That Time I Went to Lisbon, Portugal


I have been trawling the many, many photos of my recent visit to Sintra and Lisbon and I’ve realised that I’ve not even sorted out my photos from when I first visited Lisbon in 2016! Better to show a few of those off first…..

I first went to Lisbon at the end of September 2016, about 2 weeks after I went to Copenhagen. It was basically another runcation; I and few of my friends had signed up to the Rock’n’Roll Lisbon Half Marathon for the bargain fee of €10 (which at the time was just under £9.00). 

I reasoned that I would be able to run the distance as I would have completed Copenhagen Half Marathon 2 weeks before. However, the reality was that I was chasing the last of the Summer Sun!

I flew with Ryanair and flights were £90 return from Stansted Airport. This was cheap, though if I had been a bit quicker I could have got the same flight for £63.00…..





I stayed at the VIP Executive Arts Hotel for 4 Nights, which is based in Parque das Nações, which is Lisbon’s business district. I stayed at this hotel primarily because of the race that I was running and while it was not near the main tourist sights, I had easy access to loads of shops, restaurants and the public transport. My friends and I actually spent a lot of the time exploring the marina and Vasco da Gama shopping centre, which was a few minutes’ walk from my hotel.  Oriente Station was a mere 5 minutes’ walk and I could be in central Lisbon within 30 mins. It helped that the metro ran until about 1am, which meant my time in the centre was not restricted. 






As mentioned before, I was taking part in a half marathon. If I’m honest, the weather was so nice and I was having so much fun that I couldn’t be bothered to aim for a PB time! The route didn’t help matters as it was not particularly scenic nor were there were many supporters between mile 3 and mile 10. The views from Vasco da Gama Bridge were beautiful though. It was my slowest race; however I knew that it would eventually over, I would receive a medal for my troubles and I could get back to enjoying the weather and sights!


In addition to visiting Lisbon, I did a flying visit Belém to try a pastéis de nata (custard tart) from the world renowned Pastéis de Belém. I am not a person to immediately grab a custard tart (I’m not a fan of custard), but these were freshly made and with cinnamon they tasted very nice! 










I also went to Cascais for the day as a few of my friends were moving on to that area. They had booked a pretty flat via air b’n’b which had balcony views of the sea and was about 10 minutes’ walk to the beach. It had been quite a while since I had been to the beach and it was a great way to relax after running the half marathon the previous day. I was all for playing in the sea until I started seeing jellyfish washing up on shore…. I decided to work on my tan after that!

As Cascais and Estoril (another costal town) are easily accessible from Lisbon, it is possible to combine a day at the beach with your city break.












On my last day in Lisbon, my friend and I took the boat to Almada to visit Santuário de Cristo Rei (the Sanctuary of Christ the King). This Catholic monument was inspired by the Christ the Redeemer statue of Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil and overlooks Lisbon City from the other side of the River Tagus. It was a bit of a mission to get to the monument from my hotel (25 minutes on the metro, 10 minute boat ride, 4 stops on the tram and a 15 minute walk), but it was worth it. The views at the top were absolutely stunning. It was so peaceful and I took a bit of time to reflect; it probably helped that it was a weekday afternoon. For me it was the perfect end to my 5 day runcation.


I loved Lisbon and was determined that I would be back. Many of us often say similar with good intentions….and I was fortunate to visit Lisbon again this year! More to follow x

4 comments:

  1. Looks like you had a fantastic time and well done on the race! It makes all the difference when you're running somewhere beautiful :)

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  2. This was a great post, very informative! I went to Lisbon and Sintra last August and it was great. Lisbon is such a beautiful city, and I loved Parque das Naçoes!

    Julia x
    Last Post: Why I am Buying Less | http://juliaspeaksbeauty.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/lifestyle-why-i-am-buying-less.html

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  3. This is exactly what I was looking for! Thanks for sharing all about Lisbon tour. With your blog, I believe that my travel to Portugal will be lot more organized now! Fortunately, I have my visa for Portugal ready!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I needed this break badly! Express services were required to get this straight! Good I sought help from your Portugal Visa team. It was a good trip! You guys made it possible! Heartiest thanks

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for taking the time to read my post and leave a comment; I will endeavour to check out your blog as well x

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