Bon Voyage & Bon Appétit

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 C...

 Today was a nice chill day in Lisbon! My parents left to continue their trip in Spain, so we’re back on our own in Portugal now. This morning we visited the National Tile Museum, where we learned all about the history of Lisbon’s azulejos. The work azulejo comes from an Arab word meaning “small polished stone” and refers to a small ceramic tile with one glazed side. Tiles in a church Colourful azulejos Exploring the tiled courtyards 4x4 repeating tile motif Flower motifs A satirical tile painting Modern kitchen tile design This museum is a must see in Lisbon! All the tiles were so beautiful and colourful, it was very interesting to see the different styles and how they changed over the years.  In the evening we visited the Lisbon Time Out Market, a large food market full of restaurant stands. The ambiance here was great, with live music, bustling people, and yummy smells wafting through the air. TimeOut Market Lisbon We tried two dishes for dinner: a traditional Portuguese Pi...

  We’re living on Lisbon time now! This morning my day started at 11am with a cafe pingado and a pastel, followed by a lovely walk through the old town to the Lisbon Castle, the Castelo de Sao Jorge.  This castle has wonderful panoramic views overlooking the city, and is defiantly worth a visit if just to see these views.  Views from the castle grounds Exploring the castle walls Window views The castle itself was actually used for defence, unlike some over castles and palaces that we’ve seen this trip. Every portion of the castle’s architecture is well thought out to make it difficult for attackers to enter. Our audioguide explained all this very well, highlighting several interesting points, such as the use of angled corridors in front of doors to prevent the use of battering rams. The castle! There were also so many peacocks on the castle grounds! They were very noisy, but also very photogenic.  Can you spot the peacocks? After exploring the castle, we stumbled acr...

What a day! Today my pandemic daydream of visiting Lisbon came true. But let’s start at the beginning. This morning we left Sintra, and before heading for Lisbon we decided to stop and see the Atlantic Ocean. Unbeknownst to us, the place we chose to stop, Cabo da Roca, is actually the westernmost point of the European continent. View onto the lighthouse at Cabo da Roca Official signpost stating that this is the westernmost point in Europe The expansive blue ocean was unlike anything I’ve looked at before, just sheer blue. You could almost see Canada….just maybe if you looked really really hard. It was the closest to home that we will be this whole trip. Big blue ocean We then did a short walk along the cliffside towards Praia da Ursa, a beach with some very steep cliffs and cool rock formations. We stopped at this beach, but you could have kept walking for miles. Cliffside paths Crashing waves Then we hopped in the car to drive towards Lisbon. We had one more stop before we hit the cit...