24 Hours in Lisbon, Portugal.

By the time we got to our hotel in Lisbon on Saturday afternoon, and then left the hotel to go to the airport on Sunday afternoon, we had around 24 hours in Portugal’s capital city. We weren’t too sure what to expect from the Lisbon, and we just wanted a weekend of delicious food and pretty architecture. We managed to have a nice relaxing weekend and still see plenty, so I thought I’d tell you all about it!

 

Lisbon Day 1

After breaky at Gatwick airport (it was like 8am and I basically had a week’s worth of sugar in one serving of banoffee pancakes. worth it) we boarded our flight. Unfortunately the flight was painful – I was sat next to a woman who insisted on getting up every 15mins to use the bathroom, and on a two hour flight brought out a picnic and ate an insane amount of food that should not be consumed on a plane (think multiple packs of fish sandwiches – barf).

Eventually we arrived and landed to sunshine and a slightly warmer climate than we’d left behind in England. A short taxi ride later and we arrived at The Corinthia hotel, a luxury five star hotel located inbetween the airport and the centre of the city.

Because I’m a Platinum GHA member we got a double upgrade to a junior suite. The woman on the desk kindly asked if that was OK, as we’d originally booked a twin room and the junior suite only had a King Bed. As it was just for one night we decided to just do it. The hotel was OK, the room was a little dated (especially the bathroom) and there were nowhere near enough plug points (one INSIDE the wardrobe, and one by the bathroom door).

We dumped our stuff in the room and then headed down to the concierge to ask the best route to walk down to the main square. They laughed at us and told us it was a 45min walk…we straight faced said ‘yeh…that’s fine…’ then when we got outside the hotel we got into a taxi 😛 lolz! To be fair we only got the taxi half way (taxis in Lisbon are SO cheap fyi) to the Marquis of Pombal Square, and then we walked from there down to the Praca de Comercio. Also Catherine #2 persuaded me to use her selfie stick…and then I got a bit addicted to it…










The clouds came over just as we walked under the Rua Augusta Arch and got to the square, and the rain started pouring down on us, so we ran to the nearest cafe to shelter under their huge umbrellas. There was a bit of a party atmosphere as there was a stag party there, but it was cool and contemporary and had a good vibe. They also had super cheap cocktails – just eight euros! I’m gonna do a proper review of this place in the next coupla days because it was so awesome.



After a long lazy lunch we walked back along Rue Augusta, oogled at the stunning Architecture, and had a quick look in the shops before getting a taxi back to our hotel. We were going to go to the hotel spa, but then we found out you have to wear swimming caps and we didn’t fancy doing that. Instead we chilled out and watched TV, but there wasn’t much on TV so we ended up sitting there watching a live feed of a Mosque on an Arabic channel while we uploaded photos to Facebook from our first day. The live feed of the Mosque was actually really soothing and kept making me nod off with the chanting!

After a quick nap and our photo uploading session, we got changed and then headed out for an exceptional dinner at Olivier Avenida. We didn’t finish dinner until around 11pm due to slow service, so we decided to skip clubbing as originally planned and get a good night sleep before our busy day the next day!

Lisbon Day 2

On day 2 we awoke early, and started our day with a taxi ride up to São Jorge Castle in the Alfama. It was a beautiful sunny day when we started out, and then the clouds came over and kept sprinkling us with rain every so often, with the sunshine breaking through every so often. We had a quick breakfast of fresh lemonade and ham & cheese croissants, at the cafe outside the castle entrance, and then went in to pay for our tickets.

The tickets were around 8 Euros, and honestly I think this was a little overpriced. 5 Euros would be a nice round number and feel much more worth it. You get the most incredible view over the city though, and the Moorish castle is quite interesting to walk around and look at, imagining how it would have been hundreds of years ago, however it is now just a shell and inside it’s all ruins, with an extreme lack of information along the way. Also I hate my face in the pic below, but my hair looks fly AF so whatevs.







We wandered around the castle and checked out the view (which included a view over Lisbon’s very own Golden Gate Bridge), then walked down through the Alfama neighbourhood, with the winding cobbled streets, beautiful architecture, and canary yellow trams crawling their way up the hills. We stopped by the Cathedral, and then walked down to the front, before catching a taxi up to Cervejaria Ramiro for lunch, which was recommended to me by the fabulous Mrs O!




