EXPLORING LISBON PORTUGAL

Last week for the first time in over three months I got to once again have some much needed time off and explore the world with Mr C. This time for his birthday I surprised him with a trip to Lisbon in Portugal as he mentioned he’d always wanted to go. I’d never been to Portugal before and heard such great things, so I was really excited to go.

The flight took about two and half hours which went by really quickly. The locals were all really lovely and helpful and understood my attempt at Spanish at least! Their second language is Spanish out there so I did try to make an effort as I always feel rude presuming people speak English. Our hotel was simply stunning, we stayed at the Corinthia Lisbon which was located really centrally and made it really easy for us to get around. The staff were all really helpful, the rooms were really big and the breakfast was definitely worth the extra money.

As we had two full days to sight-see we decided the yellow bus tours were our best option as for €30 you get 48 hours access to all the routes and the tram – which was perfect for where we wanted to visit around the city. On day one we visited Praça do Comércio – where we had some lunch and took lots of photos of the beautiful architecture and had a look around some of the shops. In the afternoon we then headed on the trams to the São Jorge Castle now this was very well hidden so make sure to Google map it otherwise you will get lost. The castle was so picturesque and the views over Lisbon were breathtaking. Afterwards, we then headed on to Alfama & Rua de Galé as these were suggested to me as great places to find colourful houses and street art to take pictures of and we certainly weren’t let down! The buildings were amazing and we stumbled upon some fantastic photo opportunities. That night after a long day walking we decided to have room service as neither of us could be bothered to go back to the centre to find restaurants.

On day two, we had a lot of places to visit so we made sure we had an early start. We started off with the Jerónimos Monastery which was my favourite place to visit it was so picturesque and had stunning architecture – it was my photography dream! We then walked down to the Belém Tower which was situated on the coast, we didn’t end up going inside but it was really pretty to look at and explore the café’s nearby. We then got back on the bus and headed to the Carmo Covent we ended up walking through Bica another place I wanted to visit. This is where all the trams are – so I manifested getting my tram down a street shot and it was perfect!

Whilst walking down to the Carmo Covent we passed a few shops, I ended up getting some stunning rose gold Ray-Ban’s which I can’t wait to crack out when we’re blessed with warmer weather or maybe sooner on my next trip! I ended up getting £90 off retail price buying them in Lisbon which was an even bigger bonus. We paid €4 to get into the Carmo Covent, while it made a great photo there actually wasn’t that much to see there and we went around in about ten minutes. So unless you’re obsessed with photography like I am, I wouldn’t say this was worth the trip. I still can’t get over what a great city Lisbon is though, everyone was so friendly and helpful. The buildings were all Instagrammable and it was even a little bit warmer than the UK! I had such a great time in Lisbon with Mr C and have to say, I think it’s been my favourite city break so far. I’d love to go back one day and there was so much to do, I think two full days were enough but there was still so much more we could have done!

As always please do let me know your thoughts in the comments below and if you’ve been to Lisbon before? I’ve also uploaded a vlog to my Youtube channel about our trip if you’d like to watch that as well. This week I’m back to work and planning some really exciting spiritual press coming out really soon. My next trip will be to Disneyland Paris the beginning of March with Amelia so really not long now! I hope you all have a fantastic week.