We celebrated this year’s Anniversary in Lisbon, Portugal. It was definitely a well needed trip. I enjoyed learned all about the culture and history of this beautiful place.

DAY 1

We Ubered from the airport to our hotel. Uber is pretty reasonable here. In my research I also saw people using. Bolt, but Bolt did not work for me. It took a lot longer to get a driver. on the Bolt app. As far as transportation, the metro and the buses are also recommended although we did not use this method.

The hotel that we stayed in is EPIC Sana Marques. I can’t rave enough about it! The room was beautiful. Centrally located, near Marquis of Pombal Square, this hotel has a 24/7 fitness center, indoor and outdoor pool, spa, and the most beautiful breakfast buffet.

Their restaurant, Allora, is also highly rated. When we arrived, luckily our room was ready before the check in time so I was able to take a nap and shower. After we freshened up, our first stop was shopping at Avenida Liberdade, which was a 5 minute walk from the hotel.

Can I just say, the shopping here is amazing, AND US citizens get 10-14% tax back! The only other thing we did was take a Tuk Tuk tour to explore the city of Alfama which I highly recommend. During this tour, we stopped at The Cathedral of Saint Mary Major – the oldest church in the city. Fun fact: this cathedral is built on the site of the main Mosque in Lisbon during the time of the Moors.

We went to the Time Out Marketplace afterwards for dinner. It is like a big food hall. It is full of different food choices.

DAY 2

On this day, we explored the beautiful town of Sintra. Just a little piece of advice, if your phone service does not work here then you need to have a back up option that tells you how to get around. I usually use Google maps, but I had no service at all on this day, so we popped into Casa Piriquita to get some wifi. Their pastel de nata, travesseiro and queijadas are a must try! BTW all of the pastries here are great!

Due to the technical difficulty, we were running a little late and had to skip Pena Palace and the Moorish castle. Buy tickets ahead of time because these places are usually very busy.

We used a twizzy to get around and honestly I don’t think we would be able to see as much if we did not. There is not a lot of parking around so this was a good option for us.

It was rainy and overcast that day so I’m sorry I did not get a lot of good photos.

The first stop was Quinta da Regaleira, a gothic styled palace. The castle was really nice and there is also an initiation well based off of Dante’s inferno that was really cool.

Next up was the Seteais Palace for a quick bite. It is about 5 minutes from Quinta da Regalaira, and it’s very cute inside. Amazing fries and mocktails.

We then twizzied up to Montserrate palace. If you only do one thing in Sintra it should be this!!!! One of the most gorgeous palaces I’ve seen (right up there with the Royal Palace in Spain). The style of this palace is gothic with Indian and Moorish influences.

I had more on my itinerary that I did not get to on this day because we had to return the Twizzy but we were also supposed to go to Cabo da Roca which is the westernmost point of mainland Europe. If you get a chance you should definitely add this to your itinerary.

DAY 3

On this day, we did a group tour to Fatima, Nazare, and Obidos. Our tour guide was great and told us many interesting historical facts. I’m going to be honest, I was really tired from all the traveling and napped through most of it. I wish I stayed awake because the information was great.

First stop – Fatima:

Apparently, this town was named during the time that the Moors controlled most of the Iberian peninsula. It was named in reference to Prophet Muhammad (SAW)’s daughter. Interesting, right? The tour guide also told us a story about three girls who saw an apparition of the Lady Fatima (which is in reference to Mary). Here we got to see the Sanctuary of Fatima which is massive and also houses a piece of the Berlin Wall.

Second stop – Nazare

This is a famous fishing village in Portugal. People come from all over the world to surf here because they get really big waves and there is also a Surf museum here. It’s a beautiful town

Third stop – Obidos

This is a medieval village which also contains a Moorish castle. There are walls there that were built by the Romans that you can walk on but is dangerous because it’s high up and there are no railings. We did some shopping here but unfortunately did not have enough time to do the castle.

DAY 4

We got to make the famous pastel de nata. It is a cream based pastry. It reminds me of a creme brûlée in a croissant. This is voted the second best dessert in the world, with pasties de Belem being voted the first. Pasteis de Belem is basically the same thing but the recipe is patented so no one can sell this pastry.

DAY 5

We visited the national tile museum. It was nice to see all of the different tiles and textures and designs.

We then headed over to Jeronimos Monastery which is a must see if you. come to Portugal. This took more than 100 years to complete. This was the final resting place of explorer Vasco da Gama.

This monastery was for the order of St. Jerome. Fun fact: the government dissolved all monasteries in 1834.

DAY 6

Spent this day is Cascais which is a beach town in Portugal. We slept in so I did not get to everything but here’s what we did: Boca da Inferno, Santini’s, Santa Marta lighthouse, and the marina.

DAY 7

We did some shopping and visited commerce square and Rossio square. This is about a 20 min walk from Avenida Liberdade by the way. The streets we shopped at were Rua Augusta, Rue do Carmo and Rua Garet (all in the same area). The Christmas lights were really nice. The Santa Just a lift is also located around here! We went to JNCQUOI Avenida. and the chocolate mousse here is a must have!

DAY 8

We enjoyed the couples spa treatment at the hotel which was really nice. They had a room that had a hot tub, shower, and steam room all in the couples treatment room. This is one of the nicest couples spa room I’ve been in. I enjoyed this experience.

Hope you enjoyed reading about my trip!! Have you guys gone on any trip s this year?? Where to??