Top 10 Things to Do in Lisbon in 1 Weekend

The ultimate packed weekend in Lisboa, Portugal. The most spontaneous trip I’ve ever taken–planned less than a week in advance for a weekend in Lisbon! Here’s what we did and what we loved:

DAY 1

WHERE TO STAY: Try to arrive as early as possible (preferably before the city opens up) to maximize time. We arrived to our hotel, Fontecruz Lisboa (in the Avenida Liberdade area) at 8am. We used some points to upgrade so that we could sleep the whole flight and would be well rested to start the day. Try to stay in the heart of the city to make it easier to get to and from all the must see sites!

1. Walk around Santa Justa, Praça do Comercio, and the neighboring areas, of course stopping at each pastéis de nata bakery (more on this below). Both are super touristy spots so be ready to bargain at the souvenir stores. Be weary of pick pockets and random people trying to sell you all sorts of drugs. My husband got approached to buy cocaine several times!

lisbon praca do comercio — Lisbon’s Tram in Praça do Comercio

2. Take the bus to the National Tile Museum. Bus 144 and 148 both stop off at the National Tile Museum (Museu Nacional de Azulejo).

3. Take the bus to Alfama and just keep climbing the stairs for some incredible city views. Visit the Castelo de Sao Jorge, where you can do a self-guided tour of the castle, and even have some run ins with peacocks.

4. Make dinner reservations in advance at Belcanto (2-Michelin starred restaurant in the Chiado area). Ranked as one of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants, Belcanto serves a flavor profile like nothing we’d ever experienced before. This very experimental 17 course tasting menu left us refreshingly satisfied and our minds curious. Our waiter, Joao (Portuguese equivalient of John), was extremely attentive and made sure our dietary restrictions were taken into full consideration. If you know you’re going to Lisbon in advance, book early! We booked 2 weeks in advance and got the last reservation for that Saturday.

5. Take a post dinner walk around LX Factory. A cute little market/area with boutique shops, restaurants, and dessert spots, LX Factory is a vibe. It took us a couple of buses/trains to get there but well worth it!

DAY 2

6. Take the early morning train to Sintra to go to Peña Palace.

This is the famous palace everyone thinks of when you think “Lisbon.” It’s actually about 45 minutes outside of Lisbon itself, but pretty easy to get to by train. We took the Rossio Station train to Sintra and then from the Sintra station took a bus up to Peña Palace. Once there, you can do a self-guided walking tour, explore, and take pictures. The views are just beyond stunning! We then took a hike up through palace gardens to get the view that you can see below (right). The earlier you go, the better your chances are of being around crowds (and, you get better photos with no one else around).

7. Take an Uber to Belem, where you can devour some more pasteis at Pastéis de Belém (the best ones we had), and then tour the Jeronimos Monastery. This gorgeous Monastery is in fact a UNESCO World Heritage Site with stunning Gothic/Renaissance style architecture. The gardens in and around the monastery make for a nice spot to take in the beauty that is Lisbon.

8. Have lunch at the Time Out Market, followed by dessert at Landeau. The chocolate cake at Landeau has been applauded as the “best chocolate cake in Lisbon.” Not sure I’d go that far (mostly since we didn’t really try other chocolate cakes there), but it definitely hit the spot.

9. Took the train to A Severa FadO, a must do in Lisbon! Fado is a Portuguese music genre performed live with dinner. The singers exude passion in every performance and it’s great to watch the audience also getting into it when some better known Fado songs were performed. We picked A Severa because it was less touristy and more authentic. The food was rather average but the entertainment made up for the place!

10. HAVE ALL OF THE PASTEIS DE NATA!! See below!

PASTEIS DE NATA

Lisbon sparked our love affair for pastéis de nata–essentially, custard tarts, but so much more deliciousness than that. They’re egg custard tarts with cinnamon on top and the perfect crispy layered dough to complement the custard.

Here were all the spots we got pastéis from (in order of our favorites):

1. Pastéis de Belém (Belem)
2. Manteigaria (various spots around the city)
3. Fábrica de Nata (various spots around the city)
4. A Padaria Portuguesa (various spots around the city)
5. Confeitaria Nacional – one of the oldest pastry shops in Lisbon (Santa Justa)

International, Travel

One Week in Peru with the Paul Family: Lake Titicaca

April 17, 2020October 14, 2020by novairendingjourney

PART III: LAKE TITICACA

Yet another underrated part of Peru, Lake Titicaca is the world’s highest navigable lake, with a surface elevation of over 12,000 feet. We felt the elevation, because it was definitely a few degrees cooler here compared to Cusco and Lima.

