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.

<< Days 4-5 (Porto) | Trip Itinerary | Days 8-9 (Valencia)

Trip to Portugal and Spain: Days 4 and 5 (Porto)

Getting to Porto

We had initially considered renting a one way car to Porto, but after learning there were inexpensive bus fares from Liston to Porto we decided to travel by bus. Specifically we used FlixBus again and paid  84 EUR for 4 tickets. Our bus departed 11:30am from Porto and arrived close to 3pm at the Camelias bus stop, which was a short walk from our hotel at Sao Bento.

Where to eat

One recommendation from our Uber driver was to eat at Cafe Santiago, and try the Francesinha which is a typical dish from Porto. I actually thought it was pretty good, my for the rest of my family it was just OK. They will have this dish at most restaurants so you will have plenty of chances to try it even if you can't make it to Cafe Santiago.

Visiting the shore

Our first day we decided to do some sightseeing by walking from Sao Bento towards the shore. We walk past the Santo Ildefonso Church which is beautiful. Just down the street we stopped by Sao Bento terminal which is a must see.

On our way down to the shore we stopped by Chocolateria Ecuador and had a sample of their chocolate truffle with a glass of Porto wine, they were both delicious.

We then made it down to the shore and walked along towards the Luis I bridge and cross through the lower walkway. The view from across the river is even better as you can see from this postcard worthy picture.

On that side is where you can find most of the wineries, however they were closed as they open primarily in the morning through early afternoon. We ended up having dinner at Tabernha do Manel which was pretty good. 

We then headed up the hill toward Mirador da Ribeira to be able to view the sunset near the upper end of Ponte Luis I bridge. This was another beautiful view of Porto. We ended up heading back to our hotel walking as we were only about a mile away.

Livraria Lello

The next day we started by visiting Livraria Lello which is one of the most beautiful bookstores in the world and allegedly J.K. Rowling was inspired while writing the first Harry Potter books. You will need to buy tickets to enter but you can buy them online and will save you from standing on the longer line to enter. Next to the bookstore we stopped by one of our favorite ice cream shops: Amorino. 

A couple blocks away we visited Igreja do Carmo and just a block away we stopped by the Museum of Science and Natural History. Because it was under renovation, they only had to exhibits open, but admission was free so we decided to take a quick peek.

Igreja dos Clerigos

Our next stop was Igreja dos Clerigos which is a must see. It also requires timed tickets to go up the church tower. My wife says that every church that has a tower we must climb it, but this one in particular is a must see because as you are going up towards the tower they make you go around the church so you get to see the church from some very unique sides and the view from the top of the tower does not disappoint.

Igreja dos Clérigos

View from Torre dos Clerigos

Casa da Musica

My son wanted to visit Casa da Musica and because we had some extra time we decided to venture there. This location is about 2 miles aways from downtown so we decided to take the bus on our way there. Before entering it was lunch time and we ate outside on a restaurant called Ghrelador do Boavista 39. We found this restaurant by luck and my wife chose it because she said it looks like this is a place where most locals come to it. We had one of the best meals of our trip here, so I definitely recommend it if you head out this way.

You can only visit the inside of Casa da Musica by tour and the day we visited they only had tours at 11am and 4pm. Luckily we got there shortly before 4pm. I would stay this is a must see if you have musicians in your family, otherwise you may not enjoy it as much, but it is certainly a very unique music venue and the tour guide made it a very insightful visit. I would definitely would recommend attending a concert there if there is one and have the time.

Inside Casa da Musica

Spiritus

While we were visiting Tower dos Clerigos, they were promoting the Spiritus light show and we decided to buy tickets. We came back for the show in the evenings and it was really worth it. It was a little awkward to view it inside a church, but it was designed specifically for this church and it was by far better than the overly promoted Immersive Van Gogh.

<< Day 3 (Sintra) | Trip Itinerary | Days 6-7 (Seville) >>

Trip to Portugal and Spain: Day 3 (Sintra)

Sintra was not initially in our list of must see destinations until a friend strongly recommended it, and she was right. Sintra is about 25km away from Lisbon and about a 30 minute drive without traffic.

Getting to Sintra

We were initially going to take a train to Sintra but it would have taken us nearly an hour to get there from hour hotel. After seeing that it we could get an Uber for around 25 EUR and get there in 30 minutes we decided to go for that. I would still recommend requesting that the Uber drops you at the train station instead of downtown Sintra since that is where you can easily buy the local bus tickets.

Moving around Sintra

We love to walk when possible, but unfortunately the roads to the Sintra castles are very narrow and steep. From our research we learned that the best way to get around the Sintra castles was using local bus 434. We tried buying bus tickets ahead of time, but the agency website would not take my credit card because it assumed a local postal code which does not match the format for US zip codes. When we got to the train station, on the outside you will see the signs to get on the bus (#434). Before boarding the bus there were agents who you could buy the ticket from for EUR 11.50. This includes unlimited usage per day, as well as other routes, e.g. 435 to get to Quinta de Regaleira and Palace of Monserrate, as well as the bus route  that can take you to Cascais (1hr away). We heard great things about Cascais, but from my experience there would not be enough time to visit both places on the same day. 

