Luckily, my blog-draught is temporarily over. Last week I, along with 7 others, accompanied my best friend for a few days in Lisbon to celebrate her 22nd birthday. We stayed in a lovely air bnb which I really can't recommend enough- we all appreciated having a full flat to ourselves, especially when waking up feeling a little worse for wear. Until last Thursday I hadn't been out of the country since summer 2013 so you can imagine how excited I was to get to explore somewhere new; though I can't really complain since I've now booked my one-way flight to the other side of the world..but that deserves a post all of it's own! Anyway, I really liked Lisbon and I thought I'd share a few things about it as I don't think it's quite as well-known as some other European destinations.
- Lisbon is incredibly hilly. It's very strange because a lot of the buildings are really tall meaning you can't see what's coming round the corner- the difference between whether you'll be puffing and panting your way up a steep incline or tip-toeing down one. But at least it meant that my thighs didn't suffer too much from being in holiday mode (ie. eating & drinking everything).
- Speaking of indulgence, if you're a lover of pastry you really needn't look any further for your next holiday. 'Pastel de nata' are possibly the best gift that Portugal has given to the world- they're basically egg custard tarts but maybe 20 times better than anything matching that description that I've had on home turf. You'll find them pretty much everywhere in Lisbon, displayed in windows tempting in poor tourists, which is why I averaged 2 a day while I was there. Top tip- the best I tried was from Aloma, part of the Time Out Mercado da Ribeira food hall. Just don't buy them from the airport so you can bring the joy home to your loved ones- from personal experience I can tell you, you'll just be sad with how bad they are.
- The nightlife is varied and starts late. We didn't get a chance to go to any proper clubs and we didn't go to that many bars but those we did go to were all very different. On our first night we wandered towards the Bairro Alto area, which is the main spot for bar-hopping, and found a great little bar full of weird and wonderful things. Then on the second day we spent a lot of time in a bar called Sol e Pesca (translation: Sun & Fish) drinking far too much 'Super Bock' beer. This place is possibly the most fish-themed place I've ever seen; even the menus were displayed on fishing rods. Then, later on that night we ended up watching a drag queen show in a strange club. It seems that in Lisbon the possibilites are endless. Just head out late- locals don't even leave the house until 1am.
- Linked with the above, if you visit Lisbon you'll likely end up drinking more than you intended to due to the ridiculously low prices. In the first bar I mentioned above, 6 beers and 2 glasses of (actually drinkable) white wine came to a grand total of €7.50. The conversion rate for pound to euro is particularly strong at the moment, but it seemed like most places were similarly priced.
- As with most places I've visited in Europe, crossing the road is a pretty terrifying experience. Trams and cars share the same road space and pedestrian crossings don't really seem to mean much. That combined with, as I mentioned, never really being able to see round corners means you just have to trust your gut. Oh, and walk fast.
So maybe we didn't do that much in the way of specific sight-seeing and I'm sure there's plenty more we would've got round to seeing had we had more time, but I think my biggest tip for Lisbon would be to just wander and see what you find. It's a lovely place to walk around, the people really do seem friendly and you never know what you might find hidden at the top of a hill!
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