Many folks don’t like RyanAir, but so far (knock on seatback tray table) we’ve had no problems. Not knowing Paris very well and having taken the train from Munich to Paris, we were surprised when we discovered that the Bouvais airport, where RyanAir flies to and from, is about an hour and a half from downtown. We might have made a slightly earlier flight time had we been clued in enough to know this, but it all worked out.
We woke up at 5am, walked to the Metro, took that to the the Airport bus stop and then took that to the airport, all before sunrise.
Easy flight to Lisbon, easy Metro and walk to our new neighborhood of Alfama. After settling in, we took a walk down to the Tagus River. The warm fall weather, the Ponte de 25 de Abril bridge (replica of the Golden Gate) spanning the ferry- and sailboat-strewn river, and people jovially strolling along the waterfront, made it seem a lot like another city we know and love.
Our AirBNB was small, but cute, and very centrally-located one street down from the imposing National Pantheon – Church of Santa Engracia. A whole bunch of famous Portugeuse people are buried here, but the only ones I recognized were Vasco de Gama and Henry the Navigator.
From here we ventured out to several places, although not nearly all of the places that were recommended to us. Not recommended, but convenient, was a pharmacy we found to get our flu shots (Broncho Vasom for Mick).
We visited St. George’s Castle on our first full day and found it’s not only a favorite place for tourists, but for peacocks as well (Mick even managed to pet one.)
We climbed each and every tower and were rewarded with incredible, panoramic views. 
View from Castle looking South:
Sunset from Castle, looking west:
And, the peacocks – up (in trees! I had no idea!), down, and all around.
We walked the maze of winding narrow, cobblestone streets of Alfama and beyond, taking in the views and the old, old homes adorned with a mixture of graffiti, colorful tiles and paint.
Check out the cruise ship in the background of this picture. One day there were three at port at the same time! YIKES!
We ate at two good places just around the corner from us. Mick loved the “Portuguese burger” at Alfama (above, outside tables) while Jeff and I loved the sangria. Jeff and I had a great fixed price dinner* and Fado music at Arcaz Velho (burgundy building) while Mick had a burger & fries at home.
*For $40/each at Arcaz Velho, we had olives & bread; cabbage, potato & linguica soup; two different cold marinated salads (cod & chickpea, octopus, bell peppers, onion); a main course, a very good bottle of blended red wine from southern Portugal, bottled water, creme brulee, coffee, & two hours of live music (one hour too many). Quite a contrast to Mick’s $13 at the Paris Chipotle!
Interesting that we happened to see the message “Mass tourism = Human pollution” (pic below- right of black door) the same day the cruise ships came in. While I understand the sentiment, with few exceptions we found the Lisboans to be gracious, warm, and friendly. 
Probably our favorite discovery was the beach at Cascais, an old town reached by a scenic hour-long train ride along the water. After our first visit, where we weren’t really prepared for “beaching,” Mick and Jeff went back with that specific purpose – twice! I stayed in town on those two days to finish transcribing a report, work on the blog, research our next destinations, and, let’s be honest – have some alone time!!! It was a tough call though because the beach there (in fact there are lots of beaches along the train route) was lovely and on that first trip Jeff and I found a vegetarian restaurant with a rooftop terrace where we had arguably some of the best food (and a smoothie-esque sangria) we’ve had thus far.
A second train trip outside the city took us to the Disneyesque town of Sintra. After first fueling up at a local bakery – fresh baked scones, apple raisin toast, and sandwich on traditional alentejo bread for Jeff – we headed out to explore the many sights. The first place we came to was the National Palace of Sintra, which we chose not to tour the inside of in order to have more time at the other places that were recommended to us – the Quinta da Regaleira, and the mountaintop Pena Palace and Moorish Castle.
Quinta da Regaleira, just a short walk from the National Palace, is ornate and beautiful, but what’s unique is the grounds – there are tunnels and grottoes and the coolest thing by far, the Initiation Well that looks like a subterranean tower.
