We took a trip to Portugal earlier this fall, visiting the beautiful cities of Lisbon, Cascais and Sintra. Portugal is such a delightful country, filled with friendly people, stunning architecture, and charming old, winding streets. It's very walkable and worth exploring on foot to get a feel for the city and discover all the cool street art, beautiful buildings and stunning calcada underfoot. For any place a little further away, you can always hop on one of the trams, which wind through the steep and curvy roads with a precision you wouldn't expect from these old, rattling cars.
The food in Portugal was fantastic too! Our favorite spots were Cantinho Do Avillez and Meson Andaluz in Lisbon, and Restaurante BEIRA MAR in Cascais. And of course you can't mention Portugal without talking about the fantastic Port -- which certainly did not disappoint! I also enjoyed the Ginja -- although my husband was a less enthusiastic fan.
We definitely plan to return to this charming country in the future. For now, we'll look back on the photos and wish we could be transported to this gritty, colorful and delightful country by the sea...
Off to Cascais! This beautiful beach town is a quick 30 minute train ride from Lisbon and yet it feels worlds away. We loved biking up to Guincho to see its spectacular beach and cliff side views. The town itself is beautiful with lots of sights to see, but we mostly relaxed at our gorgeous hotel, Farol Hotel, built right into the rock coastline -- it was heavenly!
A short drive from Cascais (and Lisbon), you find the spectacular town of Sintra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that is dotted with castles and estates everywhere you look! It's a fantastic town to explore, but be ready for some walking! Even if you take the bus up the steep and windy hills, you'll still need to walk quite a bit once you get to each spot. We enjoyed the exercise -- especially after all the food we'd had in Lisbon -- and the views from the castles are definitely worth it!
The first place we explored was the Moorish Castle.
After that, we wandered up to the Pena Palace -- a place so colorful and wild, it looks like no castle you've ever seen. (Or at least no real castle, as some parts did remind us of Medieval Times... Sorry!)
Our very friendly welcome...
It was very hard to leave this beautiful county, but I'm happy to say Portugal sent us off with a beautiful sunrise as we awoke to head to the airport. We will definitely be back!