18th June 2019
The next stop on our Portugal road trip was Lisbon. Jess and her good friend Lara had organised to meet up with us for 5 days. The first few days were spent in Lisbon before we all jumped in the van and headed to the Algarve.
The girls flew into Lisbon in the evening so Morgan and I made our way to their Air BnB to have a few drinks before we all head out to dinner. We were looking forward to catching up with Jess & Lara. There is something really exciting about meeting family or friends in different parts of the world. It is such an awesome experience to share with people.
Jess found a delicious vegan restaurant for dinner. We had a great night catching up with the girls over a few wines & beers.
19th June 2019
We planned to have two full days exploring the city of Lisbon. We met Jess and Lara at the LX Factory where we hung out for a few hours before making our way out to dinner. The LX Factory is an old industrial factory site that has been converted into a very modern, artistic spot. It has a mixture of chic trinket shops, hipster bars, delicious Portugueses restaurants, and one pretty epic bookstore! We had a few wines and cocktails at a cool rooftop bar that overlooked the Ponte 25 de April (the main bridge of Lisbon) that has a striking resemblance to San Fran’s Golden Gate Bridge. We sat in the sun for a few hours, sipping our drinks and chatting about life.
That evening we went out for dinner at a yummy seafood restaurant where we enjoyed a few more wines. We were all pretty knackered so we had an early night!
20th June 2019
The next day, Morgan and I were meant to meet the girls at an art museum but I wasn’t feeling very well (yeap, tummy problems again). I had managed to come right that evening so we met Jess and another friend from NZ, Hannah, who relocated to Lisbon with her boyfriend last year! We had a really nice evening getting to know Hannah and picking her brain about the local spots in Lisbon.
21st June 2019
We had an early start as we made our way to Sintra. Sintra a UNESCO World Heritage site that is filled with castles, palaces, and stunning views of the surrounding area. It is a must if you plan on visiting Lisbon!!
When we arrived in Sintra, we decided we would start our day with the most colorful & well-recognized castle in the region, Pena Palace. It is a 19th century Romanticism style of architecture with vividly painted facades and sits high in the hills overlooking the town of Sintra. We heard you could walk to the castle but decided since there were 4 of us, we’d split and Uber. THANK GOD we did! It was one heck of a long, steep drive up.
The tickets for Pena Palace included the surrounding gardens (which were huge). We got dropped at the base of the gardens and made our way up the winding little roads to the castle. The walk was beautiful. The gardens felt like an enchanted forest. Towering trees, ivy & boulders everywhere. We explored Pena Palace for a wee while, taking in the 360-degree views however we quickly got over the number of tourists that had flooded the area so we decided to slowly make our way back through the gardens, right back down to Sintra below.
We had a really lovely day exploring Pena Palace. The weather was HOT and the scenery was gorgeous. We originally thought we would do two of the castle’s (we also wanted to do Montserrate) however we ran out of time! Maybe we will just have to venture back there one day?!
We spent the evening back at the van, sitting outside in the sun eating olives, chips and drinking wine. Bliss.
Love all the colours of the buildings!!