Nov 2019 - Dec 2019
Portugal
Porto
01
This city was probably my favorite of the whole trip. Something about the place just struck every chord. The ornate buildings, covered in white and blue tiles, surrounded large plazas with equally beautiful buildings around. We walked through the tiny, winding, cobblestone street. Our heads where turning in every direction pointing out how interesting each tiled building looks. Until we made our way down to the river.
Everyone was there. The view of the cliff and bridge above you is magnificent and daunting at the same time. The misty air gave made it seem like something out of Harry Potter. Coincidentally, J.K. Rowling actually drew inspiration for many parts of the Harry Potter universe from her time in Porto. The bookstore specifically reminded me a lot of the books and movies.
Porto gave us some of the best food and drinks on the whole trip. The Francesinha from Cafe Santiago is a MUST! The expertly crafted, meaty sandwich is an explosion of so many flavors that I needed to get one a few more times. We treated ourselves to some delicious and sweet Port wine tastings and I found that the older, the better. Big surprise right?
This is one place I am definitely going back to and spending more time at. We thought the rain would repel us, but the very clean and efficient metro system made it easy to conquer. There is so much to say about Porto, but I'm not a writer. Here are some of my favorite pictures from one of my favorite places.
Lisbon
02
Lisbon's best feature is its' weather. The softly colorful buildings are really brought out by the constant sunshine here. With beaches nearby and a lovely, long coast to walk and bike along, it's no wonder so many tourists come here. The downside of that is all the panhandlers and "Marijuana? Hashish? Cocaine?" guys lining every other corner. Once you get past that, the city itself is beautiful.
There are flowers and lemons growing all over the curvy and steep hills of Lisbon. So it's no wonder that Tram 28 is so famous when walking up all those hills and stair is exhausting. One of my favorite sights in Lisbon was the sight of Pasteis de Belem, a famous custard tart, in my hand. The sweet, cinnamon-y flavor was so worth the wait.
Lisbon was a great stop on our trip, as we were traveling during the winter time. We thank Lisbon for it's nice weather and hospitality. Here are some of my favorite photos from the city
Sintra
03
On our visit to Lisbon, my parents told me about Sintra. It is a region of Portugal, just west of Lisbon, that has an assortment of castles and palaces for your viewing pleasure. The gardens at Quinta da Regaleira were definitely a highlight of the time spent in Lisbon.
We spent hours exploring the underground cave network of this luscious, unique terrain. It was interesting walking in the same footsteps, in the same garden, as royalty many years prior. Imagining that a place like this was somebodies back yard made me so jealous. Words can hardly describe this paradise, so just check out some pictures
Bonus:Agueda & Countryside
04
We stopped at a random place in the countryside on our way from Porto to Lisbon. I remember seeing something about an umbrella lined street online so I wanted to find it. I did. Here are a few pictures from Agueda and a bit of the Portuguese countryside near where we stayed.
