Lisbon. Local.

This trip was supposed to happen a year ago. My fiance and I had planned to do another mini roadtrip but this time from Sevilla to Lisbon. Turns out we are going a year later because my wonderful fiance decided to injure himself again and we cancelled last year. But I wanted to get in one last trip before we get married later this year. We didn’t have the spare income to to the roadtrip we had planned for last year. So, we headed back to his family’s villa in the Algarve with a quick 36 hour trip to the capital to satisfy my craving to experience a new place.

So, we didn’t even pack a suitcase! Just my handbag and another bag with the bare minimum in and headed to the train station first thing in the morning to make our way to the Portuguese capital. This came back to bite us when we arrived as we both just had the shorts we were wearing and a spare top for the next day in our “luggage” and when we arrived it decided to absolutely poor down with rain. Not a great welcome, and not the weather we were hoping for when we were going to try and explore most of the city in a few hours.

Once the rain subsided, we thought we would make a dash to head to our hotel. But we made one more mistake, well… misunderstanding. The hotel we had booked was right at the top of one of the hills in Lisbon – and when I say hills I mean hill! We must have climbed up around 400 steps at a 45 degree angle. Safe to say it was steep – so steep that I didnt really want to walk down it. So, the uphill trek aside, I was grateful to reach the top. Not only was I exhausted and glad for it to be done, but the view was incredible day and night!

Those of you who have read this blog before will know that I name my blog posts after inspiration from that classic film Eat. Pray. Love where they try to sum up a place in one word. And that is what I have done. Sometimes that word comes to me straight away when I visit a place, but sometimes it takes a little bit longer. And that was the case here with Lisbon, and I think it was because we didn’t spend much time here really. But the word I came up with in the end was:

Lisbon. Local.

Lisbon is a capital city that doesn’t feel like a capital city. It didn’t feel rammed with tourists, and the restaurants and bars all had a sense of familiarity to them where you didn’t feel out of place. We spent the evening having a drink in the hotel bar and there were couples all happy to have a chat with you and of course the resident cats that were very friendly and it all just felt very homely.

It was great to explore a capital that had such a small-town feel – which is a bit different to the other capitals we have visited like Rome or Berlin. It felt like it was quite relaxing – despite the rush of trying to see as much as we could in a matter of hours. Everything about Lisbon has the charm of a quaint coastal town, but the sights and sounds of a big capital city with a museum or landmark on every corner – and that’s just the tiles on the walls or the street art.

For our second day, we ventured out towards Belem and spent some time along the waterside watching all the instagram boyfriends trying to get the shot of their loved ones. But it was very different to the centre of Lisbon so would highly recommend venturing out that way. Was just a shame that I felt like I was clock watching so we didnt miss our train back down to the Algarve.

Lisbon is definitely a city I would like to come back to one day and explore a little more in depth. I feel it has got so much more to offer, but I am so glad that I got this quick snapshot from our visit. And I didn’t really get the chance to sample the food that the Portuguese capital is known for. Until next time…

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And once again, I leave it to you. I would love to hear from anyone that has been and did any other activities that I didn’t get round to. Share your travel experience.

Goodbye Lisbon.

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How do you describe Lisbon in one word?