Trip to Portugal and Spain (Days 10): Lisbon

 Getting back

We didn't want to risk getting a flight delay or cancellation on our way to Lisbon so we decided to fly back at least one day before our flight back to the US. I found a direct flight from Valencia to Lisbon in the evening. We also bought the family fare which includes checked in luggage and because we bought this a few weeks ahead of time we got a very low fare of about $50 per person. 

Jeronimos Monastery

We had not visited the Monastery so we took an Uber that way. We purchased our tickets ahead of time. The monastery is gorgeous from the inside so I do recommend going it if you have time. You can also get a nice view of the inside of the church of Santa Maria de Belem while you are there.

After the visit, we got in line to enter the Church of Santa Maria de Belem which is next door. That entrance is free, and you do have to exit the Monastery in order to get in. The line wasn't too bad and it is also worth a visit. The tomb of Vasco de Gama is inside the church, you will see it when your way out the church.

Santa Maria de Belem Church (view from inside the Monastery)

Vasco de Gama tomb

Torre de Belem

We couldn't live Lisbon without visiting Torre de Belem, which is 1km away from the Monastery. We read that the best view of the tower is from the outside, so we chose not to enter.

Where to eat

We had so many places where we want to eat our second to last meal in Lisbon. One of them was Ramiro which was highly recommended but we chose to leave that for our next visit. A second choice was Portugalia Cervejaira which has multiple locations. We ended up going for a less conventional location which turned out to be a great choice. The name of the restaurant is Rosa da Rua. This was a small buffet restaurant and we definitely recommend it.

Church of Sao Roque

We had been exploring most of East hills of downtown Lisbon where the Cathedral is located, but we had not been on the west hills, which also have some very nice views from Miradouro de Sao Pedro de Alcantara. We also discovered by chance the Church of Sao Roque which is one of the earliest Jesuit churches in the world.

View from Miradouro de Sao Pedro de Alcantara

Church of Sao Roque

St Anthony's Church

We then headed into St Anthony's Church which we had seen from the outside only. This is on the east hills of downtown a block away from the Cathedral. This church was built on the site where St Anthony of Padua was born.

Heading back

Afterwards we chose to have our last dinner at Fabrica de Nata and we stopped for one more sunset at Cais das Colunas before heading back to our hotel. Our flight departed the next morning. Luckily the US had just dropped their COVID test requirement so that was one less logistic to worry about. The airport lines were not too bad, including the Passport Control line, which was about 20 minutes, but something to account for.

This concludes our trip. We really enjoyed this visit to Portugal and Spain. We would certainly love to go back to Lisbon in the near future. I would say it is an underrated tourist destination that deserves more praise. I hope you enjoyed my tips and hope you are able to leverage some recommendations. Do not hesitate to comment or ask for more details if you are venturing that way!

<< Days 8-9 (Valencia) | Trip Itinerary

Trip to Portugal and Spain (Days 8-9): Valencia

Getting to Valencia

Why Valencia if it's on the other end of the Iberia Peninsula? Typical Spain tours would go from Seville into Granada, Cordoba, Madrid, etc. One of the main reasons for this trip was to visit my sister and her family who lives in a small town 1.5 hrs away from Valencia. We were initially going to take a 5hr drive through Spain to visit her, but they decided to meet us in Valencia. I found a direct flight from Seville with Vueling. Vueling had a nice family fare which includes checked and carry on in luggage in addition to seat selection with the ability to make changes (for $70 USD per person).

Sightseeing

Our hotel was near the Aquarium, so we ended up walking via a walkway that goes through the Museum of Arts and Science and takes you all the way downtown (3km away). 

Hemisferic

We then decided to get lunch. It was a little early for lunch so some places were closed. We ended up going to Restaurante Alma, which had a decent paella.

In the afternoon we spent some time in the hotel pool and later met with some friends and did some more walking. For dinner we went to another place near hotel: La Taberna. They had very good tapas and food was pretty good. I was surprised that they had under 4 stars rating in Google, but looks like the main complaint was that it was overpriced.

Catedral de Valencia

The next day we went to visit the Cathedral of Valencia which is one of top destinations we wanted to visit because of the Holy Chalice. It is a beautiful church with a museum inside it. And of course we had to climb the Micalet (tower) which has a really nice view of Valencia.

Holy Chalice

View from the top of the Micalet

We then stopped to buy some turrones and then had lunch at es.paella, where we tried something I had not had before: fideua, which is essentially a paella but made with noodles instead of rice. It is now one of our favorite family dishes now.

