Our trip started in Lisbon! Having not found any hotels that I thought were reasonably priced, we opted for an Air B&B in an area that I thought was close to a metro stop. Yep, close to a metro stop, the "Intendente". We were also "off the beaten path" as not in the tourist section of Alfama or any other "big" area. But close. After hauling our bags up 3 flights of actually nice stairs we liked our rather small but cozy home for the next 4 nights. Our first full day in the area, we opted for a day tour to Sintra +! Of course, it was raining and foggy and well... seeing the Palace da Pena in the rain just gave it a special ambiance. Yah, right?!? But we did learn about the styles of architecture (Indian, Moorish, Bavarian and Manuelin) We did enjoy it and believe it is a MUST for those anywhere near the area. The walk up from the car park is not difficult and gives a feeling for the fantastic gardens/plantings. Sintra as a town is just a bit touristy... haha, A LOT! but we were told that each town in Portugal has a special pastry and after tasting Sintra's pastry... well, worth the hype! We tried 2 pastries; travesseiro (2 for 2.80 euro) and Queijada ( 2 for 2.70E)
Our tour guide/driver then took us to the coast and a beautiful vista (sorry, I really need the name of the stop) looking out reminded us of the coast in Oregon, YES, it is that awesome! We then traveled a bit south to the western most point on the continent of Europe. The wind was quite intense, as were the visitors from China. The best part was seeing the bus load of Chinese visitors interacting with the men's group from Portugal and singing European football fight chants... ahhh, the experiences! Not yet done with this tour, we then traveled to Cascais for a hour visit. Our choice in this tourist coastal city was to grab a happy hour drink and watch the foolish youth trying to spend some time in the very cold April waters on the beaches. Then whisked back to Lisbon (it actually is very close and only a short train ride to Cascais from the station in Lisbon) We decided that our next most important stop was SEAFOOD! We were staying a short walk from a really busy seafood restaurant with a horrible wait time, however the day before by asking a local dude we found that just block from this restaurant was one with as much history and as good of seafood without the wait. So let's go. And yes, it was fantastic.
Our second day in Lisbon was consumed by food! We booked a day long tour with Culinary Backstreets. The two others on the tour where fantastic foodies from Poland. We tasted and learned more about the foods of Lisbon for an entire 6 hours. Did you know that with all the colonies that Portugal had and when those colonies reverted back to their home lands many Portugese flooded back to Lisbon and it really impacted their food scene? We had absolutely the most awesome Samosas! We also saw one of two of the still working community clothes washing houses. Then we had the most exquisite grilled fish one could ever eat, but not after trying food that the workmen would normally eat and also rubbing elbows with those same workmen... Yes, you guessed it, fried cod balls.... The history of the salted cod in Portugal, and most of that part of the Iberian peninsula, is worth a book... so just try cod in a couple of ways when you visit Portugal, we did and wasn't disappointed.
I will forgo the story about the unfortunate incident of the Tram ride... Let the reader be warned, Yes, Virginia, there are pickpockets on trams.
Our last full day in Lisbon and we must see everything else... Yah, NOT! But we had a priority of seeing Belem (a bit of a commute on train, tram or bus) we opted for train (the safest) In Belem, one must do at least 3 things...1). Visit the Monastery of Jeronimos and Cathedral (note Cathedral is free) line up for the tickets to see the Cloisters and other parts. for the rest see next....