Having visited Madeira about a year ago, I have to say I’ve grown an appreciation for Portugal and a wish to explore much more of the country. I’ve been hearing a lot about Lisbon from friends and colleagues recently, so I decided to take my mum on a long weekend trip to the city in February – ostentatiously for her birthday but mainly for my own gratification!
I found a great deal from Voyage Privé and booked us in at the Hotel Da Baixa – a fantastically located and stylish 4-star hotel on the central Rua da Prata.
Our first stop was to visit Lisbon Cathedral, just a short walk away while we waited for our room to be ready. The light inside was beautiful, with unique features to absorb and multilingual visitor information on the history of the cathedral to read at leisure. The building has survived multiple earthquakes and has been rebuilt in a mix of styles over the years – although retaining it’s good looks, of course.
Next, we made our way down to Comércio Plaza on the banks of the Tagus Estuary. Although windy, the views were spectacular and I really enjoyed the bright yellow colours of the surrounding buildings. We retired to our hotel for an early night.
Starting fresh in the morning, we jumped on a tram and made our way to Belém, about 6km west of Lisbon. We walked along to the Torre de Belém first, and managed to avoid the queues by buying our tickets from a tourist information point rather than at the tower itself!
Although climbing the narrow circular staircase up to the top wasn’t terribly fun, there is a clever one way system (with traffic lights, would you believe), which prevents tourists from crashing into one another. The views from the top were stunning.
We certainly couldn’t miss visiting the Jerónimos Monastery, which was our next port of call on our tour of Belém.
We chose to visit the Monastery and Church buildings, however decided against the Maritime and Archaeology museums this time.
The gothic architecture was incredible, with ornate cloisters and detailed sculptures – a must see! Together with the Torre, the Monastery has been classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and I can certainly see why.
Having tired ourselves out, rather than take a tram back to Lisbon and climb to hill to Castelo de S. Jorge, we lazily decided to get an Uber and save our legs! There is a wonderful viewpoint from the Castle, and many interesting buildings to visit within the grounds, including palace ruins and an archaeological museum.
There are large numbers of peacocks and peahens wandering around, with some even cheeky enough to beg for crumbs at the café tables!
Our last day was spent far more sedately – browsing the shops, people watching, eating pastel de nata and watching the famous Lisbon trams make their way up the steep inclines of the city before catching our flight home.
I wished we had more time in Lisbon as there was much more to do and see, including visiting the famous Sintra resort town and of course, eating many more pastel de nata.
What’s on your list?
