I have to say after seeing that many impressive cities around the world I have quite high expectations to city trips, but I can say Lisbon fulfilled it 100%! I totally felt in love with the city and would go as far as saying its within my top 5 European cities (maybe even top 3 but let's not exaggerate at this point haha). It has the whole package: the big city vibe, the summer flair with the perfect weather (it was sunny, around 26 degrees, a bit windy, not too hot and not too cold, the modern aspect, the historical, culural, Portuguese side, the shopping possibilities, the super delicious food, very open and kind people, the international atmosphere and the nightlife - all just comes together in Lisbon.
Food
Did you ever think about typical porugese food? Well I didn't and apparently most of their traditional food involves pork. Since I'm anything else than a fan of any kind of meat I haven't had any expectations on trying typical portugese food. But as usual you always get positively surprised when not having high expectations... I totally forgot that Portugal is a country close to the sea, resulting in plenty of fresh fish options - fresh & cheap! In one restaurant it actually happened that the waitress came to our table with two whole fresh fish and let us decide which one we would rather eat, that's how fresh the fish is (but that was in Albufeira not in Lisboa but still wtf :D )
But there was one thing that impressed me even more or rather my taste nervs than me: pasteis de nata (or how Lisa would refer to it: "Pinjata") Normally I'm not a big fan of pudding filled pastry, but this one WOW (to be fair it just looks like a puff pastry filled with pudding but it's actually not pudding).
From the outside it is similar to
an egg tarte(and it actually is one since its main ingredient is egg yolks), which I know from Singapore that is similar to cheesecake I would say but that pastel the nata is so much better.
It's like an explosion in your moth this vanilla cream liquid that flows down your throat - worth every single calorie! Writing about it made me grave one in this exact moment and since I'm just at the airport in Portugal I actually got one :D The best ones I have tried
in Lisboa were the ones from Fabrica de nata(here you can even watch them making it), they taste best when served warm and with cinnamon on top. Soooo good!
Alfama
The proper tourist takes the famous tram 28 to discover Alfama, but what is the fun in riding a crowded, packed tram with sweating tourists inside? So we decided to walk through the neigbourhood of Alfama (maybe the best decision anyways to balance out all the pastels de nata). Lisbon is a very hilly city, but it actually looks much worse than it feels, walking up and down is managable and you get to know the city from unique viepoints. Alfama is one of those parts that have this typical portugese flair with very steep roads, cute houses, tight streets and amazing viewpoints over the whole city. To be honest isn't it much nicer to have one of those famous trams in the background of your picture anyways? (and that you can only get from OUTSIDE the tram).
Parque Eduardo VII
This was one of my favorite spots in Lisboa, most likely it wasn't as touristy as the other sights. There is actually nothing special about it, well okay next to an amaying view of the city you face quite a cool maze, but what impressed me the most was the calmness of it. I think we were sitting on top of the parque for like an hour, just chilling and enjoying the atmosphere.
Torre de Belem
I wasn't really convinced when deciding to go to one of the top tourist attractions in Lisboa - Torre de Belem. Because, you know isn't it always like 'you have to see this and visit that' and then when being there you just feel like 'aha that's it, now instead of the Google Image I have a picture taken by myself - from a worse ankle of course' But here I was actully quite amazed, this castle like building that appears in the middle of the river had something magic, like in a fairytale where they hide the princess. I think it's a very nice place to hang out and enjoy the view. We didn't enter it though since a lot of people said it was not worth the 6 Euros entry fee since the best part is to look at it from the outside (and I'm pretty sure it would have destroyed my imagination of the hidden princess if I would have gone inside)
LX Factory
The LX Factory is like a small village in the middle of Lisbon surrounded by a wall. As soon as you go through the big gate at the entrance you see a street full of flea market stands and a huge factory hall with super cute, tiny and rather alternative stores and restaurants. Since we were there on a sunday, an organic bio market took place too, so when we entered it was also full of fruit stands with the best possible smell in the air. We first got attracted by a tiny restaurant called "chef nino" and omg such good food for such a tiny amount of money. We took the brunch special, which included a freshly made croissant, slices of chiabread, fresh strawberry jam, veggie lasagne, pumkin soup, salad with honey/ walnuts/ pear, egg with unique sauce on top, greek yogurt with fruits and nuts and optional either turkey with grapes/ cheese with jam/ something with pork/ mozarella with tomatoes and a drink of your choice - all that for 12(!!!!) Euros, oh and it was all homemade. In came in tiny portions, so you were able to try everything but didn't feel too full afterwards (such a great concept) and it was made with love, just look at the picture:
Other than the amazing food options, the LX factory offer super nice and unique stores, just walking there and doing some window shopping is already worth it, but on top of that (attention word play) they also have an incredible rooftop bar (rooftop on top you know ;) ) with an even more incredible view over the river with its bridge and Jesus statue (no we weren't in Rio nor in San Fransisco)
The tiny stalls in the street were just lovely and we ended up buying some very nice jewlery. LX factory was definately one of my favorite spots in Lisbon and I highly recommend everyone to go there!
Shopping
What can I say, after spending so much time in Denmark, Lisbon or Portugal in general is just shopping heaven! There is one awesome shop next to the other and all have "SALIDOS" (the magic word). I got new shoes, a new jacket, a sun hat, necklaces, a very cute wallet, a pyjama top (it was 3EUR :D ) , two (!) new sunglasses and I probably would have shopped much more if I wouldn't travel with only carry on luggage... but yea plan a shopping day or at least an afternoon if you ever visit Lisbon.
