My pre-Camino tour of Portugal: Lisboa & Coimbra.

First things first- getting my pack in order for the Camino. The first photo shows the contents of my pack (=everything I will have to live in/with for the next month or so) based on a lot of great advice I found in blogs from other women who have done the Camino before. For anyone looking to do the Camino, I’ll report back at the end if I packed well, missed any key items, or had things I could live without. And I’ll include a specific list. For now, the photo will do.

I waited a bit long to buy my flight to Lisboa from Madrid, so had to pay $166 one-way (expensive for a short EU flight). But had a fantastic experience on AirEuropa and will definitely fly with them again. First, the price included one checked bag, which is not common for many European airlines. Second, process of checking in was super easy. Finally, so much room on board. I totally lucked out and had to seeds in an exit row to myself, way more space than I needed. And non-exit rows had generous leg room too. Highly recommend this airline.

LISOBA (Lisbon)

Upon arriving in Lisboa, I checked into my hostel (Good Morning Hostel, rated one of the top medium sized hostels in the world! about 35€ night for a bed in a shared room with 6 beds, and the most incredible breakfast included) and headed out to explore the city. After mostly flat cities Lisboa was quite a change! So many hills! Got in quite a workout walking around.

Before I write anything more… HAPPY PRIDE! Love is love is love…

I had a blast in this city and am especially fond of the people I met. Not traveling as a student on a super tight budget is fantastic, but sometimes you just want to be social and meet like-minded travelers from around the world. And hey, saving money when you plan to travel for as long as me is necessary. Hostels are a great option (every now and then)! For Lisboa, I stayed at Good Morning Hostel, one of the top rated in the city (and across the world for its size), at a cost of 73€ for 2 nights in a shared (6 bed) room. Upsides of a hostel: socializing, this place had a killer free breakfast, and cheaper than staying in a hotel. Downsides: sometimes your luck runs out and as Christian (“roommate” for 2 nights) and I learned our 2nd night, you can end up with a room full of people (in this case, all girls!) who are the worst and make it almost impossible to sleep. But back to the positive: the staff here are incredible and I met many lovely people who I will certainly stay in touch with, including Dayeon from South Korea, cousins Mercedes and Ashlee from San Francisco Bay Area (MerAsh as I nickname them below), and Christian, mentioned above (handsome doctor from South Africa). Sorry ladies (and boys), no photos of Christian this trip but be on the lookout when I visit Capetown in the future! The beautiful ladies are in my photos below. I think I can divide Lisboa into 3 categories, to make it a bit easier to organize photos (by day doesn’t make sense here)…

1. Art & Art-On-Architecture. Home to some awesome street art! Best I’ve seen in Europe since Málaga. And the tile work on so many buildings absolutely took my breath away ❤️

Urban Street Gallery

Urban Street Gallery

Urban Street Gallery

Urban Street Gallery. Home to the oldest operating streetcar/tram in Lisboa. Check out the hydraulics they have to use to keep it level due to the seriously steep grade of the stree!

The artwork you see in the sidewalks of Lisboa is really something. I have no doubt they intended this to be an Obelisk, but all I can see is a penis and balls.

The 2nd oldest operating streetcar in Lisboa. Tell me this doesn’t remind you of SF?!

Gorgeous mural across the street from “time out market”.

2. Food & Friends! As a vegetarian (turned back into pescatarian for this trip, due to lack of options), Portugal hands down beats Spain! Don’t get me wrong, the Portuguese LOVE meat and much of their cuisine is based on it. BUT they also like non-fried veggies! So many more options. And as someone who isn’t typically huge on custard/creme brûlée desserts… Pastel de Nata (from the right place!) ROCKS MY WORLD. AshMer agreed too! Photo below of where you MUST go when in Lisboa to try this.

My room at Good Morning Hostel. Bunk beds as a kid: awesome! Top bunk as an adult: I’m going to roll over, fall off the bed, and die. Ha!

Quite a lovely view from our little balcony.

I decided to stay at a hostel to meet people, and this place was amazing for that. You are witnessing the nightly “power hour“ of free beer and sangria from seven-8 PM, which started this evening by everyone racing to drink either sangria or beer with giant straws. Justin, on the left, is from Brisbane. Eric, center, is a mess school student in the US (from MD), and Morgan, on the right, is from WI but has been living in Italy for 2 years as a teacher.

Time Out Market- giant, upscale food court with no less than 40 different food stalls/restaurants. Had an amazing, housemade veggie burger!

Mercedes & Ashlee, aka, AshMer. How cute are they?!

Pastel de Nata. These were sooooo good.

