An Unusual 3 Day Getaway to Portugal
You may be wondering why “unusual”? This was originally planned to be a two day trip for my mother’s birthday. However, due to the French ATC (Air Traffic Control) strikes that started on the 8th May 2019, our return flight was cancelled. For half of our trip, we were on the phone with our travel agent trying to sort out flights back to the UK! On the bright side, we also got an extra day to spend in Portugal (yay!)
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| Blue skies and amazing views inside Carmo Convent |
Trip Details
This was a package holiday from Voyage Prive, which included flight and hotel. It cost around £150 per person. We stayed in the hotel Ramada by Wyndham Lisbon, which is 30 minutes outside of the main city by underground. Bed and breakfast was included in the package.
We travelled in early May, and the weather was humid and rainy. Remember your thin waterproofs or umbrellas if you’re planning to travel during this time.
Day 1
We checked into the hotel at around 6:30PM. Immediately after unpacking, I was on the phone to our travel agent (Voyage Prive) to rearrange flights back, as ours had been cancelled. When we asked at the airport, the earliest flight back would have been on Sunday, which meant that we would have had to arrange accommodation for another three days in Portugal. We managed to jump on a quick call with our travel agent before their closing time, but the agent was unable to confirm anything until the next day when their suppliers were back online.
In the meantime, we decided to explore Lisbon city centre. We hopped on the underground and had a lovely dinner at Canto da Vila before walking back to the hotel.
Day 2
A nice and early start for our second day, as we head to Sintra, which is a short train ride away from Lisbon central. This was a brilliant day trip, and I’d highly recommend adding this to your itinerary if you’re only stopping in Lisbon for a few days.
On the train ride to Sintra, we got great news from our travel agent who confirmed that we could get a flight back on Thursday at 8:50PM for a small price.
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| Hiking trail up to Vista Parque de Pena |
The first thing we did when we got to Sinta was hiking up to Vista Parque de Pena from Sintra central - there’s a few small trails up. The gardens were stunning and we really enjoyed our hike up. This trail also takes you up to Castelo dos Mouros. You need to pay an entry fee to go into the castle gardens (a few Euros), but it was amazing being up there and seeing the small hillside villas appearing and disappearing below the clouds.
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| Castelo dos Mouros |
For lunch, we headed back down to Sintra where we had lunch in a restaurant called Dona Maria.
The last stop was Quinta da Regaleira, a UNESCO world heritage site and popular tourist site. There were so many places to explore here, I only wish we had come here sooner! We headed to the Initiation Well first, and went all the way to the bottom and through the tunnel which took us to a lake with a small waterfall, stepping stones and a bridge.
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| Waterfall at the end of the tunnel from the bottom of the Initiation Well |
We spent another hour walking around the rest of the palace and gardens, before heading back to Sintra central to catch the train back to our hotel.
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| View of the gardens from the palace |
Day 3
As our flight was much later in the evening, we got the train to the Belém district of Lisbon. Our first stop was Jerónimos Monastery, another UNESCO world heritage site. The queue to get tickets was quite long, but it was nice to explore the inside when we got in. Make sure you go up the stairs to get an aerial view of the square cloister as well. You can also see inside the church from upstairs as well.
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| Inside Jerónimos Monastery |
On our way to Belém tower, we had lunch nearby in a restaurant called Vela Latina. What’s interesting about this restaurant is that you can choose to have Portuguese or Japanese cuisine. We chose Portuguese and I had a really delicious octopus dish which was a daily special.
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| Tucking into the daily special |
Belém tower was very busy, so we just had a quick look before heading back toward Lisbon central as we wanted to check out the Carmo Convent before getting the train to the airport. This convent was partially destroyed in the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, but I think that really added to the magic of this structure. Imagine a church without a roof, just blue skies and fluffy clouds instead. It was beautiful and I don’t regret this being the last memory of our Lisbon trip.
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| Carmo Convent |
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