The food was incredible, and a total bargain! We had the giant tiger prawns, garlic shrimps, the ham platter, and crusty bread and butter (perfect for mopping up all of the garlic sauce from the shrimps), paired with a really excellent white wine. It was the perfect amount, and we decided to save dessert for a little later in the afternoon. The restaurant was very local, filled with families enjoying a Sunday seafood lunch, and cheery staff who kindly gave us a waiter who spoke English. The interior of the restaurant was typical 1980’s Mediterranean, and yet the food was ordered from an iPad. It was brilliant!


After our lunch we walked from Ramiro down to the main square, to end our last couple of hours in Lisbon relaxing with cocktails and more food at the cafe we’d been to the day before. We hilariously ordered dessert…then fries…then more dessert. I mean, we were on holiday after all, and we couldn’t leave without a couple more of those gorgeous Portuguese custard tarts! It did confuse the waiters though.

We then got a taxi back to our hotel and picked up our luggage and off we went to the airport. We had a weekend of relaxing, wandering, food, drink, and seeing the main sights! Lisbon has to be one of the easiest cities to see in 24 hours, and if we’d spent less time relaxing and eating and more time exploring, we could have seen so much more. For us it was exactly what we needed though – a perfect girlie weekend away without having to use any holiday days!

Where’s your favourite place to visit for 24 hours?PIN FOR LATER:

 

 

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Catherine Lux
Catherine Lux

Catherine Lux is a veteran travel blogger by night and the Head of SEO at Havas Media Group by day. Originally from Surrey, she spent four years living in Australia (2007-2009, and 2016-2018), and now lives in London. An ex-party girl sometimes prone to relapses, she loves nothing more than sharing her fine dining and luxury travel experiences with her loyal readers.

Find me on: Web | Instagram

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13 Comments

  1. Suze @LuxuryColumnist
    April 10, 2016 / 6:53 pm

    Funnily enough we stayed in the Corinthia in Lisbon too, it was quite a trek from the centre but I remember the pool being good. Love your new hair colour!

  2. Angie SilverSpoon
    April 10, 2016 / 8:00 pm

    Your story about the flight made me laugh, though I do sympathise 😉 The architecture in Lisbon looks amazing and I love all the colourful houses – the food sounds incredible too! Btw that's lovely picture of you, I don't know why you don't like it!

  3. Catherine Lux
    April 10, 2016 / 8:04 pm

    It was very out of the centre, but we didn't find it too bad – we just hopped in a taxi whenever we wanted to go anywhere!

    Thanks! I got it done a coupla months ago just before I went to NYC 🙂 need to get my roots done next weekend haha.

    C x

  4. Catherine Lux
    April 10, 2016 / 8:06 pm

    Lol! I hate hate *hate* being stuck next to someone who makes a flight uncomfortable. The architecture is stunning! And thank you – I guess I'm just overly critical haha.

    C x

  5. MissLilly
    April 10, 2016 / 8:18 pm

    oh no, you were really unlucky with your flight! that would be everyone's nightmare. I would pray to myself when I was in the middle-sit that the people sitting next to me would be normal weight – I'm in favour they should pay for 2 sits. Hope you've managed to enjoy Lisbon

  6. Unknown
    April 10, 2016 / 9:17 pm

    Isn't Lisbon a fab city break? (Ps. Who picked who was Catherine #1 and who was Catherine #2? 😉)

  7. Honey @ The Girl Next Shore
    April 10, 2016 / 9:23 pm

    Selfie sticks: we secretly love how convenient they are! You're looking absolutely gorgeous and I really want to visit Lisbon now! =)

    Honey x The Girl Next Shore

  8. Catherine Lux
    April 10, 2016 / 10:00 pm

    Thank you!! And you must – it's a wonderful and cheap city for a quick weekend break!

    C x

  9. Tamsyn Elizabeth
    April 11, 2016 / 12:35 pm

    Some gorgeous snaps. I'm really looking forward to heading to Lisbon, my mum recently went and said she loved it

    Tamsyn Elizabeth | Peaches and Bear

  10. Emma @ AdventuresofaLondonKiwi
    April 11, 2016 / 10:31 pm

    You managed to fit in a fair amount in 24 hours!

  11. Andrea Petersen
    April 12, 2016 / 2:05 pm

    I love you for the fries dessert fries! SO something I would do hahaha. Also loving the look of Lisbon, I'm all excited now 😎 and have noted Mrs O's lunch spot too! Lots of love, Andrea xxx

    Andrea's Passions

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