I have the feeling there is much more to explore in Lisbon, especially since we didn't make it to go to Sintra, which is a village outside of Lisbon with fairytale like castles, palaces and parks and we didn't check the nightlife, because we were waaaay to tired after walking the entire day. I'm pretty sure I will come back, especially since the Eurovision Song Contest is happening there next year :D so be aware Lisbon it is not a good bye it is a see you later!
Food
Did you ever think about typical porugese food? Well I didn't and apparently most of their traditional food involves pork. Since I'm anything else than a fan of any kind of meat I haven't had any expectations on trying typical portugese food. But as usual you always get positively surprised when not having high expectations... I totally forgot that Portugal is a country close to the sea, resulting in plenty of fresh fish options - fresh & cheap! In one restaurant it actually happened that the waitress came to our table with two whole fresh fish and let us decide which one we would rather eat, that's how fresh the fish is (but that was in Albufeira not in Lisboa but still wtf :D )
But there was one thing that impressed me even more or rather my taste nervs than me: pasteis de nata (or how Lisa would refer to it: "Pinjata") Normally I'm not a big fan of pudding filled pastry, but this one WOW (to be fair it just looks like a puff pastry filled with pudding but it's actually not pudding).
an egg tarte(and it actually is one since its main ingredient is egg yolks), which I know from Singapore that is similar to cheesecake I would say but that pastel the nata is so much better.
It's like an explosion in your moth this vanilla cream liquid that flows down your throat - worth every single calorie! Writing about it made me grave one in this exact moment and since I'm just at the airport in Portugal I actually got one :D The best ones I have tried
in Lisboa were the ones from Fabrica de nata(here you can even watch them making it), they taste best when served warm and with cinnamon on top. Soooo good!
Alfama
Parque Eduardo VII
This was one of my favorite spots in Lisboa, most likely it wasn't as touristy as the other sights. There is actually nothing special about it, well okay next to an amaying view of the city you face quite a cool maze, but what impressed me the most was the calmness of it. I think we were sitting on top of the parque for like an hour, just chilling and enjoying the atmosphere.
Torre de Belem
I wasn't really convinced when deciding to go to one of the top tourist attractions in Lisboa - Torre de Belem. Because, you know isn't it always like 'you have to see this and visit that' and then when being there you just feel like 'aha that's it, now instead of the Google Image I have a picture taken by myself - from a worse ankle of course' But here I was actully quite amazed, this castle like building that appears in the middle of the river had something magic, like in a fairytale where they hide the princess. I think it's a very nice place to hang out and enjoy the view. We didn't enter it though since a lot of people said it was not worth the 6 Euros entry fee since the best part is to look at it from the outside (and I'm pretty sure it would have destroyed my imagination of the hidden princess if I would have gone inside)
LX Factory
The LX Factory is like a small village in the middle of Lisbon surrounded by a wall. As soon as you go through the big gate at the entrance you see a street full of flea market stands and a huge factory hall with super cute, tiny and rather alternative stores and restaurants. Since we were there on a sunday, an organic bio market took place too, so when we entered it was also full of fruit stands with the best possible smell in the air. We first got attracted by a tiny restaurant called "chef nino" and omg such good food for such a tiny amount of money. We took the brunch special, which included a freshly made croissant, slices of chiabread, fresh strawberry jam, veggie lasagne, pumkin soup, salad with honey/ walnuts/ pear, egg with unique sauce on top, greek yogurt with fruits and nuts and optional either turkey with grapes/ cheese with jam/ something with pork/ mozarella with tomatoes and a drink of your choice - all that for 12(!!!!) Euros, oh and it was all homemade. In came in tiny portions, so you were able to try everything but didn't feel too full afterwards (such a great concept) and it was made with love, just look at the picture:
Other than the amazing food options, the LX factory offer super nice and unique stores, just walking there and doing some window shopping is already worth it, but on top of that (attention word play) they also have an incredible rooftop bar (rooftop on top you know ;) ) with an even more incredible view over the river with its bridge and Jesus statue (no we weren't in Rio nor in San Fransisco)
The tiny stalls in the street were just lovely and we ended up buying some very nice jewlery. LX factory was definately one of my favorite spots in Lisbon and I highly recommend everyone to go there!
Shopping
What can I say, after spending so much time in Denmark, Lisbon or Portugal in general is just shopping heaven! There is one awesome shop next to the other and all have "SALIDOS" (the magic word). I got new shoes, a new jacket, a sun hat, necklaces, a very cute wallet, a pyjama top (it was 3EUR :D ) , two (!) new sunglasses and I probably would have shopped much more if I wouldn't travel with only carry on luggage... but yea plan a shopping day or at least an afternoon if you ever visit Lisbon.
I have the feeling there is much more to explore in Lisbon, especially since we didn't make it to go to Sintra, which is a village outside of Lisbon with fairytale like castles, palaces and parks and we didn't check the nightlife, because we were waaaay to tired after walking the entire day. I'm pretty sure I will come back, especially since the Eurovision Song Contest is happening there next year :D so be aware Lisbon it is not a good bye it is a see you later!