Living that Holiday Life in Lisbon

First and foremost, Europe has great Christmas markets. I mean, it's still very clearly the same capitalism dressed in red and green tinsel that we have with the Christmas shopping madness in the States during the holidays but somehow it feels purer and less commercial. They are outdoors, the weather can be nice or frigid or even snow-filled, there is mulled wine, hot chocolate, coffee, apple cider, baked goods, piping hot foods, candy, and chocolate at every turn. There are trinkets and handmade goods and wood-carved reindeer. There is just pleasantness that comes with the Christmas markets in Europe that mask the commercialism of the holiday in a way that makes it feel all warm and fuzzy. The markets feel like a place where you would find Santa strolling around for fun. 

Christmas weighed on my mind frequently whilst we were in Portugal. We arrived in Lisbon after several of my fellow remotes and I had just celebrated Thanksgiving in Budapest. I wrote about my thoughts on celebrating Thanksgiving abroad here but celebrating Christmas away from friends, family, and normal traditions is much different than a one-day Thanksgiving event. Usually, in December, I'm going to Christmas parties seemingly every weekend, definitely hanging out way too much at Balboa Cafe drinking hot toddy's and irish coffee's, drinking all the holiday drinks in general at holiday-themed pop-up bars, and quoting one line in particular over and over from Batman Returns...

This holiday season I was with my tramily, a smaller tramily at that, given a number of people in the group left to do their own side trips or went back home to spend the holidays with their actual families. The Christmas markets definitely helped alleviate some Christmas blues but I just kept thinking how weird it was going to be to spend this time without my family and without my friends I held annual traditions with during this time of year. Enter Lisbon, a city that many told me I would love specifically due to its similarities to San Francisco and I can't lie, as soon as I walked up several stories to my apartment and looked out the window, I saw this:

Is this SF? Is that the Golden Gate Bridge!?

Portugal has its own version of the Golden Gate Bridge called "the 25th de Abril Bridge" which was named after the Carnation Revolution of the same date (April 25th, 1974) and was actually designed and constructed by the same company that did the Bay Bridge (you can see a bit of homage to both suspension bridges on the 25th de Abril Bridge). From afar, it truly does look like the Golden Gate and even my apartment view of other buildings made it feel like I was in the Marina, all it was missing was Frat Mason and Dateway. Lisbon has a number of other nods to San Francisco, including steep hills, trolley cars that could pass for the cable cars in SF, and of course it's also nestled by the water. Not to mention they have a thing for pastries and wine. Even the weather was a little balmy at times, if not outright stormy. The nice days were gorgeous though, much like San Francisco when there's no wind or fog. So yes, the comparisons held water for this former San Franciscan although walking around the city itself didn't feel quite as San Francisco-ish for some reason. 

Lisbon does have its own charm, though. It is a pretty city and despite the inclines, it all feels very walkable. You could spend a day just walking around the different neighborhoods. It feels pretty safe so walking around alone or with friends is encouraged, even at night. The nightlife scene was interesting as it felt like it was hard to find things open late sometimes (but find pink street if you want to go out!) but that's why you buy bottles of green wine to sustain you. Yes, green wine (or "vino verde" as it's referred in Portuguese) exists, and it's refreshing and excellent. It should be served chilled and I have a hard time explaining how or why, but it's like white wine but better. Trust me, as a dude who hates white wines in general, finding a light wine that I actually enjoy is hard but I enjoyed nearly all forms of vino verde. Even these days I try to find bottles of vino verde for warm-weather activities. Portugal has its own wine country named Douro, right outside the city of Porto. Unfortunately, I didn't make it there during this Portugal visit but I do hope to make it there one day (I also regret never hitting Mendoza in Argentina while traveling around South America). 

