Our flight to Lisbon was relatively uneventful! We flew with a budget airline called Vueling and paid for the bare basics (seat and bag only). However, somehow at check-in, we got assigned the premium seats with extra leg room! So we had quite a nice comfy flight!

Lisbon has a metro station from the airport so we took the underground directly to our Airbnb. Due to a housing crisis, accommodation in Lisbon was difficult to find within our budget so we were forced to go for an Airbnb private room with a shared bathroom a few underground stops outside the historic centre.

Our host Marissa kindly met us at the top of four flights of stairs! Our room was lovely, the Airbnb was great - the only downsides were the four flights of stairs and the plumbing being so old in the building (nearly 100 years old!) we had to put our toilet paper in the bin (otherwise the pipes would clog!).

Marissa recommended a couple of Portuguese restaurants nearby so we dropped our bags and headed down the street. It was extremely cheap food and ok for the price but not anything amazing!

For our first day we headed into the historic centre of Lisbon on another one of my self-guided tours. Firstly, at the metro station, we bought a day pass for the public transport which we used a lot today (but would come back to hurt us the next day!).

Secondly, we went to find breakfast at a place I’d found on google. The buildings (even just the everyday buildings) were so fascinating to look at! They are either painted in lovely shades of yellow/blue/pink/cream/green or decorated in beautiful mosaic tiles and the pavement of the streets are all beautiful cobblestones. We walked past many beautiful squares and a funicular (a tram that runs up steep sections of Lisbon’s streets).

Our breakfast was delicious! It was a more upmarket breakfast place that exerted Melbourne vibes and prices.

From breakfast, we made our way to the Praco do Comercio which is the main square on the waterfront of the historic district and is dominated by the statue of King Jose I and the Arco da Rua Augusta. The square was set up for some sort of event with a stage and various food and market stalls. On the waterfront was the Cais das Colunas, a historic pier that used to be the entry port into Lisbon for dignitaries and influential figures.

After walking through the Arco da Rua Augusta we made our way to the Santa Justa Lift. As the streets of Lisbon can be quite steep in places, this lift was built in 1902 to quickly take you to the streets above. However we found it much quicker to walk up to the top (although exhausting!) as the queue for the lift was long! Annoyingly, the viewing platform at the top of the lift was closed so we couldn’t get to the top viewpoint but managed to get a few snaps of the Lisbon city skyline from the below area.

At the top of the lift was the Carmo Convent. It was also sadly closed for restoration work so we only got to see the outside.

From here we continued our trek uphill (a theme of our Portugal trip as everything was uphill!) to the Largo do Carmo Plaza - a very picturesque plaza with a beautiful fountain in the centre.

More uphill and we reached one of the main view points over the city - Miradouro de Sao Pedro de Alcantara. It was at this point Sam started pointing out all the people walking around with pineapples filled with cocktails. We stumbled into an outdoor food market with these pineapple cocktails but opted not to get them as they were €15 each! Instead, we opted for a more reasonable €7 strawberry mojito to drink and enjoy the view!

As we had approached the viewpoint, we had walked past the Gloria Funicular and even though it seemed like a waste to take it downhill, we jumped in it anyways just for the experience. Thankfully our day pass included the funicular. It was quite exciting for a three minute ride!

After a quick metro ride to the other side of the historic district, we walked up to the Lisbon Cathedral. It was quite an imposing building from a distance but not that interesting up close. We didn’t want to pay to go in but ducked briefly inside to see what we could from the free viewing area.

Just up from the cathedral was the Church of Saint Anthony of Lisbon. The church is built on top of the house in which the saint was born so we wandered down to the basement to have look.

Our final stop for the day was Sao Jorge Castle. We cheated and took a bus up the hill as we were both exhausted from all the uphill walking. Combined with the heat, it was super taxing even though we are both relatively fit!

The castle had an amazing outlook over the city and the River Targus.

While we were snapping away, we could hear these bird-like squawks and as we wandered through the castle gardens, came across these beautiful inhabitants!

We sourced a Callipo popsicle to refresh us before wandering around the castle battlements. The castle itself was a ruin that has been restored so there wasn’t much to look at - the main attraction is the view and the peacocks! You could see why back in the day this was chosen as a defensive position - standing so high above the city with direct lines of sight over the river and beyond, the castle would of been a formidable sight to any wannabe assailants.

After such a massive day of walking and exploring, we headed back to relax at the Airbnb with takeaway kebabs and cider. So far, loving the atmosphere and aesthetics of Lisbon! It’s the first place I’ve really felt like we are on vacation.