Spain and Portugal 2018, 7 Day Trip

I visited Spain and Portugal in early October 2018 which was a great time to visit since it wasn’t in the peak tourist season and the weather was great in both locations. I spent the first half of the trip with my parents in Lisbon, Portugal and then we drove down to the Algarve. The second half of the trip I went to Barcelona and explored the city on my own and then met up with some friends who had been traveling through Europe.

Day 1, Sunday September 30

My parents and I stayed in and Airbnb in the Alfama District, which is one of the oldest districts in Lisbon. It is a maze of the original narrow cobbled streets, ancient houses and the Sao Jorge Castle is also located in the Alfama District.

The first morning my parents had arranged for a tuctuc to pick us up at 8 am for a short tour of the city. Tuctucs are small golf cart like vehicles that are all over Lisbon, and people drive you around to give you a tour of the city. The one that my parents had arranged never showed up so we had to try to find one on our own, which was hard at 8 in the morning. We ended up going with a small tuctuc where we were all sitting on top of each other. We ended the tour early because the tour was not very good. If you do a tuctuc tour make sure you get someone who has a decent sized tuctuc and also will give you a tour of the city.

We got dropped off at the Sao Jorge Castle, a Moorish Castle located on the highest hilltop in the Alfama district overlooking Lisbon. The castle is open from 9:00-21:00 and we got there at 8:45, right before they opened. We were able to buy tickets (8.50 euro) and walk right in but the line starts to get very long after 10:00 am. Once inside the castle grounds you have some great views over the city, but we found that the castle is more impressive when looking at it from the outside. Once you are inside there is not much to see. I would recommend you skip paying the fee to go inside the castle and go to other viewpoints in Lisbon where you don’t have to pay and you can admire the castle from afar. One viewpoint I would recommend visiting is Miradouro da Nossa Senhora do Monte. After climbing too many stairs to count you get to one of the best viewpoints in Lisbon.

 

After visiting the castle my parents went off and did their own thing and I went on a free walking tour of the Alfama District with a guide from Free Tours, https://www.freetour.com/lisbon/alfama-free-walking-tour. This tour was a great overview of the city and the history of Lisbon. The tour guide focused mostly on the Alfama district which was my favorite part of the city and gave recommendations on places to eat and what to see during the tour. I learned that the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake shaped what Lisbon is today. It occurred on November 1st, 1755 (All Saints Day) when many people were at churches praying with candles. The earthquake was a magnitude 8.5-9.0 on the moment magnitude scale and caused all of the candles to fall over. The candles then started many fires all over Lisbon on top of the destruction to the buildings from the earthquake. Since the center of the earthquake was in the ocean, a large Tsunami then came in and swept over the city. The city was almost destroyed but they were able to rebuild most of the city to what it is today. The Alfama district was not destroyed and that is why the streets are still very windy and not organized like the lower parts of the city.

After the walking tour, I went to the Mercado Da Ribeira (Market near the river) for lunch. This market was Lisbon’s main food market since 1892, but in 2014 it was taken over by TimeOut Lisbon Magazine. They added food stalls which offer traditional local products. The traditional market is open 6am-2pm on the ground floor with fresh fruits and vegetables. The food court is open everyday 10am-midnight and it mixes stalls with different local products like seafood, sandwiches, sushi and ice cream. The also have alcoholic drinks in the center of the food hall.  If you are into local tasty food I would highly recommend going here.

After lunch I decided to go on another free walking tour that was in a different area of Lisbon, with New Europe Tours, ://www.neweuropetours.eu/lisbon/en/home. This tour was nice but I was pretty tired and only lasted half way through before going back to the Airbnb to rest for a bit.

My parents and I went to dinner in the busy downtown and ate at a restaurant on the main street. It was a bit touristy so I would recommend staying in the Alfama district for less tourists. The food was great though! I had salmon.

Day 2, Monday October 1st

The next day my parents and I picked up the rental car from airport because we were ultimately driving South to Luz to meet up with a family friend. Before heading South we drove to to Sintra, which is about 25 minutes north of Lisbon by car. Most people recommend that you take a train or Uber there since it is hard to find parking and the city streets are very narrow. We got there early so we did not have any trouble parking near the Pena Palace. The Pena Palace is one of Portugal’s seven wonders, ordered by King Ferdinand in 1838 on ruins of an old monastery.

The palace is amazing to see from the outside and the walk through the palace park is gorgeous. The architecture is Disneyeque and feels like a fairytale palace. It gets extremely busy after 10 am so I would recommend getting there right when it opens. If you get there later and the line to get inside the palace is too long I would skip it because you won’t miss very much and the outside is the most beautiful part. We did not have much time in Sintra so this was the only site we saw. If we had more time I would have loved to check out the city center. 

