Lisbon (2025)

Earlier this year, my parents moved (back) to Portugal. Despite being from Madeira originally, they moved to the south of the mainland, and I went to visit them in November for a couple of weeks. I ended up loving their lifestyle there, including the morning walks with their dog along the beach, the beautiful sunsets on our evening walks, and nights spent by the fireplace in their lovely house. 

In the middle of those two weeks, my boyfriend and I decided to spend the weekend in Lisbon as we’d never been together and it’s one of my favourite places. Funnily enough, there was availability in the Airbnb I’d stayed in whilst living in Lisbon in 2021, so we booked to stay there, which was very nostalgic!

Friday

The quickest way to get to Lisbon from my parent’s house was actually to get a Flixbus, so after work they dropped me off at Albufeira’s bus station and after a fair bit of waiting, the bus eventually turned up (late, of course) and I hopped on. 

The bus ride was just under three hours and during this time, I brainstormed some ideas of what to do in Lisbon, since neither of us had had any time beforehand to plan anything - I actually referred to my blog post "Living in Lisbon" for ideas, which saved a lot of time.

My mum had sent me on my journey with an entire packed lunch (well, dinner), comprising meat croquettes, cod croquettes, a sandwich, a Babybel, a banana, a Kitkat, Doritos, Oreos and an orange juice. Unfortunately, you weren’t allowed to consume anything on the bus, so despite having so many food options in tow, I had to wait until getting to the Airbnb to enjoy any of it.

Eventually, we arrived in Lisbon and I managed to figure out how to use the metro in order to get to the Airbnb, which was located very centrally. It was as easy as I remembered, although I was unsure whether you could use a contactless card or not so bought a ticket anyway (spoiler: you can use contactless on the metro). 

As I exited the metro station, I could see all of the Christmas lights and decorations across the city centre and I was hit by the nostalgia as I walked into the Airbnb and reminded just how much I love the city.

Saturday

My boyfriend was meeting me in Lisbon, but his flight ended up being delayed so he only arrived at the Airbnb at one in the morning, but it was lovely to see him and once we were well-rested, we got ready and headed out for brunch. I knew that the most popular brunch places would be packed, but my favourite brunch spot in Lisbon is actually not that well-known, so we headed there in the hopes of getting a table easily. 

The restaurant, Cotidiano, was very close by, which was appreciated since it was pouring with rain, so we hurried over and managed to nab a table within minutes. Although they’d changed their menu since I was last there, I still managed to have pancakes with fruit, which hit the spot. My boyfriend ordered the avocado toast with bacon on the side, which was nice but nothing to write home about. 

After brunch, we headed to a nearby crafts shop to buy some red yarn in order for me to crochet some stocking decorations to hang on the Christmas tree (stay tuned for everything I crocheted in 2025!), and then made our way slowly to my favourite viewpoint in the city, miradouro da Senhora do Monte. It was quite a trek and en route we spotted Rossio’s Christmas markets, which were very cute so we bought some souvenirs and my boyfriend tried ginja (a local sour cherry liquor) for the first time. 

Eventually, we made it to the viewpoint, where a (verbal) fight was breaking out between a young girl and four older women, however I’m so used to Portuguese people speaking loudly whether they’re having fun or arguing, so I actually didn’t clock it until my boyfriend mentioned it. Luckily, it simmered down quickly so we could enjoy the view in peace. 

The sun was trying to make an appearance and it was warming up so we headed back to the Airbnb to take replace our raincoats with our sunnies. Our plan was to then visit LX Factory but first, lunch. Both my boyfriend and I had found the food in Lisbon to be somewhat inauthentic compared to Portuguese food elsewhere, but we’d seen good reviews for a restaurant right by LX Factory called "O Mercado", so we decided to give it a go. 

It was getting quite late for lunch, but the waiters managed to get us a table and when we ordered wine and they didn’t ask which size glass we wanted, instead bringing out the whole bottle, I knew we were in an authentic Portuguese establishment. This was further verified when both of our plates came with an entire fish on them, and it was the best meal either of us had ever had in Lisbon by a mile (at least in terms of authenticity!). That said, we definitely were feeling the half bottle of wine we’d each had and by the time we walked through LX Factory, we’d lost most of our interest. I do feel like the place is very overrated and, as we perused the shops, that thought became increasingly pronounced. 

Therefore, we decided to instead walk over to the docks and get some gelato from my cousin’s favourite gelato place, Santini, and watch the sun set over the famous bridge. After that, we decided to retreat back to the Airbnb for a nap, but instead ended up on a train going in the opposite direction, headed for Belém. Since we were there anyway, we bought some pastéis de nata from "Pastéis de Belém", and this was the first time that I clocked just how humongous the café is - it seemed to go on and on with an endless number of rooms. The custard tarts were delicious, but my absolute favourite pastéis were yet to come. 

After a quick nap at the Airbnb, we went down the road to a restaurant called "Sol e Pesca", which I’d never visited before but my boyfriend had enjoyed the last time he was in the city. The idea is that the meals are comprised mainly of tinned foods (which you can purchase separately) but prepared in a delicious way. We tried the mackerel pâté, sardines, bread, olives, and wine, all of which were delightful and the perfect quantity given we weren’t very hungry. During the meal, there seemed to be a show right outside the building too, with trapeze performers and fire-eaters, which kept us thoroughly entertained until it was time to head to bed. 

Sunday

On the Sunday morning, we tried a completely new restaurant for the both of us called Seagull Method. My boyfriend ordered the corn fritters, which were delicious, and I ordered more pancakes with berries, which were also very nice. It was quite a walk from our Airbnb so by the time we finished our breakfast and got back, it was time to pack and check out. We dropped our bags off at a luggage storage spot nearby, then headed in the direction of the docks once again. 

Initially, we’d thrown the suggestion of visiting Monsanto (an abandoned carpark filled with graffiti) around but somehow we ended up at the docks enjoying a coffee. One thing that I did find interesting at the café was that a group of Germans sat next to us and it transpired that one of them was lactose intolerant and couldn’t drink cow’s milk, but had been given a coffee with cow’s milk in it. The waiter had clearly not understood that she wanted oat milk, presumably due to their English proficiency, but the German girl was very unimpressed. Whilst I understood her grievance, I personally feel that the onus is on the person with the allergy to ensure that they have communicated that clearly, specifically in the language spoken locally. Given how easy it is to find a translation online, I found the response to be somewhat entitled as it assumes a high level of English on the hospitality workers, which isn’t always the case. 

Regardless, we enjoyed our drinks and then went for lunch at "Doca de Santo", where we enjoyed seafood rice, prawns, olives, bread and butter, and fried green beans. It was all delicious and we were kept on our toes when a branch from the palm tree above us fell and landed an arm’s length away. 

It then started raining, which limited our options of things to do, so we headed back to Chiado to enjoy the best pastéis de nata, which in my opinion are from Manteigaria. They were fresh out the oven and absolutely delectable, so we grabbed some for my family too as they are just divine. We then picked up our luggage and made our way to the metro station, bound for Oriente Station, so that we could get another Flixbus back down to the Algarve. 

Lisbon is one of my favourite places in the world and even just two days there brought me a lot of joy!