Despite this a very short visit, we really liked and enjoyed Valencia. It is a very modern and beautiful city and we will certainly be back to visit with more time.

<< Days 6-7 (Seville) | Trip Itinerary | Day 10 (Lisbon) >>

Trip to Portugal and Spain: Days 6 and 7 (Seville)

Getting there

Initially I considered driving a rental car but that would have been a 6.5hr trip and I did not want to deal with rentals across countries. I came across a direct flight via RyanAir. My kids warned me about flying RyanAir as they have the reputation of being one of the worst airlines in the world. I thought it couldn't be worse than Spirit Airlines and I was right. I booked the family plus fare which includes 4 pieces of 10kg luggages plus one 20kg luggage all of which have to be checked in. It ended up costing US$70 per person. The flight was on time, our luggage was delivered so I was actually quite happy with the experience. The only nuisance was that while checking with the RyanAir application I was prompted to upload COVID requirements to travel to Spain. They redirected me to download the official government application from Spain: SpTh. Based on the country I was traveling from (Portugal) I was not required to provide any COVID documentation, but the application required uploading one, so I ended up uploading my vaccination records and nobody asked me anything about them.

Unlike Portugal, Uber service was not available. The ride sharing options were FreeNow and Cabify. I ended up using Cabify. It was slightly more expensive compared to Uber in Portugal, but still much cheaper compared to Uber fares in the US. Most of their cars, if not all, were black Skoda Superb which is very similar to the Volkswagen Passat and with plenty of room for luggage.

Where to eat

We arrived in the middle of a heat wave. Temperatures reached 42C/100F which we were told is more common in July/August, but not in early June. It was also a very dry heat. We took a Cabify into downtown. Some streets within downtown are very narrow and our driver insisted in getting us as close as possible, even though we offered to walk. We tried to eat at Bodega Santa Cruz, one of our recommended stops but it was way too crowded. We ended up eating at La Sacristia, which ended up being pretty good. From our experience, you can't go wrong with a restaurant with tapas, which most restaurants at Spain offer.

Seville Cathedral and Giralda Tower

This was our first stop after having lunch. I chose not to purchase the tickets online because we didn't know exactly at what time we would arrive to the Giralda Tower which is what requires a timed entry, but thankfully there was no ticket line around 5:30pm. The inside of the Cathedral is magnificent. You can find the tomb of Christopher Columbus inside the Cathedral.

Christopher Columbus tomb

The access to the Giralda Tower is from inside the Cathedral. They didn't seem too strict about the entry time, but they do scan the tickets. The views from the top are great and unblocked. Instead of stairs you climb via ramps and they are wider than your average church tower, so if you are not a fan of climbing towers, this is an easier one that you should consider.

The Giralda Tower

View from the top of The Giralda

Because of the extreme heat, we decided to head back to our hotel and enjoy a swim in the pool which was very refreshing. Afterwards we had dinner at a nearby restaurant at a coffeeshop called Ananas and was surprisingly good and healthy.

Plaza de España

On our second day, we decided to walk to Plaza de España which was 2km from our hotel. Even though it was almost 80F in the morning, it was much bearable than the day before. Plaza de España is a must to visit and walk around. It is also a must for any Star Wars fans. The architecture is gorgeous and it has so much detail that it will take several visits to fully appreciate. 

Real Alcazar

From the Plaza we walked to Real Alcazar, which is a Moorish Royal Palace and another must see destination. We had bought tickets ahead of time so that saved us some time entering. The palace is beautiful with so much detail and multiple rooms to see. Here is just a sample of the rooms you will see inside the palace.

More to eat

We then stopped to get lunch at Bodeguita Reyes Antonio Romero. It was one of the dining recommendations we got and it was well worth it. They have multiple locations, the one we visited is in between the Cathedral and the Plaza de Toros. We arrived around 1pm which is early for lunch and the place was empty, so I was afraid we were not on the right place. We had several tapas as well as montaditos (small sandwiches), they were all really good. We tried morcilla, piripi, chorizo, bacalao and their jamon serrano was one of the best we had in our trip. 

Before heading back to our hotel we stopped by Amorino to get a treat. It is right across the Cathedral. We then headed to Iglesia de El Salvador which is included with the Cathedral tickets. Unfortunately because it was Sunday, it is not open for visits, so we missed it, but be sure to check the schedule before heading there as it is a few blocks away.

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