We stayed at Uros, or the “Floating Islands,” with a wonderful host family, booked via Booking.com. Getting to Lake Titicaca and Uros is no easy feat. We flew from Cusco to Juliaca, where a driver met us to take us 2 hours south to Puno. From Puno, we took a boat to our island, Uros Summa Paqari (pictured below). The coolest part of these islands is that they are manmade! The residents have built them with reed, which is why when you step on the island, it almost feels a little spongey. Our rooms were a decent size and the host family was really accommodating. It definitely gets cooler at night so don’t forget to bring a good jacket/blanket. The host family was kind enough to leave us hot water bottles in our beds, which made getting into bed at night absolutely divine!

Our first day at Uros, we just hung out on the island, spending quality time with the family and of course, the host family. Vidal, his wife Delia, and their son Dalens were a load of fun! The next day we took a day trip across the lake to a local island, Taquile Island. It was a 30 minute boat trip from our island, but definitely worth it. The island has no cars, no bikes, no animals (with the exception of sheep). We ate their local fish for lunch and watched some local Taquile dancing. My mom and I got up and danced as well!

The weather changes in the Lake from really hot to pretty cool, so layering is of utmost importance! But this little gem of a place is definitely underrated and my family and I would highly recommend checking it out for 2 days of your trip.

Eats, Personal, Travel

One Week in Peru with the Paul Family: Cusco

February 11, 2020October 14, 2020by novairendingjourneyLeave a Comment

PART II: CUSCO

From Lima we flew in to the ancient city of Cusco (the historical capital of the Inca Empire).

As you land and make your way to baggage claim, you’ll find a basket of Coca leaves. Grab one or a few and just begin to chew! Cusco sits at around 11,000 feet above sea level, so there’s a very high likelihood you will feel it. I felt it in shortness of breath and my heart started to race if I walked too fast. Strangest feeling ever! From Cusco, we did Rainbow Mountain and Machu Picchu. Read on for details!

Cusco sits at about 11,000 feet above sea level, and boy do you feel it! Make sure you take altitude medication at least a day or two before you make your way to Cusco. We spent Day 1 getting used to the altitude and just roaming around Cusco. There’s a lot to see. Check out Pachapapa for lunch or dinner. Some blogs said you would need a reservation but we were just fine without one–and there were 5 of us.

The streets of Cusco are rather hilly so be sure to wear comfortable shoes. Because of the height, Cusco is a bit colder than Lima. You can walk to the Plaza de Armas in Cusco, which is the city center. We stayed at Illa Hotel, which was really conveniently located close to most of what you’d want to see in Cusco.

RAINBOW MOUNTAIN. This is definitely a highly underrated site. Rainbow Mountain, also known as Vinicunca, is a little over 17,000 feet above sea level. We climbed to about 15,000. There was no way my body could’ve handled the tip of that mountain. Because it’s so high up, I could feel my heart beating in my throat at several points in the last 15 minutes of the climb. It’s about a 2-ish hour climb but I promise you the views are so worth it once you get to the top. My brothers and I hiked. My dad took a pony up–but he did that mostly because he saw my mom pass out at the base of the mountain and refused to do the same. You can ask your tour guide to negotiate a good rate for the ponies and the last 10 minutes you have to climb (if you want to get the gorgeous views).

We used a tour group called Rainbow Mountain Travels for our trip to Rainbow Mountain and it was well worth it! They pick you up from your hotel, take you to a bigger van, and you head out about 2 hours to Rainbow Mountain in this van with about 15 or so other people. The pick up is really early, but the advantage of that is that you are the only tour group on Rainbow Mountain. The others were climbing when we began descending. So we had it all to ourselves. Also, a brunch type meal and dinner on the way down was included. It wasn’t the best but I don’t think you want to eat heavy any way before climbing Rainbow Mountain.

Fun fact about Rainbow Mountain–it didn’t look like this until 2015 when the rock weathered away to reveal these bright colors.

Here’s us with our newest friends atop the mountain, the alpacas <3

MACHU PICCHU

This is what everyone comes to Cusco for, and trust me, it does not disappoint! Once again, we used a tour group because it included pick up from the hotel, drop off to the train station , the train ticket to and from Machu Picchu, and the entrance to the site. The entire trip to Machu Picchu from Cusco took about 4 hours and the train was great! Super clean, beautiful views, and there was even some on board live entertainment! There was an alpaca fashion show (you’ll see a ton of alpacas and alpaca-wear around Peru).