After Sintra, we started driving south and had lunch in Alcazar do Sal at the restaurant Retiro Sadino. The food was great and the portions were huge and very inexpensive. The town was not very busy when we were there but I think it is because it was Monday. After lunch we continued our drive South.

The drive took about 3 hours in total to get to Debbie’s house in Luz. Debbie is my moms friend from college and she used to live in Switzerland where Michael and I stayed with her. It was great to see her again in her new home. Debbie’s house is amazing and walking distance to downtown Luz. There are a lot of expats from all over the world who live in Luz. It almost feels like a Utopian life because everyone was so nice, friendly and active. Luz gets very busy during the summer with tourists, but since we were there in October the weather was perfect and there were very few tourists. The night we arrived we ate dinner at Debbie’s house and opened a few bottles of wine. I can always count on Debbie to have the best wine and she really was such an amazing host.

 

Oct 2 Tuesday, 80 degrees, Day 3

The next morning I went on a walk around along the cliffs in Luz and watched the sunrise. This town is really a gem and I was so happy we got to visit this little town.

After walking on the cliffs and downtown my mom, Debbie and I drove to Lagos which is  large city about 10 minutes away from Luz. We walked around Lagos and went into a few of the shops. Lagos is a historic Portuguese town that is situated on the western edge of the Algarve. The town is surrounded by some of the most scenic coastlines and interesting city streets. There is much to explore in the old town and there are also beautiful beaches to visit. We ate lunch in the old town center.  

After Lagos we went back to Luz and swam at the beach for some time. We then went back to Debbie’s and got ready for dinner. We ate at Fortaleza Da Luz which had gorgeous views of the ocean and was right on the water. The food was amazing and again the wine was delicious. I had swordfish for dinner and it was so tasty

 

Oct 3 Wednesday, 78 degrees, Day 4

The next day Is tarted off again by walking along the cliffs in Luz. It is such a peaceful town and there are many other people out walking around the cliffs and the town. It seems like almost everyone there has a dog.

After getting back to Debbies we all drove to Lagos to take boat ride along the cliffs and caves. The name of the cliffs is Ponta da Piedade and we took a large boat out and then got in smaller boat to go into the caves. The caves are absolutely amazing and the water was so clear, I would highly recommend visiting the caves in Luz. No one brought bathing suits except my mom, but the boat captain asked if we wanted to jump in and swim and my mom and I said yes. My mom wore her bathing suit and I wore her clothes to swim. It was great swimming in the water and was very refreshing. After seeing the caves we took the boat east and went by Debbie’s town of Luz. It was fun to see Luz from the water and see how big of a city it is.

After the boat ride we had lunch in Lagos at the Marina at Quay Lagos Bar and Bistro. This was a great spot for salads and sandwiches and the restaurant was decorated very nicely.

After lunch we went back to Luz and Debbie and I went on a walk and went shopping at some of the stands in town. We took the rest of the afternoon easy and then had dinner at Debbies house with some more amazing wines.

Oct 4 Thursday, 75 degrees, Day 5

It was sad saying goodbye to Debbie but I know that I will be back to Portugal at some point. We drove North back to Lisbon because I was flying to Barcelona from Lisbon at 2:30. I flew Vueling back to Barcelona and it was very easy and took a little under 2 hours to get there.

I arrived in Barcelona around 5:30 pm since the time change and took a taxi to the city center. Usually it should take 20 minutes and the taxi would cost about 28 euro, but I got stuck in a lot of traffic. If you are traveling alone I would recommend taking the bus, A1 or A2,to the city center since it is only 6 euro as of October 2018. You can buy your ticket on the bus or at a machine at the bus stop. If you buy your ticket on the bus be sure you have close to exact change.  

I stayed at Hotel Suizo in Barcelona which is located in the Gothic Quarter. It was such a fun place to stay and was in an amazing central location. The Gothic Quarter makes you feel like you are living in the old city center of Barcelona and I would highly recommend staying in the Gothic Quarter during your stay, you are close to many of the sites. Barcelona is a great walking city and the public transportation is very good if you decide to use it.

Oct 5 Friday, Day 6

The next morning I woke up nice and early,  around 7:30 am, to start the day, which by Barcelona standards was way too early. Stores seem to open a bit later in Barcelona so don’t feel like you are missing much if you decide to sleep in. I love visiting markets in foreign countries so I set off to visit the three markets at the  top of my list.