I highly recommend doing a Sintra tour while in Portugal. Sintra is a town just outside of Lisbon proper, in the Portuguese Riviera and it's known for its castle estates and amazing food. It's not to be missed if you like architecture and tasty eats but you shouldn't miss it regardless as it also has excellent beautiful panoramic views of Lisbon in different parts. Our first stop in Sintra was at the tucked away Santa Eufemia viewpoint. While there, aside from the amazing panoramic views of Lisbon, Sintra, and Cascais, our tour guide gave us arguably the best travesseiro ever, which makes sense, since travesseiros are only found in Sintra apparently. What is a travesseiro? It's a Portuguese pastry and it is delicious. After our viewpoint and pastry stop, we did a tour of the Palace Regaleira which was really cool. The grounds are beautiful, there are all sorts of hidden nooks and crannies, and if you go to Sintra you can't skip this stop. After spending considerable time there and a stop for lunch at Pensao Sisudo (recommended), we headed to Praia da Adraga (Adraga Beach), a little beach cove that really made me feel like I was back at home. It was solitary and surrounded by sea cliffs and the beach didn't stretch all that far but there was a cute little café at the entrance and the stark beach could easily have been somewhere in Point Reyes or Marin, in fact it reminded me 100% of Tennessee Valley in Mill Valley, one of my favorite Marin spots. It was a nice little stop before we headed to Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point of continental Europe. This was coastline and again it made me feel like I was back home. It was fun to imagine that past the horizon was the United States, a country I hadn't seen (minus a brief layover in New York en route from Mexico to Vietnam), for 10 months. The whole Sintra side trip was amazing and ended with a final viewpoint at the sanctuary of peninha, a quasi hidden spot, where we watched the sunset. It was a great day trip and I highly recommend the tour we did which you can find here. Our guide was awesome.

I also met up with a friend in Cascais and he took me to a couple amazing spots. He showed me the Boca do Inferno, which is a tourist stop but pretty. It's essentially just a sea cliff with a cave but apparently, the cave was the first one ever filmed in a live motion picture so that's kind of impressive. Unfortunately, it started raining hard a little after my arrival in Cascais so I was unable to see more of the town and I found out we were leaving Portugal before the big wave season started which would have been incredible to see. Seeing immense waves has always been a terrifying fascination of mine and I was so close to being able to see them in person! However, if you find yourself in Cascais, I highly recommend the restaurant Dom Grelhas, I had an amazing meal there and it's right by the sea. 

As for Lisbon itself, you can just walk around and discover stuff. Try all the pastries, they're well known in particular for their egg custard tarts (pasteis de nata) and queijadas. Try to find the oldest operating bookstore in the world (Livraria Betrand), operating since 1732. A cheap way to get a quick tour of the city is to hop on Tram 28 and just stay on it from beginning to end. It's basically just a bus so don't expect a tour guide but you can see a good portion of Lisbon while riding it and a lot of tourists do this, so it's important to try to catch it earlier in the morning. Finally, admire all the tile. A lot of the buildings in Lisbon are covered in multi-colored, uniquely designed tiles (called azulejos) and it's one of Portugal's trademarks. Not a tourist stop by any means, but I really enjoyed a café called Linha d'Agua that has its own little body of water to sit by. A couple buddies and I also ate at a pretty solid Indian/Nepalese restaurant called Sanskar where the staff was super friendy and the food excellent. We also rented a boat for a half-day and coasted along the city. It was a fun-filled day and something you could do for a different view of Lisbon but not essential. 

Overall, being in Lisbon around Christmas time was pretty neat. I'd love to go back when the weather is a bit warmer but, like my friends who had been to Lisbon before me, I did completely get the San Francisco vibe which made it feel a little bit homier than the other countries we had visited. I also am not saying not to go in the winter as I enjoyed the festiveness and feel of the holidays there. Oh, and be sure to try a ginjinha shot, a Portuguese tradition! On the -5 to 5 scale, Lisbon fetches a 2. It wasn't my favorite stop, but I'd go back and you should too. 

Portugal Photos:

Lisbon Tram, looks like an SF Cable Car

The last remaining vertical elevator in Lisbon

Christmas feel in Lisboa

Entrance to the oldest operating bookstore in the world

A taste of Sintra

View from the Santa Eufemia viewpoint in Sintra

Quinta da Regaleira

The Initiation Wells at the Quinta da Regaleira

Steps near the Waterfall Lake at Quinta da Regaleira

Quinta da Regaleira in all its glory

Praia da Adraga

Sunset at the westernmost point of continental Europe

Coastline at Cabo da Rago

Sunset at Santuary of Peninha

Sunset at Santuary of Peninha Part 2

Pink Street (where nightlife thrives)

Sunset colors, if you squint you can see the bridge

Boca do Inferno (the cave not pictured)

The 25th de Abril Bridge or as I call it, the GGB2.

I mean, come on...

I swear we're not in San Francisco bay

Chilling around the historic aqueducts ("aguas livres")

View from the middle of the aqueduct

Example of the famous pastel de natas of Portugal

Amazing brunch at Fauna and Flora, this thing had all the breakfast foods in it!

Christmas time in Lisboa

El Fin