In mid-January, we took flights out of Stansted airport to Lisbon, Portugal! Portugal was definitely a bucket list item to see in the winter time -- it got us out of gray, rainy England and to a warmer climate with sunshine! It's also quite an inexpensive country to visit -- our flights were less than $200 total for 3 round-trip tickets. We had a fantastic time! I did struggle with the language a bit -- I could read quite a bit of it because of some similarities with Spanish and French, but trying to pronounce it ended up being embarrassing. So many "zh" sounds where you're not expecting them!
After arriving into Lisbon's airport, we took a taxi to the Alfama -- the neighborhood where our Airbnb was located. It's one of the oldest neighborhoods in Lisbon because it was not destroyed in 1755, when there was a massive earthquake followed by a tsunami. It's well known for it's narrow, hilly, and labyrinthine streets, as well as restaurants that have live Fado music in the evenings. (Unfortunately, the music tended to start up after Charlotte was asleep so we didn't get to enjoy it.) We had our only difficult Airbnb meet-up experience -- my messages to the host weren't going through initially, so we spent a few minutes worrying that we weren't going to have a place to stay. But finally the host's father met us and took us to the apartment, which was small but adequate for our needs.
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| An orange tree in the middle of winter! |
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| Walking the streets of the Alfama neighborhood |
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| Our apartment was in this building, up a somewhat steep set of stairs |
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| Many of the buildings in the Alfama are decorated with beautiful tile patterns |
That evening, we wandered the streets of the Alfama, visiting the Lisbon cathedral before climbing lots of steps on the way to Sao Jorge castle. We ended up finding some great views over the Alfama neighborhood, and didn't make it all the way up to the castle as we were limited by toddler legs (and let's be honest, pregnant lady fatigue!).
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| Views over the Alfama neighborhood of Portugal; the moon was playing hide and seek. |
The next morning, we took the easy to follow metro to one of the main train stations in Lisbon. We then took the train about one hour to Sintra, home of the Moorish castle and the Pena Palace. We spent the rest of the day touring the two sites, which are connected by a bus route that takes you up the twisty, windy roads of that mountainous area. The Moorish castle was constructed in the 8th and 9th centuries.
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| Exterior of the Lisbon train station |
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| Walking down the path to the Moorish castle |
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| Entering the Moorish Castle grounds |
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| View into the valley from the Moorish Castle |
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| Snack break for a muffin was required |
After finishing our visit to the Moorish castle, we rode the circuit bus up to the Pena Palace, which was built by the royal family in the 19th century on an old monastery site and is now a UNESCO World Heritage site. It's famous for its unusual architecture and paint colors, and has lots of great views from the Sintra Mountains as well.
After finishing our tour there, we headed on the bus back down the mountain and took the train back to Lisbon.