Pena Palace

Pena Palace is a must see within Sintra. We bought tickets ahead of time on their website. I bought the ticket for both the park and the palace. The Palace ticket requires a timed entry, but not the park. I would allow at least 1 hour for the palace time entry from the time you estimate you will reach the Sintra train station. Bus 434 has frequent stops, almost every 10 minutes, but it takes about 20 minutes for the bus to get to the Park entrance and then another 20 minutes to walk up to the castle. The palace is beautiful on the inside, but if you are limited in time I would suggest only buying the park ticket. There is a lot you can see from the outside of the Palace. Also you will see from the picture that it was very foggy and windy. We were told by our Uber driver that is a typical Sintra wether and eve though it was warm in Lisbon, Sintra weather can be 10C/20F degrees lower, so bring a light jacket.

Where to eat

Our Uber driver recommended 2 spots. "Casa do Preto" we were told people from Lisbon come here just to eat here. This is towards the city entrance, but bus 434 stops there. We wanted to eat there but to maximize our time we decided to go with his second recommendation which was "O Melhor Croissant da Minha Rua", which means "the best croissant of my street" and indeed they were likely the best croissants in the area.

Palace of Monserrate

We chose to visit Palace of Monserrate next as it looked beautiful in the pictures and indeed it was. However getting there was not as easy. You have to take bus 435 which was a smaller bus and with much less frequency. We waited about 30 minutes on the way in and another 25 minutes on the way back, so if you are limited in time I would not recommend going here.

Inside Palace of Monserrate

On the way our bus stopped by Quinta de Regaleira which we would have stopped if the bus stopped more frequently. 

The other castle we wanted to visit if we had more time was the Moorish Castle which we left for our next visit to Sintra. We took an Uber back to Lisbon and since it was rush hour (around 5pm), it took a little longer to get back, but nothing too crazy.

<< Day 2 (Fatima) | Trip Itinerary | Day 4-5 (Porto) >> 

 

Trip to Portugal and Spain: Day 2 (Fatima)

Getting to Fatima

Being Catholic, visiting Fatima was one of the top reasons for this trip, hence we decided to start our trip with that visit. From my research I found out that getting by bus was the best option in terms of cost, time and options. There were primarily 2 bus companies: FlixBus and Rede Expressos. With Rede Expressos you have a few more time options because there are about 3 brands part of that network. However FlixBus had enough options for us and it seems slightly more convenient to book (they even take ApplePay). I found out Oriente station gave us the most direct route (nonstop). We booked our trip leaving around 11am and returning around 6pm. I figured 6 hours should be enough time for our visit (it ended up being about an hour short). Our roundtrip fare was about 60 EUR for a family of four (we booked about 2+ weeks ahead of time to get this fare).

We took an Uber to Oriente station. The buses depart from the parking right outside the Terminal. Our bus departed on time. I do recommend you pay the extra fee to book your seats ahead of time. The bus had wifi and worked surprisingly well. It also had USB ports but the one in our seats was not operational. Once you get to the Fatima bus station, the Basilica is within a 5 minute walk.

Shrine of Fatima

We started our visit to the Chapel of the Apparitions, the visited the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima. To my surprise it was not too crowded, but it was a weekday and it wasn't a 13th of the month which I hear are the busiest days (May through October).

On your way from the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity (new larger church) to the Basilica of the Our Lady of Fatima, on the right side there is a piece of the Berlin Wall that is easy to miss if you don't look for it.

Inside the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity there are 3 additional chapels where you can attend mass if you have time. You can check the mass schedule here. There is also a museum that you cannot miss. That is where you can find the Crown of Our Lady of Fatima with one of the bullets with which Pope John Paul II was shot.

Where to eat

One of our Uber drivers had recommended Sao Francisco Churrasqueira, which is close to the house where Francisco and Jacinta lived, but since we were still in the Sanctuary area we decided to eat at Casa Platano, at that ended up being one of the best restaurants of our trip. Unless you are running short on time, I strongly recommend eating here, you won't be disappointed. 

Pilgrimage to Lucia's house

As much as we would have liked to take the 130km pilgrimage from Lisbon to Fatima, we didn't have enough time in this trip. Instead we took a mini pilgrimage to Lucia's house via the Way of the Cross. From the Sanctuary walk 1km south on Dom Jose Alves Correia Avenue (same road you walked from the bus station) until you reach the roundabout with the Three Little Shepherds monument. From there search for the walking path with the "Via-Sacra/Caminho dos Pastorinhos" sign. That is a Way of the Cross with the 14 stations that will take you straight to Lucia's house.

