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Sardinhas

I got a bit of an early start this morning as the builders in front of our apartment complex decided to start hammering away at 6:30am… but on the bright side I caught the beautiful sunrise over the river Tagus. 

Lisbon sunrise

To get an energy boost, we started our day with a delicious coffee from Volta Coffee, a very well reviewed cafe close to our apartment.

Liam’s morning matcha and my morning cortado

In the morning we went to learn about the history of Lisbon in the Lisbon Story Centre. This is a very interesting exhibit with a great audioguide that tells you all about the city of Lisbon. We started with the land first being settled by the Phoenicians, learned the famous Portuguese explorers who brought wealth to the city, watched an immersive videos about the devastating 1755 Lisbon earthquake (which completely levelled the city), and lastly learned about the great rebuilding of Lisbon in the decades following the earthquake.

We had bought a combo ticket to the Lisbon Story Centre and to the Arco da Rua Augusta, the famous Lisbon arch. With this ticket we could actually take an elevator and some stairs right up to the top of the arch! 

View of the Arco da Rua Augusta from below

This hidden attraction was not busy at all and gave us great views of the city below.

View of the square from above 

View of Lisbon’s Main Street from the arch

Afterwards we wandered around the city some more, did a few errands, and admired the everyday beauty of Lisbon.

Unexpected beautiful church

Beauty underfoot

Interesting pelican street art

All this wandering left us a bit snacky, so we came back home for lunch and had some canned sardines (or sardinhas) for lunch. Canned sardines are a staple of Portuguese culture and food and you can find them everywhere! They range in price and flavour, anywhere from 4.20 euros for a can of tomato sardines to 22.00 euros for a can of “gold” sardines!

The tomato sardines we got for lunch

“Gold” sardines


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