Cusco Itinerary

Day 1: Arrive in Cusco, tour the Plaza de Armas, grab dinner at Pachapapa, call it an early night.

Day 2: Wake up at 5am to start the drive to Rainbow Mountain. Spend all day there. Get home, order some food for dinner, and call it a night.

Day 3: Machu Picchu. Train to Aguas Calientes then a bus up to Machu Picchu. Tour group includes the ticket to the site as well. Train ride back. Ate in Aguas Calientes. Got back to Cusco late.

Eats, Personal, Travel

One Week in Peru with the Paul Family: Lima

January 30, 2020August 4, 2020by novairendingjourney2 Comments

PART I: LIMA

Back in the winter of 2018, I organized a trip to Peru with my parents and brothers. That’s the only time of the year all 5 of us could get off from work/school/life, so we made it happen. We spent about a week or so and visited three major spots–Lima, Cusco, and Lake Titicaca. Each city presented such a unique vibe.

We did 2 days in Lima, 3 in Cusco (to acclimatize to the altitude), 2 in Lake Titicaca, and then back to Lima for 1 day for New Year’s. Sharing our experience and thoughts on each. Keep reading this 3 part series–one for each city we visited.

Lima is the capital of Peru and is pretty much like any other metropolitan city in the world. The only difference is the depth of history this beautiful city exudes. The city is also home to one of the oldest universities in the world–the National University of San Marcos, which was founded around 1551. Lima also boasts home to two of the top 50 Restaurants in the World (Central [No. 6] and Maido [No. 10]). Unfortunately, both of those restaurants were closed on the days we were there so we weren’t able to check them out. Make sure you check the dates on the restaurant websites, and make reservations well in advance, as they book up quickly.

WHERE TO STAY. We made most of our hotel bookings on Booking.com. The reviews are helpful and they give you a lot of info on walkability (which is very important to us) and safety (also important). We ended up staying at Hotel Antigua Miraflores. We picked it because it was in the Miraflores area, which was central to everything we wanted to do. The staff there was really helpful with guiding us on the basics–where to eat, how to get there, etc.

We got lucky and had two of the big rooms on the rooftop so we had our own private rooftop patio, where we played Taboo, Code Names, and Werewolf.

TRANSPORTATION. So now you have a place to stay; how do you get around? Lima didn’t have much of a public transportation system, but Uber was pretty easy to use and cheap as well. We avoided taking cabs (especially ones that didn’t have a running meter).

THINGS TO DO IN LIMA. There’s so much to see, so much to eat, and so much to love about Lima! Here are some highlights from our trip:

Centro Historico. A square surrounded by beautiful yellow architecture for you to stare at in awe.
Plaza San Martin. Declared a World Heritage Site in 1988 by UNESCO, this square will have you dancing in circles staring at the beautiful architecture.
Barranco. The hipster part of Lima. Visit the Bridge of Sighs for cool city views. Great neighborhood to walk around in. Check out the Municipal de Barranco Park. We went for dinner in Barranco to Isolina Taberna Peruana. Peruvian food was very reminiscent of Pakistani food, with its spices and heavy doses of lamb and goat.

A view of the Pacific Ocean from Larcomar mall in Lima
Here’s me posing in the Centro Historico
My brothers and I, acting like we own the place
Centro Historico de Lima

Day 8: New Year’s Back in Lima

We came back to Lima (after Cusco and Lake Titicaca) to ring in 2019. We were able to make reservations at amaZ which was rather amaZing, if I do say so myself. Most of their ingredients are from the Amazon and you could tell every aspect of each dish was well thought out in terms of flavors, textures, and experience. Below you’ll see my favorite dish of the lot (fried fish that tasted like chicken!) and the dessert (which tasted like ice cream in between stroopwafels). Unfortunately, I can’t tell you what the dishes were because I am old and forgot. Plus, they were seasonal dishes with a pre fixe menu, so likely won’t be there when you go. But I can tell you to check amaZ out next time you’re in Lima! You won’t regret it!

My beautiful family, celebrating a birthday, family, life, and New Year’s in Lima.

Picarones. Essentially, Peruvian donuts. These are a must try at some point when you’re in Lima. They’re essentially made of squash and sweet potato but the texture is that of donuts. I got mine with chocolate sauce (pictured) but you can do them with powdered sugar or honey (or all of the above)!