Lisbon...
Our last 5 nights of our trip were spent in Lisbon.
We took the train from the São Bento station to Campanhã station where we boarded the AP train to Lisbon.
TIP: I learned that all trains departing from São Bento travel to Campanhã station.
When I’d booked our train tickets, 60 days in advance, the first class tickets were only €2 more that those in second class.
Our seats were comfortable with plenty of leg room.
When the conductor came by, I pulled out our tickets but he asked for our IDs. So I showed him our passports and he compared the information in his handheld device and then said, “obrigado!”
My friend Chani, who was also traveling in Portugal, boarded the train in Coimbra. We’d planned to share a taxi ride to the hotel since we happened to be staying at the same place.
When we arrived to Lisboa- Santa Apolónia station, there were no taxis around so we had to wait for quite some time before the taxis arrived one by one. Interestingly enough, we passed this station three times later on, and there were plenty of taxis lined up outside the station.
We stayed at My Story Charming Augusta Hotel near Praça do Comércio [where the TI office is located] Our room was comfortable, with great A/C, and the bathroom had a nice rain shower.
Our room faced Rua Augusta, a pedestrian only street lined with shops, restaurants and pastry shops. We missed our Porto apartment with the nice balcony…
Since we were tired, we decided to eat dinner at our hotel’s 'Bistro Augusta'. The food was okay but nothing special and the service was very slow. After dinner we walked up to Gelateria Santini [Thanks Helena for this recommendation!]
Day 2- After a delicious breakfast, we walked to Cais do Sodré station and took the train to Cascais (trains run every 20 minutes) It’s a good thing we had purchased our Viva Viagem cards when we’d arrived to Lisbon because the lines to buy them at this station were extremely long!
When we arrived to Cascais, my daughter’s card was not working.
Fortunately there was a helpful railway worker who let her get through and then walked over to the automated machine to show us how to check the balance in our cards. Her card had been deactivated since she’d kept it next to her cell phone! Remember not to do this...
We then took the bus (#427) to Casa da Guia, a great place with amazing views of the coast where we met Kathryn (a great contributor to the Portugal Forum) and her daughter for a delicious lunch.
Kathryn suggested we walk along the coastal path to ‘Boca do Inferno’- an amazing sight.
Afterwards we took the bus back to the station then strolled around this charming town for a couple of hours.
Later that evening after resting in our A/C room, we walked up to Chiado then up to Miradourodo de São Pedro-great views of the city!
We ate a delicious dinner at Restaurante Lost In Esplanada. Since we didn’t have reservations we were able to sit on the terrace overlooking the city, not bad!
Day 3-
After another hearty breakfast we walked to Praça do Comércio and joined a free walking tour of the Alfama and the Mouraria neighborhoods. Alexandra, our tour guide, was very informative and enthusiastic about her beloved city. The tour lasted about 2.5 hours and it was a great introduction to Lisbon.
After our late lunch we took the train to Belém and visited the Jerónimos Monastery. We arrived at around 4:20pm and there were no lines! One cannot buy tickets at the monastery, so go directly to the Archeological Museum where you’ll find several automated machines (pay with credit card or cash)
The monastery is amazingly beautiful and we were thankful that it was not crowded.
After visiting the monastery we walked across to visit the Discoveries Monument and then to the Tower of Belém- both amazing.