Back in late spring/early summer, my mom asked me if I wanted to go to Portgual, and naturally I said yes! After all, it has long been up there on my list of countries as well as giving me the chance to practice my Portuguese from my self-studies! To make a long story short, we booked our trip to the country for the Thanksgiving break. It also posed a slightly different set of challenges to plan for, given how we’d be going in vastly less touristy/relatively colder season, but that didn’t concern us. After all, we’d have a chance to experience the country without much of the crowds that come in the high season-that was a win for us! Our itinerary would see us spend time in Lisbon, Porto, and the southern Algarve region, so we were going to see a lot of the country!

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The first day in Portugal was a case of us hitting the ground running, especially since we arrived in the late morning, thanks to strategically flying overnight, and thus had plenty of time to get acquainted with things. Clearing customs was a cinch, but getting out was slightly confusing. The way Lisbon’s Humberto Delgado Airport works is that you can opt to go to the designated area for taxis (underground), but once you’re there the lot itself is a mess. It’s a small area so you have to pay attention to taxis pulling out, and we nearly got hit at least once when trying to walk to where our Uber was supposed to meet us. That’s another thing: we didn’t quite know what lot there we needed, as the signs weren’t as clear as we would have liked. No matter, our driver Wagner was there waiting for us and we were soon ready to drive 30-ish minutes into the city on this fine November morning. Along the way, Wagner talked to us about what he liked in the city, especially as how he moved from Brazil to Portugal a few years back; he was a very intelligent guy, and his perfect English was due to the fact that he lived in Los Angeles for years when he was a kid. One thing that caught our attention was the quirky way the Portuguese do their road signs: there’s two of them. The ones in blue are the minimum speed limit, and the typical red ones are the max. This was something to give us food for thought since we’d be driving a rental car at the end of our trip. It wasn’t a lot to throw us off as the concept was simple enough, but the second thing about the roads that were immediately apparent was the issue of roundabouts. I know they’re very European, but the ones here involved having to merge into a few lanes in order to get to where you wanted. We were assured by Wagner that outside of Lisbon they weren’t as bad, as city driving was the only place you had to really pay attention in case somebody wanted to merge.

Finally, we arrived at our AirBnb in the heart of Lisbon, and our location was immaculate. We were in the heart of the old town and we were able to walk to pretty much most of the attractions on our itinerary in no more than fifteen minutes. This was super helpful as we dropped off our bags (as the apartment was being cleaned) and headed out for an orienting stroll. We were a few minutes away from the Praça do Comércio, aka the large square that hosts cafes and other places to hang out. Across from it was the Tagus River, so it was a nice sight to see, and one that really reinforced how much water means to Portugal. Given that our free walking tour wasn’t set to start until 3:30, we had a few hours to kill, and kill it off we did. After walking around the plaza and the surrounding blocks, we were ready for a late lunch. My research had told me that the Time Out food market was a must in Lisbon, so naturally that’s where we went to. Unfortunately, I lost my bearings so we had walked about fifteen minutes away from it, so we really had worked up an appetite by the time we arrived. The wait was worth it though, as we were greeted by an abundance of fantastic choices! This wasn’t my first time in a food market (as I’d been to a few in Moscow), but as it was a while since the last occasion, I was thoroughly enjoying seeing all that was on offer. I ended up getting a quick meal, but afterwards I made a beeline to the nearby pastries stand, where I had the famous pastel de nata, aka an egg custard tart. Doing research told me that it was a must given how the pastry is widespread through all over the country, and it absolutely lived up to the hype! I’m not normally one for dairy products, but as I soon discovered, this was the exception to the rule.

After satisfying our hunger, we then proceeded to make our way to the meeting point, which wasn’t far away from where we set out. We got there about fifteen minutes early, which enabled us to sit down and take a short, much-needed break. Our guide, Logan, was there soon after, and we introduced ourselves to him as we waited for the other participants to arrive. It didn’t take long for the three of them to get there, so we were off. I don’t want to undercut how great the tour was, but we were taken around to several spots around the city that were enlightening and informative. Some highlights involved the district where some of Portugal’s famous poets hung out, the site where the Carnation Revolution to restore democracy took place, as well as a ruined church that offered fantastic views of the city. I know it may sound like I’m undercutting and/or understating what we saw for those few hours, but rest assured that Logan took us to see some splendid sights. He also shed a lot of light on the history behind places in the city, especially given how Lisbon dates back to the 8^th century!

To cap off the day, after the tour we immediately headed into Cervejaria O Trevo, a recommended restaurant that served simple pork sandwiches. Making it even niftier was the fact that the late, great food connoisseur Anthony Bourdain had eaten there, so both my mom and I were impressed by that. We had been forewarned that the place was small and thus would be crowded, necessitating the need to get there before the rush; I can confirm this was true. When we went up to the counter to order, one of the waiters adamantly insisted on us sitting down and he’d take our order from there. We got a pork and beef sandwich with a beer for me, and it was a good if not large enough meal that satisfied our hunger. Even before we left, we both agreed that not asking for cheese was our mistake, but c’est la vie and all that. With dinner out of the way, we headed back to our lodging to cap off the night!