We decided to hike up the mountain instead of taking the bus (obviously the lesser chosen option given the look we got from the person we asked directions from) and were rewarded with spectacular views that only got better the further up we hiked.
At the top, where it was windy and much cooler (cold), we took a tour of the grand and very colorful Pena Palace.
Finally, we hiked to the top – Moorish Castle ruins – before heading back down a more direct path to Sintra.
On what we thought was our last night, we realized that we were off by a day and that we had another whole day! We used that day to visit Belem to see the Belem Tower and the Monument to the Discoveries.
Also at Belem … one of the two places we’d be told we needed to visit to get authentic pastel de natas – Lisbon’s signature pastry. Exhaustive details below.
Finally, a food editorial. Can’t say Lisbon was a personal fav. But, and this is a big but … I now like (love?) octopus. After going 0-for-2 with what is usually a super-safe non-fishy fish – cod – I went rogue and ordered the house specialty, perhaps influenced by the extremely charming waiter. Admittedly, the tentacles/suction cup thing momentarily caused some buyer’s remorse, but two bites later, I was singing the praises of cephalopod!
The best food find was Bar da Piscina, right across from the National Pantheon just up the hill from our apartment, which Jeff and Mick discovered when we ran out of breakfast food one morning. For $5, you get an egg with two thick slices of toast, sliced tomatoes, bacon (ham), cappuccinos, and the best fresh-squeezed orange juice ever, all served with a smile. We visited several mornings (to the point of “The usual please”) and were pretty befuddled when we showed up on a Sunday to find them closed.
Several nights we whipped up some cheap, delicious, semi-healthy, packaged pasta dinners with different vegetables from the “Pingo Doce” grocery store in the train station down the street from us and dined in the comfort of our own home and/or the upside down world of Stranger Things, Season 2.
Below may only be of interest for those with sweet teeth. Feel free to skim or skip entirely.
My favorite food in Lisbon, and no doubt the most famous, is pastéis de nata or pastéis de Belem. They may not look like much, but these custard-filled, puff pastry crust tarts can be found almost everywhere and, like that octopus, there’s more to them than meets the eye. Turns out, bakeries all over town battle for the #1 spot. There are articles upon articles debating the issue (it’s this kind of superfluous info that delays these bloody posts). Included in our Airbnb host’s list of favorite Lisbon attractions, which he kindly pinned to our phone’s Google map (another reason to love Google), were two of these PdN (my personal acronym) bakeries.
PdN were created before the 18th century by Catholic monks at the Jerónimos Monastery in Belém, Lisbon. At the time, convents and monasteries used large quantities of egg-whites for starching their clothes (beats a hair-shirt I guess). The leftover egg yolks were often used to make pastries. After the Liberal Revolution of 1820, the monks started selling PdNs at a local sugar refinery to bring in some revenue. Eventually, the monastery closed in 1834 and the recipe was sold to the owner of the sugar refinery. In 1837, the owners opened the Fábrica de Pastéis de Belém and it remains a family business to this day. The recipe is, and has always been, under lock and key – the few bakers that know it are required to sign non-disclosure agreements (No doubt adding to the allure for sucker tourists like us).
Confeitaria Nacional also has a cool history, dating back to 1829 when it served served as the Portuguese monarchy’s official bakery. 
Fabrica de Nata was another PdN that we tried, just because it was the first one we came across and it looked like they knew what they were doing.
Given the guidelines I’d read about: crunchy crust, even when cold; soft, but never runny filling; and the top browned, but not tough or burned, we all agreed that our first PdN, from the longshot, Fabrica de Nata, were the best. We also decided much more research would need to be done.
Some more pictures I like:
Amazing! I continue to envy your year abroad!
Aw, thanks Al. Thanks also for thinking of me at Thanksgiving – as you guessed, it’s a tough time. For you, too, as I’m guessing mom-missing is a lifelong thing. Hope you’re good and that you enjoy your time off for the holidays. XOXO