Lisbon in a day

Sunday we woke up early to get a start on our only full day in Lisbon.  The hotel served a breakfast buffet with some great options.  There were tons of fruits, pastries, breads and cheeses.

 

 

 

 

Here is what I ended up with.  I loved the lox.

 

This table was awesome.  This contained soy products, gluten free products, and lower fat options too.

 

I mentioned in my previous post that I bought a Hard Rock shirt, and I remembered to take a picture of this.

 

For the day in Lisbon, we hired a private driver to take us to the major sights to see.  As it turned out, the private driver was cost effective because with 3 people, paying for 3 full day trips was just as much, and with the driver, we were not rushed.  He waited right outside of all the attractions for us and we never had to worry.  I think after today’s experience I would recommend checking with the concierge in your hotel if you are ever traveling and looking for things to do.  This service was well worth it.

First up was Sintra, to the northwest of Lisbon.  This is an awesome mountain with castles and cute villages.

 

From here you can see the castle are we would eventually get up to.

 

 

The first tour was of the National Palace.  if you are in Lisbon, definitely go to Sintra.

 

I took tons of pictures inside, but I will only show some here.  I tried not to go overboard, but everything was so beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

These chimneys are actually from the kitchen, which I will show pictures of a little further down.

 

 

 

 

It was nice having my mom here because it was easy to have pictures taken of me in various places.

 

There were some unbelievable views.

 

I loved these ceilings.

 

 

 

This was in the Chinese room and is a pagoda.

 

There was a church inside.

 

Here is the kitchen.

 

 

 

 

 

Here I am just outside before we headed up the street to look in the shops.

 

At a very early hour in the day, I decided to try one of these Ginginha liquor drinks.  Really, who can resist a little cherry type liquor served in a cup made of chocolate.

 

 

Here we go…

 

I drank half and then put the cup in my mouth, as I was instructed to do by the store owner.  If you are curious about their products click here to visit the Cantinho Gourmet website.

 

Next up was the Pena Palace, at the top of the mountain.  I love those treats they make on the island called Dona Amelias, and she lived in this palace before there was no more royal family left.

 

The driver could only take us so far, so we had to take this fun trolley up the rest of the hill.

 

This place is unreal and only took 60 years to build.  They don’t allow photography inside, but I did get some nice shots from the exterior.

 

 

 

 

Here is my mom and Joe.

 

 

 

 

 

I can see why the royal family would build a palace up here.

 

After Sintra, we headed to the beach for lunch.  I was amazed by the color of the water.

 

 

 

Lunch was at this restaurant.  The driver brought us here.

 

The fresh seafood was on display for guests to choose from.

 

Very beachy feeling inside.

 

We were brought out cheese, olives and bread to start.

 

 

 

Then the chef came to the table with a basket of fresh fish and allowed us to select our lunch.  The menu pricing was by the kilo and one fish would be enough for all of us to share.  We selected this red snapper.

 

The chef was very nice and would prepare it any way we would like.

 

We ordered this grilled.  It was served like this to the table and then the chef came over and filleted it tableside.

 

Lunch was served with a side of potatoes and green beans.

 

Here he is getting the fish ready and then plating it for us.

 

This was just enough for each of us.

 

 

This was a fantastic meal, and I would recommend this if you are ever in the area.  After lunch we continued to drive down the coast.

 

 

the driver stopped when we reached a beach town, Cascais (?).

 

 

Then it was back into Lisbon.  First up was Jeronimos Monastery.

 

This place is huge.

 

 

 

The inside was very ornate.

 

 

 

After the church, we headed to the river to see the tower.  When we parked there was this plane monument to commemorate the first transatlantic flight, taken before the first one from the US.  The difference was that this Portugal to Brazil flight included stops along the way so it was not a direct transatlantic flight.

 

Next, we headed to the tower.  I took tons of pictures, but I will just share a few.  Again, this was an awesome sight to tour.  I was amazed by how many people were speaking English.

 

 

 

If you were bad, you became a prisoner here.

 

 

Here I am in a little viewing area.

 

The river view was great.  I loved the bridge.  if you think this looks like the Golden Gate bridge, you are right.  It was designed by the same person.

 

 

 

Last up was the Sao Jorge Castle.  This was much older than everything else, and you can tell but the quality and condition of this.  It was still very cool to walk around.  I felt like I was in a movie.

 

 

 

Here I am trying to shoot a cannon.

 

 

 

 

 

Again, there are great views.

 

 

 

When we finished with the tour, we went back to the hotel to relax.  Later that evening we headed to the giant shopping mall, Colombo.

 

 

They even sold sweets in the mall.

 

 

I was starving, so I am glad they had so many options in their food court.  I snapped a few pictures of some of the options.

 

 

 

 

After looking around, we selected this.

 

 

We love Middle Eastern food, so this was a no-brainer for us.

 

Falafel pita sandwiches, hummus and fries for all of us.

 

Oh yes, this was so good.

 

We did a little walking and then stopped for a coffee and a little dessert.

 

The 3 of us shared this coconut and cream roll.

 

Well, that was Lisbon in a day.  If you have the chance, this is a fantastic city, and I suggest at least 2 days here, if not more.  We do have 1 more day on the way back before we return to the Azores.  Portugal is really a fantastic place, and very rich in history and culture.

QUESTIONS:  Have you ever visited a castle?  Have you ever been to Lisbon?  What is your favorite historical site?