December 2019

Three days filled with lots of walking, wine, and amazing miradouros!

Accommodations: We stayed at the DuMont Lisbon Guesthouse, which is located just north of the Alfama district. It’s located on a quiet street with pretty easy access to catch Tram 28 into downtown or to walk to Alfama and several miradouros. For the price, this was a fine place to stay, but I would likely choose something closer to the Bairro Alto district if we were to visit again.

Tours and Activities: We spent most of our first day wandering the Alfama district. It’s made up of quaint, hilly cobblestone streets with tons of scenic views. I highly recommend grabbing a glass of vinho verde at the cafe at Miradouro da Graca, then making your way to Miradouro da Senhora do Monte for sunset. We were there the day after Christmas (St. Stephen’s Day) and a lot of the restaurants in Alfama were closed. We weren’t really aware of the Chiado or Bairro Alto districts yet (which were very lively as we later found out) and settled for a restaurant with pretty mediocre food and a very intense Fado singer.

On our second morning, we grabbed some pasteis (so delicious) on our way to meet up with our guide, Miguel, for a bike tour to Belem. The tour follows the Tagus River to Belem Tower, stopping at several interesting museums, monuments, and viewpoints along the way. The weather was pretty perfect for a bike tour and this was a great way to explore outside of the city. In the evening, we explored Carmo Convent, grabbed sunset drinks at Topo Chiado, and rode Tram 28 around the city.

For our last full day, we decided to take the train to Sintra, which ended up being one of my favorite parts of the trip. The castles and grounds are quite spread out and you could easily spend two days exploring the town. Since we had limited time, we decided to go to Quinta da Regaleira and spent hours wandering the gardens and underground caves. It reminded us a lot of the grounds surrounding the Blarney Castle on our honeymoon to Ireland. When we returned from Sintra, we got our name on the list for dinner at Taberna da Rua das Flores. We had heard great things about this restaurant, but it only seats about 16 people at a time and they were already full when we tried going the night before. While waiting for our table, we wandered down the street to By the Wine and were pleasantly surprised by the atmosphere and charcuterie boards. Dinner at Taberna da Rua das Flores was outstanding. They have a new menu everyday (they bring a chalkboard to your table for you to select from about 10 items) and our favorite dish was the calamari udon.

All-in-all a very cool city and a great winter destination for more mild temperatures. The people are friendly, the views are outstanding, and the wine costs less than water.