After visiting Lucia's house, be sure to also visit Francisco and Jacinta's house which is just a couple blocks away. We decided to walk back to the Bus station via the way of the cross stopping at Loca do Cabeco (one of the apparition sites), and then through the 11-14th stations of the cross you can reach Calvario Hungaro. 

Getting back to Lisbon

From Calvario Hungaro we took a nice trail path towards the Bus Station, but I would only advice taking this if you have GPS, as there were not a lot of trail signs in this path. 

We had to rush back to the Bus Station only to find out that our bus was delayed 20 minutes. The FlixBus app showed this delay in the route details, but it did not notify me. I believe there was an option to opt in for notifications which I did not sign up for, so I suggest you opt in for this option. Other than that it was as smooth trip back to Lisbon Oriente and we took an Uber back to hour hotel. 

<< Day 1 (Lisbon) | Trip Itinerary | Day 3 (Sintra) >>

  

Trip to Portugal and Spain: Day 1 (Lisbon)

 Lisbon Airport

Our trip arrived almost an hour ahead of time before 10am. European airports always confused me in that you arrive at the terminal and can walk through the terminal instead of going through immigration first. The reason is because you are arriving at an International terminal and you must go through passport control to exit. The passport control line did not look too bad but we ended up in line for about 40 minutes. The good news is by that time our luggage was waiting for us.

Getting around Lisbon

Unlike other European cities getting around by train did not seem to be the fastest and not significantly cheaper option. When I checked for ride share options in the Google Maps app, Uber did not come up as an option. However I tried the Uber application directly and to my surprise the ride from the airport to our hotel was less than €10 euros. Granted the Lisbon airport is within the city, but it was still 8 km (15 minutes) away. Compared to rates in the US, the Uber fares were significantly lower. The pickup spot from Terminal 1 was at a parking outside the terminal named "Kiss and Fly". It's hard to miss, because it is very crowded.

We arrived at our hotel around noon and our room was not ready. We left our luggage and ate at a restaurant nearby named Banze. It was actually pretty good, but in general most restaurants we went to in Lisbon were pretty good. 

Lisbon Sightseeing

After we settled in our hotel room we decided to venture downtown walking. Our first stop was the Observation Deck at Park Eduardo VII which has a really nice view of the city.

From there we decided to walk towards the pier walking through Liberdade Avenue, which is one of their main streets with many stores and restaurants. In our way there we discovered "Fabrica da Nata" which sells the typical "Pasteis de Nata", which are pastries with Boston cream and are pretty good. They also sell croissant sandwiches and baguettes and it is very inexpensive so we ended up having dinner there. 

We walked past the Sant Justa lift on Aurea street and eventually made it to Cais das Columnas on the pier which is another landmark you can't miss! From there we took an Uber back to the hotel which was also surprisingly cheap (around €6 EUR).

Santa Justa lift

Cais das Columnas

Trip Itinerary | Day 2 (Fatima) >>

Trip to Portugal and Spain: Day 0 (Itinerary)

This June 2022, my family of 4 took a trip to Portugal and Spain with a custom itinerary. In this blog series I'll share some tips and suggestions in case you are venturing on a similar trip.

Our itinerary

Day 0: Washington Dulles (IAD) - Lisbon (LIS)

Day 1: Lisbon sightseeing

Day 2: Fatima

Day 3: Sintra

Day 4-5: Porto

Day 6-7: Seville

Day 8-9: Valencia

Day 10: Lisbon

Day 11: LIS-IAD

Pre-flight tips

We decided to fly out of Washington Dulles because we live 4 hours away driving and United had a direct flight. We booked our flight around February and was able to get a very good air fare ($600). 

Parking

Parking at Dulles is not prohibitively expensive compared to other major US airports ($12/day at Economy parking). However we were able to find much cheaper parking ($6) using SpotHero by parking at a nearby hotel. Specifically we parked at the Fairfield Inn Dulles and their shuttle service was very convenient and fast since it is a short drive away. 

Covid requirements

As of June 2022, the requirements to travel to Europe were fairly flexible. You essentially have 3 options: 

1. Provide a negative PCR or rapid (antigen) test
2. Provide proof of full vaccination no older than 270 days (unless you have a booster)
3. Provide a certificate from a doctor indicating that you had COVID and were already recovered

All of these 3 options can be provided no earlier than 72 hrs ahead of your flight time and only required for passengers older than 12 years old.

Our flight to Lisbon

Our flight to Lisbon was uneventful which is always good. It departed on Sunday 10:20pm. We arrived at the airport around 8pm and there were barely any lines or wait times. Our flight was on time and boarded promptly 40 minutes ahead of departure. The airplane was a 757-200, which is a relatively old plan, but it had TVs on all backseats as well as the option to use your device for in flight entertainment. We got served dinner close to midnight which is one of the few times I've declined a meal on a flight. Our total flight time was slightly under 7 hours which is not bad for a transatlantic flight. We were served a breakfast snack (yogurt and bread) around 9am local time, just one hour before landing.

Day 1 (Lisbon) >>