My body was seriously craving healthy food, so I opted for a detox juice of greens and Apple. Super yummy.

Best food I’ve had in Europe!! FOOD TEMPLE. Vegan but even if you’re not- GO! Half of the restaurant was not vegan or even vegetarian. Menu changes nightly. Reasonable prices and great service too!

This was sooooo delish! Even if it doesn’t look that exciting from the photos, trust me, it was!

Manteigaria!! Couldn’t get the photos to post in the correct order, but accidentally caught Diane coming out of THE pastel de Nata shop (had to circle back to get a photo). If you find yourself in Lisboa, this is THE place to go for this pastry!!

3. Stunning Scenery/City Scapes. And I didn’t even make it across the river to Jesús Hill, to Belem, or to the historical ruins in Sintra!

COLOR!

More amazing colors everywhere!

Wall of faux flowers just before you get to the Cathedral. Make for an awesome photo!

Cathedral of Lisboa.

And here’s the wedding party! So charming. Oh happy day!

Instead of paying to ride the elevator up, during our walking tour guide blocked us across the pedestrian bridge to the back entrance. Provided great views of the city.

Back of the city arch

The front

Along the river

You can see Jesús Hill at top left corner. And a bridge that super reminds me of San Fran!

Night shot of the train station that takes you to Sintra.

COIMBRA

Former capitol of Portugal in the 12th and 13th centuries, and also home to the oldest operating university in the Portuguese speaking world. This is a charming college town (population 150,000 or so) FULL OF STAIRS! Sweet baby Jesus. Lisboa had crazy hills too but I had no idea. I easily walked up/down at least 1,000 stairs in the first couple hours I was in the city. After a sleepless night in my last night in Lisboa, I was so glad that I booked a private room (with private bathroom, for only 23€/night!) in Coimbra: BE Coimbra. While there is a large common room, people don’t seem to socialize in the hostels here (anywhere in the city). They operate much more like hotels. So not great for getting to know people, but wonderful for quiet. There are quite a few vegetarian (and even vegan!) restaurants here, and plenty of vegetarian options at other restaurants. I haven’t had any food worth bragging about, but thrilled to have options. I also checked out a free concert at Cafe Santa Cruz and if you’re visiting when these concerts are going on, it’s definitely worth a visit (6 & 10pm, nightly)! I don’t have nearly as many photos of Coimbra; not because it’s lacking in history, beauty, or charm, but because I’m feeling a bit of city-fatigue. After 27 days in cities, I am VERY ready for a change of pace, so kept my phone in my bag most of the time I was in Coimbra.

Mural at Coimbra-B train station

Look y’all! I found another historic, beautiful church! Gasp!

Dude. This was awesome. Some type of liquor inside a dark chocolate cup. Like those booze-filled candies I used to buy from Sams Club but way better.

Courtyard of the University of Coimbra.

View from the courtyard looking out to the city.

Love this pedestrian bridge!

For someone afraid of heights, this was a nightmare.

114 steps. And I did it twice (first down, then up).

Gorgeous sidewalks across Portugal! (And of course, part of a staircase on the right captured in the photo.)

My little room. Simple, but private and very quiet at night. BE Coimbra, I highly recommend for a stay!

I love everything about this photo. Behind the big screen you can see the historic architecture and bouncy castles for kids. There was a crowd of about 200 watching the game between Argentina and Nigeria; quite a different scene from the Plaza and crowds in Lisboa!

A few photos of my final night in Coimbra because churches at night are always gorgeous. And because I had a phenomenal meal that makes this restaurant worthy of a recommendation: Notes Bar & Kitchen. I chose it because reviews mentioned they had great options for vegetarians. Wrong! I realized as soon as I arrived my choices would either be meat or seafood, unless I want to dinner to be a cheese plate. For the first time in one month, I actually felt like eating seafood was worth it! Dinner was amazing, and one of the servers must have been a sommelier based on his knowledge of wine, and the time he took describing each bottle/glass/grape/region to me. So if you eat meat or seafood, a trip to Notes is definitely worth it 🙌

Wild Sea Bass on a risotto with clams and some sort of foam. It really was YUM!

These butters came out as a starter. The yellow butter had a glass jar covering it and when the server removed it, you could smell the burning rosemary. And the smokey flavor went right into that butter. I have no idea what was in the green butter, but if I had to guess I would say: a little bit of heaven. I had to stop myself from eating every bit of the butter and bread. And then licking the serving plate.

And yes, I wore this to a fine dining restaurant. And still got the best service I’ve had in all of Europe. This restaurant is special!

One last night shot of the Cathedral. And kids skateboarding. Goodnight Coimbra!

Next up: Camino De Santiago!