24- Portugal: A New Moon

There are many different phases of the Moons cycle including new moon, crescent moon, full moon. For us we had been through the honeymoon phase via a mini moon and travelled the world on our mega moon. Now we’d reached a new phase in our lives and it was time for the babymoon!

Portugal was the chosen destination as we set out on a two-stop break- five nights in Lisbon and six nights in Lagos, Algarve.  It seems that nobody has a bad word to say about Lisbon. Anyone we’ve told we’re going there has raved about it. Obviously, a very popular city destination. Thank you, Ryanair. We would certainly concur with those views as we had a great time. A super city to visit and walk around. Lovely food, great weather, lots of places to see.

It is a very easy city to walk around although quite hilly. If you fee like a rest, then there are trams, trains and a metro system to get you around also.  Of all the cities we’ve been in, it’s arguably the worst for getting tickets on the trains and metros. Every station we went seemed to have minimal machines to buy tickets and were all very slow to use as more times then not they rejected your preferred method of payment (no notes over €10, credit cards rejected as minimum transaction needed) and no staff anywhere. I’d recommend loading up a card the first day you get there and avoid the frustrating queues.

Due to its hilly nature, most streets in Lisbon provided you with great views of different sides of the city. Lots of old and quirky buildings. The whole city is overlooked by the Castelo de São Jorge so that was one of the first places we visited. Quite a trek up to it but you get fantastic views out over Lisbon. As a reward (and if you’re allowed) then there’s a little truck called “Wine with a View” selling lovely glasses of wine for you to indulge in while taking in the said view. Marvellous.

We ate some lovely food in Lisbon. One of our favorites was a visit to the TimeOut Market. A whole selection of the cities best food and drink under one roof. It’s sponsored by TimeOut magazine and the tagline they have for the market is “If it’s good, it goes in the magazine, if it’s great, it goes into the market”. A great night out. The hard part is choosing where to get your food as there are over 30 different restaurant stalls. Food envy comes at you from all directions as you check out all the lovely looking plates of food going past you. Choose wisely!

I don’t think I’ve ever seen food envy quite like that of a pregnant woman as my green eyed wife jealously eyed up my plates of prosciutto, soft cheeses and smoked salmon. I don’t think she was visibly drooling but she couldn’t have been far off! It was like she was my own personal cheerleader commending me on a job well done in my unrestricted food choices! She’s really looking forward to August!

In one of the tapas restaurants we visited, I ordered a “Roasted Chorizo in Rosemary”. The important bit that their description left out was that it was served doused in rum and set alight. Whoever made up my serving obviously had a heavy hand as five minutes later there were still generous flames in the bowl. They eventually came over to blow out the flames so I could actually eat the meal and in a moment of foolishness worthy of baby brain I used the fork from the bowl to eat my first piece of chorizo. Ouch. Even my basic science knowledge should have taught me that a metal fork left in a flaming bowl of rum would not be the instrument of choice to eat with. Thankfully I didn’t do more damage then burning the lips on one of side of mouth (apparently my natural instinct is to eat with my left side!). I actually thought they were going to balloon up completely but I was saved that embarrassment. Despite all that drama, the chorizo and rum was lovely!

As well as the lovely sites of Lisbon we took two trips out of city also- one to Cascais, a beachside town 30km from Lisbon. Leaves you close to Lisbon with the advantages of the beach and without being in the city. Our second day trip was to Sintra, a really fantastic place to visit. The village is accessible by train, and once you arrive, there is a local bus that does a hop-on hop-off service around the local sites. The two main sites both involve significant walks up the hills of the town so the bus is much appreciated. 

We started with the more modern site which is the Pena Palace- a bright and colourful palace overlooking the town. Finished in the 19^th century, it’s colourful exterior certainly contrasts to lots of other palaces and castles we’ve seen. On a sunny day such as we had, the bright red and yellow walls look fantastic against the blue sky.  From the top of the palace you can see across to the second main site which is a complete contrast to the first. It is the Castle of the Moors. Built in the 9^th century, it again overlooks Sintra but is far more domineering. Walking around the exterior walls of it brought back memories of the Great Wall of China as the walls snake across the horizon and offers great photo opportunities around each corner. Clearly the needs of the locals changed dramatically in the 1,000 years between the two buildings as one built clearly for protection and defense while the second built as a romantic Disney-type castle. The Portuguese most have grown soft during that time!

After many kilometers of walking through Lisbon and the surrounding areas, we finished our break in the south in the Algarve and a town called Lagos. For more rest and relaxation then Lisbon but still with plenty of walks. Our favourite being down around the cliffs as there are some magnificent views of rock formations. The clay coloured rocks again offering a great contrast to the sky and when you’ve big waves crashing against them it offers a wonderful site.

So the babymoon has ended, job done as we come back rested, relaxed and ready for our lives to change. At least soon, I’ll have someone to delegate all my blogging responsibilities to!

And so our time away is over, to finish off our holidays our roadshow moves onto Wexford for a Kelleher wedding. Big weekend ahead!

Click here to see a selection of photos from our Portuguese trip

Route

Fly Dublin to Lisbon, train Lisbon to Faro, Fly Lisbon to Dublin