Category: Lisbon Area

Rainy Day in Beja, so we quickly pack up and try to venture into town for some breakfast. We found what we needed but got drenched in the process. Fortunately, we heard the weather was better at our destination in Lisbon.

We headed out of town and stopped for a pizza lunch along the way before arriving at our final campsite in the city of Lisbon. Oddly, this city campground turned out to be the nicest commercial campground we came across on our travels – but it was much more expensive than the others.

The campground was located in one of Lisbon’s largest city parks and there were hiking trails going from place to place. We explored a few loops before returning to the campground to freshen up for the evening. Some of us swam in the freezing pool before we headed back into downtown Lisbon for one last dinner together.

It was Saturday night and the streets were packed. Driving the big campervan through the busy streets and finding parking was very tricky. Eventually, we found a spot a good mile away from the restaurant, but some entrepreneurial scammers were charging for parking and pocketing the proceeds there. We just paid them anyway because we were out of options.

We took a hike back up to the Indian restaurant that didn’t actually sell Indian food and had our feast. The dinner was the best we had all week. I knew Portuguese food could be very good and tasty from my experiences with Portuguese restaurant in other parts of the world, and this place confirmed that. We were all very happy with our meals and stopped for ice cream down the street on our way back to the car.

After a good night’s sleep with earplugs, I woke up early to get back up on the roof and get some pictures. A few of my travelling companions were also up, so we decided to sneak out early for a bit of a look around and to find some local coffee and pastries. There were numerous cafes within easy walking distance, so we dropped by a number of them for multiple coffees and more custard pastries. Fully awake, we headed back to our hostel for our included breakfast.

We packed up and drove into downtown Lisbon to check out a few sites for hitting the road for the rural life. A few recommendations were a ceramics shop that sold pottery by the pound and a castle overlooking the city. It quickly became apparent that driving a campervan would be a challenge in the tiny narrow streets of Lisbon, so we ditched the vehicle near the ceramics store and hoofed it down across the valley to get up to the Castelo de S. Jorge. A big climb and many steps later, we found it extremely popular with other tourists and with long lines that we decided weren’t worth waiting in, so we explored the tiny alleyways surrounding the area. There were lots of really cool tiny twisty roads to get around. After satisfying ourselves with a good introduction to Lisbon, we headed back down through the valley and back up to our car on the other side.

Our aim was to hit the highways and explore some old country towns, so we started out by heading towards the sea to a town called Sintra, which has the distinction for being a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its “Cultural Landscape”. The hilly countryside and small villages were beautiful and seemed stuck in time. We ended up visiting the tunnels and underground spiral staircases of Quinta da Regaleira. It was designed and built in the late 1800’s for a very wealthy coffee businessman and used for Tarot initiation rites, among other things. An amazing place.

Afterwards, we headed up the coast to find some camping along the beach at Erisceira and to see these huge surfing waves Portugal is famous for. We ended up at a bit of a dodgy and mostly vacant campground with no toilet seats or toilet paper. Even though we had been on our feet for most of the day, we hiked into town for dinner and found a beautiful historic town with more cobblestone streets and white painted dwellings. It had very cool old laneways and ocean views reminiscent of images of Greek coastal communities. Had another fish dinner on snapper while watching the sunset over the Atlantic Ocean.

27,000 steps later, I headed for my little tent. A walking record for me.

Arrive in Lisbon after flying 20 hours on an interesting flightpath that took us over parts of Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Cairo, Tunisia, the Mediterranean, and Spain. I meet up with my travelling companions at the airport exhausted, of course. We were to meet up with our campervan supplier at the airport, but there was confusion about where and when we were to meet. Eventually, they picked us up in a tiny car we couldn’t all fit it (some caught the subway). We drove about 1/2 hour south of Lisbon over a golden gate looking bridge and past a giant Jesus to a small country town for briefing and van pickup.

Headed into our Lisbon hostel on the outskirts of downtown. Found a great view of the town up on the roof. The six of us took over a dorm room and claimed bunks for the night.

After a bit of recuperation, we embarked on a hike down the beautiful leafy and cobblestones Avenue da Liverdade to explore the streets, admire the old architecture, and find some dinner. Along the way we snack on roasted chestnuts, got out shoes polished where applicable, and ate some custard pastry. We eventually found a fine fish restaurant on a steep side street and have nice codfish dinner.

About as much as I could handle on 48 hours without sleep, I separated from the group and headed back to the hostel to crash for the night.