I will be traveling with my adult son and we'll be there close to his birthday. I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on what might be fun to mark the occasion and also just any special ideas of what to do in and around the Lisbon area a couple of weeks before Christmas?
We have a place to stay in Sintra for about 5 days and then a place in Lisbon for an additional 3 days. We decided to spend more time in Sintra because we love castles. We will NOT have a car and we really prefer to use public transportation. We like to enjoy our travel so we don't try to pack in a million things in a day but rather take our time with nice (not necessarily expensive) meals and more detailed sight seeing.
Really, I'm looking for the more unusual or special things; something off the tourist trail?
And of course if there is anything that I need to make early reservations for or if anyone has suggestions for good guide (not just a canned monologue in a big group) for a special day or sight.
We enjoy architecture, food (of course) and demonstrations (like how to make pasta or how this library was built) of all kinds. Our budget is decent if it is something special. We don't really like touristy, canned tours or too crowded places but will put up with it for a "must see" and we are pretty independent, seasoned travelers. This will be our first trip to Portugal.
Any thoughts are much appreciated.