I first went to Mercat De La Boqueria which is one of the most popular markets in Barcelona located off of the main street La Rambla. It is a large food market with produce, vegetables, meats and pastries.  It is open everyday 8-8 but closed Sundays. It is very impressive to see the market but it is not completely authentic. When I spoke to locals they said not to go the La Boqueria because it is very touristy.

After visiting the first market I did a free walking tour with new Sandemanns Europe Tours, from 10:00-12:30. http://www.neweuropetours.eu/Barcelona/en/sandemans-tours/tour-view/FREE-Tour-of-Barcelona?&date=11/07/2018&tour=6252 This tour was amazing and gave a very good overview of the city and the history and culture of Barcelona. We walked through the Gothic Quarter and by the Barcelona Cathedral along with many other historical points of interest.

After the tour, I went to the Mercado de Santa Caterina for lunch, which was recommended by the tour guide. This market is somewhat similar to La Boqueria but a lot more authentic. The market is closed on Sundays and open the rest of the week with varying times. It was established as the city’s first-ever covered food market in the 19th century, and there was a major refurbishment in 2005 that includes the installation of visually striking rooftop.

The last market I wanted to see was Mertcat de Sant Antoni, which is a market that first opened in 1882 and was recently refurbished early 2018. This market is very clean and inviting on the inside. Most of the stalls are butchers, fishmongers, greengrocers, egg stalls,fruits and vegetables. The market is located in a great area with may restaurants and bars around.

Later in the afternoon I did another walking tour with the same tour guide as my morning tour. The tour was 2:30-5:30 with the Sandemanns New Europe Tour and covered the Gaudi Houses and La Sagrada Familia for 12 euros. The Gaudi and Modernism tour is definitely worth it!! The tour guide took us through the Eixample district and told many stories of Gaudi’s life. Some of the buildngs we visited included Casa Batllo, Casa Mila and La Sagrada Familia. This was the best way to see these beautiful pieces of art because the tour guide was able to describe every detail and tell all the stories about the buildings.

After a busy day I met up with some of my really good friends who had been traveling through Europe. Taylor, Lauren, Francesca and Areil were staying in a hostel that was only a 15 minute walk away from where I was staying. We met up and went to a tapas restaurant where we had the entire top floor to ourselves. We ordered about 6 different tapas to share and also had cava which is a sparkling wine known in Spain. The dinner was tasty and it is nice to have a big group of people so you can order a variety of dishes to share.

Oct 6 Saturday, Day 7

The next morning I took the metro North for 25 minutes to Gracia and walked around the town to get a feel of what life is like outside of the city center. Park Guell is located in Gracia so it is nice to walk around the town first before visiting the park.

Park Guell is a public park system designed by Gaudi with gardens, walking paths and many architectural structures. You can buy a ticket to go into the center of Park Guell or you can walk around the rest of the park without a ticket. The center of the park was under a lot of construction while I was there, so I did not buy a ticket to go inside. It is great to walk around the park and I don’t think a ticket is necessary since you can walk around the park so much without a ticket. There are musicians around every corner and there is a large hill/ mountain you can hike to the top for great pictures.

After the park I met up with Lauren, Taylor and Ariel at the beach. The beach we went to was Platja de la Nova Icària, which in fact is man-made. For the Olympic games in 1992, Barcelona improved two of their beaches and made 5 more beaches for leisure activities. The beaches are long stretches of white sand so even though they were crowded it did not feel like it. We spent some time on the beach and then got some wine and snacks at a restaurant on the beach.

After a snack, we took a 25 minute taxi to the Bunker del Carmel, which is a viewpoint where you can see the entire city of Barcelona. It is located in the Carmel neighborhood on top of Turo de la Rovira. During the Spanish Civil in 1938 these bunkers were built as anti-aircraft fortifications so they could look over the entire city. Large cannons were mounted on the concrete defense to help protect Barcelona from further bombing. After the war, the guns were removed, but the bunkers were left behind. This is an amazing and free place to come for an extraordinary view over the city. You can bring a bottle of wine and some snacks to enjoy with the views.  

After the Bunker del Carmel we went back to shower and get ready for dinner. I met the girls at their Hostel and we went to La Tramoia for dinner since it was close. We ordered salad, croquettes and two types of paella to share. This was the first time I had paella in Barcelona and it was mediocre. Some of the girls I was with have had paella many times and they said that it was not very authentic. Paella is supposed to have a crispy bottom that becomes caramelized and toasted on the bottom of the pan while cooking called the socarrat. Our paella did not have this and the flavor was bland. I would not recommend this restaurant for the paella but the atmosphere was great so come for drinks!

After dinner I went home since I had to catch an early flight the next morning. Adios, until next time Barcelona.