Great for sunbathing, shopping, and just relaxing. I would recommend visiting if you don’t have enough time to venture to Lagos but still want to get in some swimming.
For Great views of Lisbon : Largo das Portas do Sol, Terraces do Carmo, Miradouro de Santa Luzia
Belem Tower: This was so cool and one of the things I wanted to see but it was unfortunately closed to the public due to “heritage valuation” I still definitely recommend visiting, you can still see how beautiful it is from the outside! To get to the tower just take the 15E tram from the station Cais do Sodre, toward Alges, and got off at the Princesa stop.
Pink Street: This is exactly what it sounds like, just a cute area with a pink street and a bunch of umbrellas filled with coffee shops, bars and restaurants.
LX Factory: An adorable indoor and outdoor shopping center with restaurants and a market where vendors sell things for a few hours a day, I believe it closed around four PM.
The Santa Justa Lift: A very large and old elevator, probably has beautiful views but once again I’m terrified of heights.
Castelo de S. Jorge: Palace ruins/ Castle
Other things to see in Lisbon:
Sardine Shops
Fado Music
Churches
SINTRA: I did not visit this as we did not have the time but it is the one thing I did not see that I wish we had, it has fairy-tale like castles and gardens.
LAGOS
Lagos was kind of a last minute decision, my family was supposed to fly elsewhere but with the travel restrictions and a lot of confusion about travel during these strange times in general we decided to just spend our entire trip in Portugal. SO, we now had four days completely unaccounted for until we traveled to Porto. Spontaneously (More manically, to be honest) I suggested that we take the train down to Lagos. I hopped on Airbnb, booked us a beautiful place, and the next morning we headed to the train station to figure out how to navigate our way down to Lagos from Lisbon.
Getting to Lagos from Lisbon by Train
You can download the train app Comboios de Portugal. The train fares change I think but to get from Lisbon to Lagos by train was around forty-five Euro. We got on the train at the Sete Rios station and rode it to the Tunes station, which was about three hours I believe. We then transferred to a different train at the Tunes station and took that train about forty-five minutes to Lagos. It was a lot of time spent sitting on a train but Lagos was 10000% worth it. One of the most beautiful and relaxing places.
My family and I stayed at an airbnb which was affordable and perfect walking distance not only to the ocean but to a ton of restaurants, shops, bars, and a swimming pool.
From the station you can take a taxi or uber to your accommodation.
Things to Do
Praia da Dona Ana: This is a beautiful beach! Go! I’ll add a picture below just to inspire you.
Praia do Camilo: Another pretty beach
Ponta de Piedade: Scenic route formation and boat tours
There were a bunch of kayak and boat tours, but we were looking to just relax so we stuck to the beach*
Restaurants
Retiro Da Trindade: Traditional Portuguese and seafood, inexpensive, we had the codfish and the seafood rice, really delicious.
Qwazi: This was a burger place we went for lunch, and it was SO GOOD! Highly recommend.
Ala do Castelo: Another Portuguese restaurant, family owned and very popular. Food was good, I recommend the seafood over the Peri Peri chicken though.
Tasca Jota: This place was so delicious and the service was amazing, the pricing was reasonable.
Porto
We took the train from Lagos to Porto (not sure I would recommend this, since Porto is towards the top of Portugal, Lisbon in the center, and Lagos is at the bottom) BUT, this is how things ended up turning out. We took three trains to get from Lagos to Porto. Lagos to Tunes, Tunes to Lisboa Oriente, and from Lisboa Oriente to Porto Campanha.
Porto gets quite cold at night, I recommend bringing pants and a sweatshirt!
Accommodation: We stayed at Hotel Catalonia Porto, it was more pricey than I usually spend traveling but it was very nice, central, and the rooms were beautiful, the staff was super accommodating, highly recommend.
Things to see/do
Porto was full of so many beautiful views, we spent most of our time here just walking around and taking in scenery, they also have a lot of bus tours that can take you to all of the sites if you don’t have a lot of time and want to see everything.
Port Wine Tours: We did the Calem Port wine tasting tour, which was very informative and cool.
Livraria Lello: This is the Harry Potter bookstore from the movies! It was CLOSED tho 😦
Luis Bridge: Beautiful views, and great exercise
Iglesia de los Clérigos: A church with a bell tower you can climb to the top of for a great view of Porto
Porto Cathedral
Restaurants
Happy Nest: An adorable and delicious coffee and breakfast spot
Casa Guedes: Oh My God! This was my favorite meal the entire trip. I had this phenomenal steak sandwich and we all tried the Francesinha sandwich, which was good but that steak sandwich… oh wow
Adega de Sao Nicolau: Really good seafood and traditional Portuguese food, near the water but not ON the water. I had the codfish that came with potatoes and veggies.
A Marisqueira de Matosinhos: A very good seafood restaurant, but it is a bit out of the way.
Bakery and Pastry Shop Bolhao: Best pastel de nata in Porto
A Dispense: Yes, we went and had Italian food one of the last days In Portugal, we were just craving some spaghetti, blame my Mom’s roots. Food was good, a bit pricey.
Overall, the trip was really amazing and I’m so grateful that after two years of planning to visit Portugal I finally had the opportunity to. In my personal opinion I felt safer in this country than my own city (when it comes to all things pandemic related). BUT that’s just my personal opinion! I am also a hypochondriac and am a very careful and anxious person, so do with that information what you will. If I had to recommend which city in Portugal to visit, it would completely depend on your travel style and your hobbies in general. I really loved all three cities, I can’t pick a favorite, but each provided a completely different experience. Lisbon was very big city and go-go, Lagos was beachy and laid-back relaxation, and my sister and I just loved Porto overall, it made me feel like I really was in Europe, the views, the architecture, it was just beautiful (BUT COLD, bring a jacket!)
If you have any questions or recommendations, always feel free to reach out and ask 🙂
Runaway Blond 